a double portion of their Wooll which formerly was little worth into such commodities as spoils us of the advantages of our proper Trades not only thither but also into other parts viz. in these three Respects First The Combed of the English Wooll makes Wooff for the Warps of the French Wooll or rather of the Turkey Sheep and so takes up it may be as much as the quantity above specified to every Pack of English Wooll without which they can only with their Wooll make Ruggs and at the best Cloth for Sea-men and the like 2dly Their Combings or Pinnions viz. the short Wooll that 's combed out of the Worsted serves for their Linnen warp to make some of their Druggets because their Linnen being sine spun and coloured is not discernable to all persons to be that we call Linsie-Wolsie 3dly The finest short English Wooll is mixed with the lowest of Spanish Wooll called short Wooll for some of their best Druggets that is wove upon worsted Chanies and also for a middle sort of Broad-cloth about 10 s. or 12 s. per Yard This is the cause I judge that short Spanish Wooll is so scarce here in England Now if we consider these things together the dammage of exporting of one Pack from England to France at about 10 l. or 12 l. Sterling preventing the manufacturing of two Packs more in England which would be worth 100 l. Englands loss in the whole by the exportation of one Pack of Wooll can be little less than 60 l. It being generally combing Wool as before binted that is exported to France which makes Worsted Stuffs and Stockins and besides the advantage given them as above asserted by one Pack of rough Wooll it 's obvious to all Manufacturers that a Pack of Worsted or Cumbed Wooll worth 20 l. at 12 score to the Pack which is 20 d. per Pound and to make it more easie to every ordinary capacity that in Stockins to speak within compass A Pound of fine Wooll would make at least two pair of Hose worth 5 s. a pair that is 10 s. per Pound of Wooll or reckon thus to ordinary Hose three pair to a Pound of Wooll at 3 s. 4 d. per pair come to the same sum and 12 score Pound of Wooll making a Pack so many pence for the Pound of Wooll so many Pounds for the Pack and a Pack of Wooll making 480 pair of Hose which 12 score Angels being cast up is 123 l. without any respect given to the advantage given them in rough Wooll as before asserted This an instance for all moreover In it's first exportation considering the Custome when it is imported the product of all these Charges augmenting the 100 l. when sold there laid out in another Commodity beyond Sea the Custom thereof being paid there with Frait and Custom when imported in England it 's much if it do not more than double the first principal Now if so be that the exportation of one Pack of English Wool exported at 10 l. or 12 l. be neer 200 l. dammage to the King and Kingdom in general by the consequence What will be the loss of exporting 10. or 15 Thousand Packs into France besides many to other parts in two years time is easily accounted by such as are concerned in these Affairs and although this Evil is almost incredible to many yet it is too manifest to such as have made it something their business to enquire into it and not only so but these further Inconveniencies must by this means arise upon us First The spoyling of our Trade with France in all our Wollen manufacture as doth already appear by the Impost put upon the same there from 20 to 40 per cent since the great quantity of our Wools is exported thither whereunto woful experience may be a sufficient witness And secondly In time it will capacitate the French as well as the Dutch if not much better to under-sell our English Merchants in Forreign Parts nay possibly in our own Country To this I shall only mention the words of a Merchant in Flanders by Letters to another here treating of this matter thus We English have our Throats cut with our own Weapons wondering at the stupidity of the English here that they should omit to possess the King's Majesty with this deplorable and dangerous Case in respect to the present and future Inconveniences thereof By reason whereof as in time the French will not only prevent our English manufactures to be sold in France but also bring theirs into England and sell them for four times the value here to the great Inriching of themselves and the Impoverishing the English only by new fantastick Fopperies for which the English pay not less than some Hundred Thousands in a Year to get themselves into the French Mode So much indeed have we been deceived in this matter to our shame as well as to our apparent loss that whereas in time of the Late War with the Dutch and French those French Druggets were thereby much prevented many English Striped broad Cloths rent through into three parts about 10 s. per yard price being put into the form of French Druggets were sold in each part at 8 s. per yard and so in the whole came to 1 l. 4 s. per yard So likewise it is certainly true that many of those Druggets made in England do go for French and in order