AN ESSAY UPON Ways and Means AN ESSAY UPON Ways and Means Of Supplying the WAR LONDON Printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge's Head near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet 1695. AN ESSAY UPON WAYS and MEANS OF Supplying the War IN the course of this War we are engag'd in with France nothing seems more to have hurt our affairs than an Opinion which from year to year has been entertain'd among some People of Authority That the War could not last which they were brought into by the vanity natural to our Nation of over-rating our own strength and undervaluing that of our Enemies Whoever reflects upon the Ways and Means by which we have all along supplied the King will plainly see how much this Opinion has prevail'd with the People in general Raising Money by Land Taxes Fonds of Interest Polls doubling the Excise charging Tonnage laying new Customs and anticipating the old ones may be proper Expedients to answer a single and a short Necessity but perhaps they will hardly appear to be the proper Ways and Means to carry on a great and a long War At the beginning of the Confederacy France seem'd to take in all its Sails in expectation of a Storm and in a manner sate still while we took Mentz and Bon. This Success and the great Names and Mighty Kingdoms and States that were Listed in this Quarrel made us flatter our selves with Extravagant hopes The most Modest did believe the King of France might be easily reduced to the state he was left in by the Pyrenean Treaty But the more general Opinion was That he would be subdued to our own Terms But such did not consider that there is hardly any instance to be given in Story of a Mighty Empire over-run that was in the full possession of its Military Virtue In such an entire possession of the Art of War were the Romans during the second Punic War the whole People were train'd up to Arms and continual Action had bred up and instructed many famous Captains so that they were not to be broken by the many Victories Hannibal obtain'd even in the heart of Italy And in such a Warlike posture was the Ottoman Empire when Tamberlain came into Asia who in the Battel fought in the Year 1397 took Bajazet Prisoner and slew most of his Army yet that People bred to War under three Martial Kings were so far from being subdu'd that in fifty three Years after besides many other acquisitions they were able to Conquer all the remains of the Greek Empire Great Dominions are to be attempted with hopes of success then only when either their own bulk makes them unweildy or when Wealth has deprav'd their Manners or when long Peace has made them forget their Military Skill and Vertue and at such seasons have the great Monarchies of the World been Invaded and Conquer'd not by Superior Virtue in others but for want of Virtue in themselves It is not from hence concluded that lesser Nations are not to make War with strong and Victorious Princes or that we in England should not with the last drop of Blood defend this almost only spot of ground which seems remaining in the World to Public Liberty But from these Instances and many others in History it may be argu'd that we cannot presently and with ease pull down so Mighty an Empire as France and that much Time Blood and Treasure must perhaps be spent before we can reduce it to such Terms of Peace as may be Safe and Honourable for the Confederates And since there seem very many who think the business of this War so easie and who wonder the Confederates have done no more it may not be improper to take a short view of the Affairs of France in order to make it appear what a powerful Enemy we have to deal with That Kingdom has been growing for these two hundred and seventy years by slow degrees to the height we now see it at and from the time of Charles the Seventh to the Reign of Francis the Second there were always upon the Throne Martial and Active Princes in perpetual War and forming their People to Discipline And if in the little Common-wealths of Greece wherever there happen'd to be an extraordinary Man that Man did make his City strong and powerful for a long time after much more must a Succession of six Kings all Men of Counsel and Action give strength and power to such a Kingdom as France 'T is true that from the time of Francis the Second to the Peace of Vervins which was about forty Years the Nation was miserably torn by a long and cruel Civil War but as there are certain Diseases which when overcome dispose the Body to a better state of health for the future so perhaps it may be made appear that even this Civil War in its Consequences has contributed to the present Power of that Monarchy by pulling down the three chief obstacles that stood in the way of its Greatness which were the Protestant Interest Spain and the old Nobility of the Kingdom The Massacre of Paris gave the Protestant Interest in that Nation such a wound as it has never since been able to recover Philip the Second to procure the Crown of France for the Infanta did furnish such vast Sums for the Maintenance of the League as have ever since kept Spain low And the Houses of Lorrain Montmorancy and Chastillon were in a manner extinguish'd in that War and the rest of the great Families so ruin'd by it that they are now no more than the Trappings and Ornaments of the Tyranny which were in times past so strong a part of the Constitution From the Peace of Vervins Harry the Fourth employ'd his care in repairing the Calamities of that Civil War and chiefly he set himself to bring the Treasury of his Kingdom into some order in which he was assisted by the Duke of Sully a frugal Man who by natural Wisdom and meer Honesty brought the Revenue out of infinite Debts into such a flourishing condition that when the French were forming their great designs against the House of Austria in 1610 they had ready four or five years Provision for a War that was likely to be the greatest their Nation had ever undertaken But the foundations of the present Greatness of that Monarchy were laid by Cardinal Richelieu he first introduc'd that exact Method which appears in all their Affairs that secresie and steadiness which is in their Councils and that intire Obedience which all subordinate degrees pay to their Superiors and by exacting it severely he first accustom'd the French to that Zeal Diligence and Honesty to their Master which they show in all Public business Cardinal Mazarin was bred up in his School a Man perhaps not quite so deep but of infinite Subtilty and very fit for the Intrigues of the Cabinet in a Minority and under the Regency of a Queen Mother What the Duke of Sully but began Colbert brought to
perfection in the Public Revenue and both he and Louvoy were mighty Encouragers of the Trade and Manufactures of the Kingdom Thus France for a long tract of time has had great Princes on the Throne or which is as good able Men in the Ministry and all the while they have been enlarging their Dominions Spain formerly their Rival Kingdom they have reduc'd to a low condition Arts and Sciences Trade and Manufactures are much improv'd among them The Art of War they have brought to a height and perfection never known in Greece or among the Romans Long Action has form'd them many fit Generals Experienc'd Officers and a number of good Troops They are Skilful in Encampments they order a Battel well and no People contrive better for the Subsistance of an Army Their Discipline is good and severe and all Nations must yield to them in the knowledge of Attacking and Defending places And by Art and Industry they seem to have overcome Nature and Situation in making themselves so powerful at Sea with but few convenient Ports and but little Trade in proportion to their Neighbours Their present King is undoubtedly a Person of great Abilities Wisdom and Conduct he is well serv'd in every part of his Government his Revenue is skillfully brought in and frugally laid out no Prince has so quick and certain Intelligence and he has wrought into his Interests a considerable Party in every State and Kingdom in Europe We all know too well what large footing he has of late years got round about him towards Spain in Italy near the Swiss Cantons and in Germany of both sides the Rhine and in the Low Countries Whoever carefully weighs these things and duly considers the Strength and Policy of that Kingdom will hardly think the Confederates for the present in a condition to give the Law or able as yet to drive France to such a Peace as may be now Honourable and Safe hereafter They who believe a Peace so probable and near ground their Opinion upon the Poverty this long War must have brought upon France And no doubt the Subjects there are reduc'd to excessive want by the Universal stop that is upon Trade by the Dearth two unseasonable years has occasion'd and by maintaining for six years a great Fleet and such numerous Land Forces But the French seem to pay themselves for all their Home Miseries with their Fame abroad the Majesty of their Empire Splendor of their Court Greatness of their Monarch and the noise of his Victories like a Beast that goes merrily with a heavy Burthen pleas'd with his fine Furniture and the Bells that jingle about him For those vain appearances are to that People in the stead of Ease Plenty and all the other Goods of Life tho' they truly tend but to make their Slavery more lasting Therefore while their King is thus Successful in his Arms we have small reason to think the Wants and Cries of his Country will constrain him to end the War But suppose him in such streights as that he willingly will listen to a Peace can we modestly believe him in so low a condition as that the Confederates may at present have such a one as will be secure and lasting Is he yet so distressed by the War as to be contented things may be put upon such a foot of Equality that hereafter he may be compell'd to observe his Articles for without this any Peace we can make