thereunto directed to French Men in some of our Southern parts from thence been conveighed into London and there sold for French Goods to have coloured the business with the Custom-house Officers to save the Custom of French Druggets And this might have continued long before the Cheat had been discovered but being once found out by the Clothier who could not to his own private advantage conceal such an apparent injury to his Country it was soon prevented This I had an Experimental knowledg of for the merchant bespoke the same Goods of me When I understood his end I did refuse to make the said Druggets that he desired me to make whereby we may come to see with clearness the advantage that that people makes upon our English fancies by over-selling us in the same kind of Commodities that they make out of our English Wools joyned as before-minded with their own having also an advantage thereunto by the cheapness of the Manufactors thereof beyond what we can do the French being very populous and living harder than we can in England as is evident by their Linnens that paying Frait and Custom with profit to the Merchant yet can be afforded cheaper than can be made in England But so it is that the advantage we give them besides in the mixtures of our Wools with theirs is such that whereas their Wool of it self is not worth 4 l. per Pack being mixed with ours becomes so fit for Worsted Stuffs as that it comes to be worth no less than 12 l. per Pack So that all these things considered
instrumental to advance the price of the Corn c. That where-ever Trade is there People are most populous and when those persons are deprived of their Trade depending wholly upon it they must unavoidably come to the Parishes which is in many places begun already and Daily encreased and feared in time will so increase that the Poor will be expecting more than there will be to contribute to them Although it be a Degression yet suffer an instance of one Parish that when there was but some obstruction to their Trade by the Late Sickness and Dutch War the rate came for their Poor to Eight Hundred Pound Sterling in one Year and I have been credibly informed the Land to the said Town is not worth one Thousand Pound per annum and hapily one fifth part the dearer because of the Trade as it is in all Cities or Towns of Trade than what can reasonably be judged when the Trade from such a Town is wholly lost as is already in some parts in this Nation To return to the Farmer as being the emediate Person in this business from hence may be concluded that the Farmers Loss for want of Trade is fourfold greater then can be the advantage of the sale to the transporter of Wooll by the exportation thereof unmanufactured I shall now endeavour to give some particular account how all are concerned And before I do this give me leave to insert the Observation of a worthy Author Sir Walter Rawleigh who saith That then which was in King James 's Reign about fourscore thousand undrest and undyed Cloaths yearly were Transported whereby it was evident that the Kingdom hath been yearly deprived of about four Hundred Thousand Pounds which in fifty five years is near Twenty Millions that would have been gained by the Labour of Poor Workmen in that time which the Merchants gains for bringing in dying Stuffs and returns of Cloaths drest and dyed with other benefits to the Realm besides exceeding enlarging of Treffick and increase of Ships and Mariners There would have been gained in that time about three Millions by increase of Customs upon Commodities returned for Cloaths drest and dyed and for dying Stuffs which would have been more plentifully brought in and used for the same There hath been also transported in that time yearly by Bayes Northern and Devonshire Kerzyes White about Fifty Thousand Cloaths counting three Kerzyes to a Cloath whereby hath been lost above Five Millions by those sorts of Cloaths in that time which would have come to Poor Work-men for their Labour with Customs for dying Stuffs and the Peoples profit for bringing them in with returns of other Commodities and Fraights for Shipping Bayes are Transported white into Amsterdam and being there dyed and drest are shipped into Spain Portugal and other Kingdoms where they are sold in the name of Flemish Bayes setting their own Town Seals upon them so that we lose the very name of our Home-bred Commodities and other Countries get the Reputation and Credit thereof Lamentable it is that this Land should be deprived of so many above-mentioned Millions as that our Native Commodities of Cloath ordained of God for the natural Subjects being so Royal and Rich in it self should be driven to so small advantage of Reputation and Profit to your Majesty and People and so much improved and intercepted by Strangers considering that God hath enabled and given your Majesty power to advance dressing and dying and Transporting all your Cloaths within a year or two I speak it knowingly to shew how it may be done laudibly lawfully and approved to be honourable feaseable