will be but unsound and precarious Perhaps he may submit to give up Lorrain Philipsburg and Strasburg and his late Conquests in Savoy Catalonia and Flanders The Pope Venetians and the two Northern Crowns shall be Mediators and afterwards Warrantees of the Treaty The Confederacy shall still subsist and upon stricter terms of Union But when we have bound Sampson with these new Ropes may he not when he pleases break them from off his Arms like a Thread Indeed we might promise our selves that a Peace would be good and durable if we were enough Superior in the War to make him Surrender those strong places with which on every side he seems to Bridle this part of the World Or if he were so distress'd as for a Peace to deprive himself of his Fleet to which the Romans compell'd Carthage and afterwards King Antiochus then we in England might promise our selves future Safety But while his Naval strength is unbroken while he has that Chain of Fortified Towns upon the Rhine and that formidable Barrier in Flanders while on the side of Spain Italy and Switzerland he is left in such a condition to Invade and so fortified against Invasion we may make a Peace that shall give us present ease and put off the Evil day for a time but we cannot pretend to have secur'd our Liberties or defeated his designs of Universal Monarchy Whoever carefully examines those general Treaties of Peace the French of late years have concluded with the House of Austria and their other Opposites from that of Vervin's to that of Nimmeghen will find they have had no effect but to give France a legal Title to what it possest before by Conquest or to affort it time to repair the Calamities of War and to gather Strength for new and greater Undertakings We took this War in hand to assert the Liberties of Europe and to encourage us to carry it on we have Examples ancient and modern of Nations that have resisted great Monarchies and who have at last worked out their Freedom by Patience Wisdom and Courage In Defence of their Laws and Religion the Low-Countreys maintained a War with Spain from 1566 to 1648 which ended in the Peace of Munster and in that Struggle they fixed their Government Great Monarchies do easily over-run and swallow up the lesser Tirannies and Principalities that are round about them but they find much harder Work and another sort of Opposition when they come to invade Common-wealths or mix'd Governments where the People have an Interest in the Laws Under Tirannies where the Subjects only contend for the Choice of a Master the Dispute is seldom real and haerty but in free Countreys where the People fight for themselves and their own proper Wealth and Security they are in earnest and defend themselves accordingly The Persians very easily subdued the neighbouring Monarchies that made up their large Empire but when they came to invade the Grecians a free People we see how their numerous Armies and great Navies were at last defeated That War was carried on by Confederates of which the chief were the Lacedemonians and the Athenians one a Kingly Government limited by Laws the other a Common-wealth it lasted two and twenty years reckoning from the Battel of Marathon to that Victory gain'd by Cimon which forced the Persians to sue for Peace And it may not be amiss to take notice how the Athenians laid the whole stress of this War upon their Naval force pursuant to the Oracle which told them they should be safe within their
Price of Liberty which no Nation hardly ever obtained but at a great Expence of Blood and Treasure Whenever this War ceases it will not be for want of mutual Hatred in the opposite Parties nor for want of Men to fight the Quarrel but that side must first give out where Money is first failing If we in England can put our Affairs into such a Posture as to be able to hold out in our Expence longer than France we shall be in a condition to give the Peace but if otherwise we must be contented to receive it For War is quite changed from what it was in the time of our Forefathers when in a hasty Expedition and a pitch'd Field the Matter was decided by Courage but now the whole Art of War is in a manner reduced to Money and now adays that Prince who can best find Money to feed cloath and pay his Army not he that has the most valiant Troops is surest of Success and Conquest So that the present Business England is engaged in will chiefly depend upon the well contriving and ordering the Ways and Means by which the Government is to be maintained and making the publick Charge easie and supportable By what has been said before it may perhaps appear that the Interruption of Trade has made this War very heavy upon the People of France from which naturally follows that a careful and vigorous Protection of our own Trade will make all publick Burthens lighter and easier to us Trade as it is now become the Strength of the Kingdom by the Supply it breeds of Seamen so it is the living Fountain from whence we draw all our Nourishment it disperses that Blood and Spirits through all the Members by which the Body Politick subsists The Price of Land Value of Rents and our Commodities and Manufactures rise and fall as it goes well or ill with our Foreign Trade 'T is not enough to have great Exportation and great Importation unless we are Gainers upon the Ballance which the Nation cannot be at the foot of the Accompt while there are very great Losses at Sea For the Profit of Trade is not the Advantage the Merchant makes at Home but what the whole Nation gets clear and Nett upon the Ballance in Exchange with other Countreys of its Commodities and Manufactures So that if we can protect our Trade to that degree as to be Gainers by the General Ballance the Expence and Length of the War will not so much affect us for Trade well secured will bring in that Wealth by which it may be fed and maintained To support a long War the Taxes should be so contriv'd as that they may lye equally upon the Nation and when they are equally laid they will in Consequence be easier and longer and more patiently suffered For he that is to carry a great Burthen should not reasonably be put to bear it upon one Arm and that extended at length but it ought rather to be placed upon his Shoulders so that every Limb may bear its due proportion of the Weight The Ways and Means to supply the Government in this War should be such as may not too highly affect Trade upon the Prosperity of which depends in so great a measure the Welfare of the Nation What we give should be as free as possible from the Load of paying Interest-Money which eats upon the Publick as it ruins any private Person And in Taxing the People we should have regard not to create Disaffection to the Government We should likewise see that our present Gifts should not in their Consequences bring Damage to the ordinary Revenue of the Crown for in such cases we give of one hand and take away of the other And lastly in our Ways and Means of Supplying the War we should take some care not to entail upon the Kingdom too large a Debt of perpetual Interest Taxes which have all these Inconveniencies that are laid unequally that affect Trade that consume us with Usury that disaffect the People that prejudice the Crown Revenue and burthen us with perpetual Interest may be made use of now and then to piece out and answer a single and a short necessity but cannot be repeated often and made use of as the constant Ways and Means of supplying the Government in a business of length without great damage and hazard to the Kingdom For Taxes of this nature beget public and private Poverty make the People desperate render Government uneasie to the Rulers and may be rather said to fight secretly against the Prince than to give him any true assistance The Opinion which from year to year has prevail'd That the next Campagne would end the War has made us bear with these Ways and Means of Supply believing every such charge would be the last of that kind that should be laid upon the People Perhaps we should have taken other Measures if at the beginning of the War the Nation had been throughly convinc'd that Peace was at such a distance from us Some are of Opinion that if at first we had fallen upon Excises we had establish'd a Fond of Revenue which would have lain equally upon the whole been a constant and easie Supply and tending less than other Taxes to the damage of Foreign Trade or ruin of the Gentry and which by this time might have been so improv'd in the management that we should have found it singly of it self sufficient for all the Expences of the War And 't is not improbable if the King of France had seen us open such a new vein of Treasure we had long since had a more advantageous Peace than we can expect at present It had given him a great Opinion and Awe of our strength if he had seen we had been able to raise five Millions a year in a way not very burthensom to the Nation and he could have expected no good issue from a contest with so rich and powerful a People But if he finds we raise Money for the War by Ways and Means heavy and destructive to our Country he will be encourag'd to persue it till he has brought utter ruin upon us And tho' it appears from the Books of Hearth Money that there are not above Thirteen hundred thousand Families in England and allowing six persons to a House one with another which is the common way of computing not quite eight Millions of People and tho' as likewise appears from the Hearth Books there are five hundred thousand poor Families in the Nation living in Cottages who contribute little to the Common Support yet the Eight hundred thousand remaining Families would be able to carry on the present business a great while longer and perhaps till France is weary of it if the Public Burthens could be divided a little more equally among them It seems evident enough that the War cannot be supported by the present Revenue of the Crown of which as also how it stood at the beginning of the Revolution it may not