and profitable He observes also the increase of his Majesties Customs by bringing in and spending of dying Stuffs as also strength in Shipping and setting so many thousands of Poor on work also noting that in the Low-Countries where these Cloaths are drest and dyed they stretch them to such unreasonable length contrary to our Law that they prevent and forestale our Markets and cross the just prohibition of our State and Realm by their Agents and Factors lying in divers places with our own Cloaths to the great decay of this Kingdome in general and discredit to our Cloaths in particular Again he adds that if the accounts were truly known it would be found that they make not clear profit only by Cloth Transported rough undrest and undyed Sixty Thousand Pounds a Year but it is most apparent your Majesty in your Customs your Merchants in their Sales and Prizes your Subjects in their Labours for lack of dressing and dying your Ships and Mariners in not bringing in of dying Stuffs spending of Alum if not Copperas are hindred yearly near a Million of Pounds So that Trade is driven to that great hinderance of your Majesty and People by permitting your Native Commodities to pass rough undrest and undyed Thus Sir Walter Rawleigh Now if it was thus with England so long agoe when the Wooll was spun and made here into substantial Cloth and that for want only of dressing and dying many Millions were lost to the King and Kingdom What then hath been the loss by so many thousand Packs of Wooll exported without any improvement especially that to France the consequence of which is more prejudicial as hath been demonstrated than can be imagined accounting but one Hundred Pounds dammage by one Pack of Wooll of which there are not less than ten thousand yearly if not much more exported by which there is dammage a Million of pounds sterling yearly to this Kingdome besides the suffering of the Poor for want of Imployment out of which his Majesties dammage cannot be less than one Hundred thousand Pound yearly The lessening of Shipping and discouragement of Mariners the Walls of this Kingdom hereby deserve also to be considered Next then to his Majesties loss is that of the Merchant and Cloathier after which must follow detriment to all other persons depending on Trade there being such a Connexion of Trades one to another and the whole of Trade being enlarged by the abounding of Laborious People Those supply the Farmers and Graziers with money for to supply the Gentry They again scatter it amongst the Tradesmen as may be witnessed by the building of the City of London how Provision and all Consumptive goods are advanced by it by which circulation all degrees are either imployed enriched or both and hence naturally comes Content Harmony and Pleasure one in another the Poor being by Imployment delivered from fear of want the Gentry Merchant and Tradesmen by the establishment of Trade therein This rationally is the strength of any People Poverty and Idleness bring their Shame and Ruine which would unavoidably follow want of Trade And so much the more where the greatest Trade hath been if it fails the greater Poverty is and will be And to instance as here in London the Trade in Provision is the more so by Consequence it must be dear and so best for all so of the other
The great Loss and Damage to ENGLAND by the Transportation of WOOLL to Forreign Parts THere is no King nor Prince in the World known by experience or upon Record that hath such means to support their Splendour and Greatness as his Majesty of Great Britain nor has any Country on Nation such variety of Staple-Commodities within it self and in such abundance as hath the Kingdom of England So that if those Advantages were duly improved England might be a general Mart for the whole World and then by consequence be the Glory thereof That those Advantages are not improved is too too obvious to all that look into it By the fore Complaints that are frequently made of the great Poverty and decay thereof And indeed which is worst of all by that general desperation of Spirit which will not put forth a hand to help support or prevent the Total desolation of our Country upon a prepossest Opinion that all Endeavours will be rendred Fruitless and Abortive The Consideration whereof hath greatly prompted me who must confess my self the meanest of thousands more concerned to use the utmost of my little skill and unwearied diligence though but as the Woman's Mite to the right management of so great an Undertaking that the threatned Ruine of all may be prevented and if possible some good part of that which is Lost may be recovered I shall confine my self to those things only whereof I have had not only credible Information but a considerable though a sad experimental knowledge and in a more particular and especial manner that of the Manufacture of Wooll in England which amongst Many is the Richest Treasure in his Majesties Dominions the flower strength and sinews of this Nation a Band uniting the People into Societies for their