Walls of Wood leaving Athens it self defenceless that their Fleet might be the stronger Many more Instances may be given of great things perform'd in the defence of Liberty but then they have been done by Men who had laid aside their Luxury Corruption Self-ends and private Ambition and who had devoted themselves intirely to the Common Good If therefore we hope to get out of this War with Honour and at last make a safe and durable Peace we must show more than ordinary Virtue and Resolution we must bear patiently the Public burthens but chiefly we must not give our Enemies any room to believe either by our Actions or Councils that we shrink and give back as if we thought the business too weighty for us Many things may happen to reward this patience which would put us in the Power of treating upon more equal terms The King of France is infirm and in years if he should fail while the War is on foot his People perhaps may take that time to shake off their Oppression and his Son may not be able to carry on the great Machine of that Government with the same Steadiness Conduct and Authority Or the Dauphin may dye which would give the Princes of the Blood the prospect of a Minority always fatal and the occasion of disorders in that Kingdom Besides notwithstanding the seeming health and vigour of that Government it has within it dangerous Distempers of which the symptoms appear not in this Prosperity of their affairs but would be seen in any Public calamity such as the loss of a Battel or a total defeat at Sea which in the course of the War may happen If France should receive any shock or wound of that kind the ill humours bred by Oppression and Arbitrary Power would break out and shew themselves in every part of the Constitution These or any other accidents that might stir up Civil Commotions in that Kingdom would render it uncapable of a Foreign War and consequently procure us more advantageous Conditions of Peace But the most proper Season to conclude a Peace with the French in all appearance will be when they are Impoverish'd and exhausted of that Money by which they have so much prevailed and when that sinew of War begins to slacken For there is a degree of Expence which no Nation can exceed without utter ruin and the Public may become a Bankrupt as well as a private Person And since War is grown so expensive and Trade is become so extended and since Luxury has so much obtain'd in the World no Nation can subsist of it self without Helps and Aids from other places so that the Wealth of a Country now is the Ballance which arises from the exchange with other places of its Natural or Artificial Product The Natural Product are the Fruits of the Earth the Artificial are the Manufactures That part of Trade which consists in buying Commodities in one Nation and selling them in another is very little the Commerce of France And this Ballance accrues either from Money in specie brought home or Foreign Commodities or Credit which one Country has upon another The Prince's Revenue is a due proportion and share out of this Ballance Whatever Nation is at a greater expence than this Ballance admits of will as surely be ruin'd in time as a private Person must be who every year spends more than the Income of his Estate And that Prince who gathers more than this Ballance will naturally afford must as certainly bring ruin upon his Country because he lives upon the quick Stock of his People The ordinary Publick Revenue of France was before this War yearly about one hundred and fifty Millions of Livres which reduc'd to our Money is about twelve Millions Sterling We all know how hardly this great Sum was extorted from the People but they were enabled to pay it by the Ballance that arose to them from the vent of their Commodities and Manufactures Their most Staple Trade was Wine Oyl Salt Linnen and Paper their Manufactures are innumerable and a vast profit they did constantly make by the resort of strangers to their Country and likewise by furnishing all Europe with their Fineries and Vanities The ordinary Revenue must needs be much impair'd by the effects of the War but this we may suppose is made up to the King by extraordinary Means For we cannot think he maintains his Goverment Fleet and Armies at a less Expence than Twelve Millions yearly Now how this Expence can be long continued by the French is hardly imaginable when there is such an Interruption upon their Commerce and so little vent for their Commodities and Manufactures They are cut off by this War from almost all their profitable Trade their Poor are unimploy'd and the Growth of their Country sticks upon their hands and their Body Politick being at a continual Expence of Spirits without the usual Supplies and Reliefs must fall into Faintness and Decay in all its Members The Ballance arising from Trade being wanting which should maintain King and People there must inevitably follow at first private Want and then publick Poverty And if this Interruption of their Commerce be yet more strictly pursued it will bring a Ruin upon them not to be avoided by all their Oeconomy Courage and Policy We have maintain'd this War six years and may hold it out much longer if every part of the Confederacy would exert all its Natural Force and apply it usefully to the common Business But then the Emperor must not be contending for Dominion at Home while he is fighting for Liberty Abroad He must give the Princes of the Empire no Jealousie that he has any Designs upon their Freedoms He must not let the Priests divert his his Arms upon the Turks of which the true meaning is only the Oppression of the Protestants in Hungary A good Peace on that side would give new Life to the Confederate Affairs A little more publick Spirit and Vigor would be necessary in the Spanish Councels in which Kingdom there is great Power and Wealth remaining if it were rightly applied and well ordered The proper and natural Strength of England and Holland is at Sea The Walls of Wood are our best defence and the more we rely upon and improve that Strength the more we shall break the Measures of France But England is the main Pillar of the Confederacy our Riches supply it our Fleet and the Goodness of our Troops are its chief Force and Reputation all depend upon the Councels we take if we are unwilling or unable to support the War a Peace will be concluded upon the best Terms that can be had So that the whole wil result in this how far we in England are able to maintain such a long War with France as may procure us a Peace that shall be equal and lasting 'T is true a long War is but a Melancholy Prospect to a Luxurious People fearful of Slavery and yet unwilling to pay the
which they had not absolute use But in Number of Houses London Westminster and Middlesex are not an Eleventh part of the Kingdom And by the Monthly Assessment it appears that the Parliament have judged them about a Tenth part In the Apportionment of 100,000 l. upon the whole Nation in the Year 1660 they are valued and rated at about a Fourteenth part In the Assessment of Ship-Money at about a Tenth part And in an Assessment of 30,000 l. given to Harry the Seventh in lieu for that time of the Aid Pur fair sitz Chivaleer pur file Marrier Rot. Parl. 19 Har. 7. N o. 10. London Westminster and Middlesex are rated at but 889 l. 10 s. 2 d. which is about a thirty third part of that Tax And in the Poor Rate they appeared to be about a Twelfth part of the Whole Upon the whole Matter from the foregoing Instances and many others that might be given it seems very probable that London Westminster and Middlesex have been generally esteemed and are about a Tenth part of the Kingdom But the Instance which relates to the Number of Houses is what we may reasonably lay most weight upon in the present Dispute because the 307,140 l. which they pay in the Four Shilling Aid does most of it without all contradiction arise from the Rent of Houses If indeed Money were strictly inquired after and if the Charge upon Personal Estates made up a great part of the forementioned Sum the Comparison might not hold because the great Stocks of Money are in London but though Money be charged in the Act the Law has not been able hitherto to reach it effectually Now to raise the Sum of 307,140 l. the general Rental of London Middlesex and VVestminster must be upwards of a Million and a half per Annum And if the Rental of the Eleventh but suppose them a Tenth part of the whole be a Million and a half the general Rental of the Kingdom must be Fifteen Millions per Annum And if the general Rental of the Kingdom be Fifteen Millions per Annum the Aid of Four Shillings in the Pound ought to raise three Millions If 111,215 Houses in and about London with no more Ground than what they stand upon are in Rent one Million and a half per Annum it is hardly possible but that the 1,208,000 Houses in the Country with all the Land about them and all the Benefits that attend Land must be in Rent Thirteen Millions and a half per Annum And whoever considers this seriously will perhaps be inclined to think that the Four Shilling Aid would raise at least Three Millions if it were levied in other Parts of England with the same Care and Exactness as it is in London VVestminster and Middlesex which are under the Eye and Influence of the Government And if the Aid could be brought to raise such a Sum the War would almost be maintained by the Charge upon Land only 'T is notoriously known that a great many Persons both in the Assessment and Aids pay a full Fifth part of their Estates if the rest did so all would be upon an equal foot which in Justice and Reason the Subjects of the same Prince should be in every good Government But this will be very hard to compass in that long Possession many Countries are in of being favourably handled in all Taxes 'T is true in the present Aid the Assessors are upon Oath but in Matters of Revenue it has been always