own Utility It is the Milk and Honey to the Grazier and Country Farmer the Gold and Spices of the East and West Indies to the Merchant and Citizens the continued supply of Bread to the Poor and in a word the Exchequer of Wealth and Staple of Protection to the whole both abroad and at home and therefore of full merit to be had in perpetual remembrance defence and encouragement for the most advantageous Improvements thereof The Wool of England before it was manufactured within it self was always of great account and esteem abroad sufficiently testified unto by the great amity which it begat and for many hundred years unviolably maintained between the Kings of England and Dukes of Burgundy only from the great benefit that from that Commodity did accrew to that People insomuch that the English Wools they received at 6 d. per Pound they returned again through their Industrious Manufacture thereof in Cloath at 10 s. per Yard to the great inriching of that State both in the advancement of the Revenues of their Soveraign and in a full employment thereby continued among the People whereby the Merchants of this Nation were occasioned as a People unwilling to be wholly dispriviledged of so great a benefit to transport themselves with their Families in great numbers into Flanders from whence they held a constant Commerce with most parts of the World This continued without Intermission between England and Burgundy until King Edward the 3 d. made his mighty Conquest over France and Scotland and as a sutable improvement of so great a mercy did wisely project and also accomplish the manufacture of Wools within the Bowels of this Kingdom to the great inriching of his own People and also to the peopling of his new Conquered Dominions The memory of whose wisdome and care for his People is worthy to be had in Remembrance by English Men unto the Worlds end The said King having thus setled the manufacture of Wools within the Kingdome of England confined it by a penal State which at first reached not only to Goods Chattels and Lands but also to Members and Life it self but in a short time repealed the two latter thereof continuing the other in its full force to remain to future Generations Which exceeding great advantage to the propriety of the English Trade hath now continued this Three Hundred years by the vigilancy of the Kingdoms Monarchs and the protection of its Laws in the continued careful execution thereof upon Offenders with more than a little diligence to provide against the thirsting desires of Foreiners to wrest this Nations Priviledge of so great a moment out of English hands which by the providence of God through the care of our Ancestors has been for many Ages enjoyed by the Nation as it is indeed its proper right But so it is that for some years past the diligence of Foreiners to enrich themselves upon us has so much exceeded our care to preserve our selves that it 's now come to if not beyond a question Who have the greatest benefit of the manufacture of English Wools They who have no Right unto it or They to whom of Right it doth belong That this is indeed so will appear by considering that not only Holland Flanders and Zealand have long sucked the sweetness of the Sinews of our Trade but France is likewise learning to be too hard for us as is manifest by the great quantities of Wools that of late years have been Transported from England and Ireland thither How injurious it must be to us is also unquestionable if we consider the consequence thereof which was without question much in the eye of our Ancestors as appears by what is above hinted in Edward the 3ds time and in several Kings Reigns since Every Pack of Wooll sent to France doth prevent us not only of the benefit of the manufacture thereof but of two Packs more besides it self viz. Thus It being Combing and Combed Wooll for the most part exported thither The French having no Wools of their own but such as are very coarse are not able to make Cloth or fine Stuffs without the conjunction of ours therewithal there being none to my best information in all the World fit for that purpose but ours only except in North Holland and that a small quantity of fine Worsted Wooll all other being likewise coarse but Spanish Wooll and that much too fine especially for worsted Stuffs and not in any wise fit for Combing so that without English or Irish Wools there can be no quantity of fine worsted Stuffs nor a middle sort of Cloth made in the whole World Neither will any Wools be all mixt together but English and Spanish for Cloth only because the Spanish is with the English of one nature being formerly English Sheep though now much finer for the alteration of the Climate and the nature of the Land whereon it is fed as by good Experience appeareth here in England both near and at a further distance Wherefore the Exportation of English Wools into France must of necessity be greatly prejudicial to this Nation not only in the quantity sent over but also in the advantage which is thereby given to them to manufacture