found that Oaths are very little regarded If in the Customs and Excise all Entries were to be made upon Oath of the Parties and the King had no other hold he might indeed save the Charge of Officers but he would see very little from those Revenues The Officers in the Customs and Excise are upon Oath but if there were no other Checks upon them those Branches would turn to small account And we see in the present Charge upon Interest-Money how little Scruple Men make of Swearing not to have 100 l. who are generally thought to be worth 20,000 l. Taxes can never be equally levied where the People are left to themselves or with no other Check upon them but their own Consciences Therefore it was the ancient Prerogative of our Kings to name their own Commissioners for the Levying and Collecting such Aids Fifteenths and Tenths as their Subjects gave them which may be seen by the old Commissions ad Assidendum Colligendum that were wont to accompany Grants of that Nature In that Aid which was granted to Harry the Third when Magna Charta passed there is the Form of that Commission Vid. Rot. Pat. 39. H. 3. m. 8. Dorso And such Commissions passed several times after Vid. Rot. Pat. 1. Edw. 2. p. m. 3. Rot. Pat. 7. Edw. 2. p. m. 3. Rot. Pat. 3. Edw. 3. ps 3. m. 18. Rot. Pat. 6. Edw. 3. ps m. 19. Rot. Fin. 23. Edw. 3. m. 10. And in the other Grants that came afterwards the King is desired to issue out his Commissions for the levying of them as customably Vid. Rot. Parl. 6. Rich. 2. N o. 16. Rot. Parl. 2. Harry 4. N. 9. Rot Parl. 14. Harry 6. N. 12. where the Commissioners have Power to examine all Parties upon Oath of the true Value of their Estates In the Reign of Harry the Sixth there is an Authority given to one Lord and the two Knights of the Shire in each County who seem to have been in the nature of Commissioners to see that no Wrong be done in the Distribution of 4000 l. which was to be deducted out of the Aid for decay'd Towns and Places Vid. Rot. Parl. 11. H. 6. N. 4. The first time we find Commissioners named in Parliament for the levying Tenths and Fifteenths was in Edward the Fourth's Reign who was a Luxurious Prince and gave the People reason to suspect his Conduct Vid. Rot. Parl. 12. Edw. 4. N. 41. and 14. Edw. 4. N. 7. The Records are both dark enough but the Parliament seems there to name Commissioners whom the King shall Authorize under the Great Seal to Assess and Levy the Aid and that the Money so levied shall remain in the Hands of the Collectors to be appointed by the King in Chancery unto the time that Proclamation shall be made by the King of his Musters The Parliament suspected an Aid was desired and no War intended so that their Guift seems conditional and they name Commissioners to see to the due Performance of the Trust But afterwards in the Reign of Harry the Seventh the occasion of naming Commissioners in Parliament seems a great deal more apparent For that covetous Prince was wont to ask great Aids of his People on pretence of Wars that were never intended Therefore the Aids which were given him the Twelfth of his Reign were upon this Condition to be levied upon the People if the War proceeded but not to be levied if a Peace or Truce ensued before they came to be due
Power upon such as are Vicious and Idle The real and true Objects of Charity would cost the Nation but little to maintain and 't is to be doubted they have the least Share in the publick Reliefs The Wisdom of a Parliament may in time find out a way to make such Persons useful and profitable to the Nation who at present are a heavy Burthen upon it If all the Hands in this Kingdom that are able were employ'd in useful Labour our Manufactures would so increase that the Common-wealth would be thereby greatly inriched and the Poor instead of being a Charge would be a Benefit to the Kingdom If the Poor were always certain of Work and Pay for it they would be glad to quit that Nastiness which attends a begging and lazy Life And if the Poor were encouraged and where there is occasion compell'd to maintain themselves the Pound Rate would be much less in every County and if the Nation were a little eas'd of that Burthen we should be in some degree abler to support the Expence of the War and Land would be eas'd upon which the Poor-Rate is a certain Charge Nothing would better enable us to pay Excises and all other Taxes than a publick Registry a General Liberty of Conscience and indeed all Laws that would effectually invite People over to us and increase our Numbers People are the real Strength and Riches of a Country we see how Impotent Spain is for want of Inhabitants with their Mines of Gold and Silver and the best Ports and Soil in the World and we see how powerful their Numbers make the Vnited Provinces with bad Harbors and the worst Climate upon Earth 'T is perhaps better that a People should want Country than that a Country should want People Where there are but few Inhabitants and a large Territory there is nothing but Sloath and Poverty but when great Numbers are confin'd to a narrow Compass of Ground Necessity puts them upon Invention Frugality and Industry which in a Nation are always recompenced with Power and and Riches And this happened to the Phoenicians who were the old Inhabitants of Canaan and elbowed out by the Hebrews and driven into a small Slip of Land on the Sea Coast who to nourish their great Multitudes were forced upon Trade and so became the first Navigators and Merchants in the World that we read of and in time grew a most wealthy and powerful Nation Spain resisted the Romans near 200 Years meerly by their Country being then so populous for Cicero reckoning the Strength of several Nations says that of Spain consisted in its Numbers No Country can be truly accounted great and powerful by the Extent of its Territory or Fertility of its Climate but by the Multitude of its Inhabitants and rich Soils not well peopled have been ever a Prey to all Invaders Where Countries are thinly Inhabited the People always grow Proud Poor Lazy and Effeminate Qualities which never fail to prepare a Nation for Foreign Subjection All Men who have made any Computations of that kind seem convinc'd England would naturally bear and nourish a full third part more of Inhabitants so that if it â—ere fully Peopled the value of all Land and Rents would as certainly rise as Land and Rents set better near a Populous City than at a distance from it There are many Laws which would invite over to us that Complement of Inhabitants which our Country seems to want and tho' vve should get at first only the Poorer sort yet those Mouths vvould consume our Home Product and those Hands vvould help us in our Wars and in Peace by their Labour over-pay the Nation for their keeping But a Public Registry and a General Liberty of Conscience would bring among us from abroad the very Species of Money real and intrinsick Wealth Substantial Men and all sort of Manufactures Some People are afraid that Foreigners may take the Bread from the Common People whom Strangers by reason of their Industry and spare Living are able to under-work and under-sell And that Foreigners may have in time strength enough to awe the Natives And others believe That Tolerating all Religions may be hurtful to the Church But these Opinions proceed from a narrowness of Mind not becoming Religious and Wise Men. For God can Protect his own Cause in the middle of a thousand Errors and variety of Heresies will but give our Church-Men a more ample Field of shewing their Learning and Piety The same Protection and the same Laws will give Foreigners the same Interest with the Natives and in time probably the same Religion And the Industrious Frugality of Foreign Handycrafts-Men will be a good Correction to the Sloth and Luxury of our own Common People At a time when Tyranny is so much the fashion round about us if our Arms were open to receive all the afflicted and oppressed part of Mankind the Goodness of our Climate Mildness of our Laws and the Excellence of our Constitution would invite over to us such multitudes as would exceedingly add to our Power and Strength and make us more a Ballance to the greatness of France And with these Additions of Strength Excises would be less felt by any part of the Kingdom But there are many real Lovers of their Country and Jealous of its Liberties who object against Excises and say They will be so easie and little felt that the Ministers some time or other may be tempted if such a Revenue were once afoot to get it settled into a perpetuity or for a long term and so make Parliaments useless They say Land-Taxes Polls and Customs lye so heavy upon the Men of Interest and Figure in the Nation that by such kind of Impositions the Gentlemen of England will never enable a King to live without a Parliament But Excises being an easie way of Contributing insensibly paid and falling chiefly upon the common sort they apprehend our Representatives may some time or other by the Arts and Power of the Court be prevailed upon to let them pass into a lasting Supply to the Crown and they think so large a Revenue would make the Prince absolutely Independant of his People which would quite destroy our Constitution 'T is true some of our former Princes have had designs to Enslave this Country partly led into those Measures by the Gentries Flattery and Corruption of their Manners who have been all along willing enough to Traffick the peoples Rights However the Nation was never yet so deprav'd but there was a Party strong enough in the House of Commons to preserve the being of Parliaments which would cease if they should make the Crown rich enough to subsist without them This Party will ever with jealous Eyes watch the motions of the Court some perhaps only to bring their Abilities and Repute with the People to the better Market others to wreak their Discontents and some out of meer Love to their Country though it may be feared the Public has but few