I. in the First Year of his Reign Repeals all sumptuary Rules Anno primo Jac. I. cap. 25. and let loose the Reins to Excess in Apparel and Wine in Favour of Scotland He likewise Repealed the Law against Hawkers and Pedlers cap. 33. made in the Reign of Edward the Sixth and gave Liberty to Transport our Wooll under the Custom of Thirty three Shillings Four Pence of every Merchant born Denizen for a Sack which contain'd Eighteen Score and Three Pound Six Shillings Eight Pence for every Merchant Stranger not born Denizen And I think I need not spend time to shew how this Physick work'd by degrees amongst our English Subjects but am well assured by one Misselden a Merchant that wrote in the Year 1622 a little Tract upon the Decay of the Trade in England That Indian Commodities was got into England as much in those Days as in ours which he then urged as the chief Cause of the Scarcity of Money in England at that time In the Seventh Year of this Reign we had an English Parliament sate which gave a Subsidy to the King out of all Goods and Merchandizes of Two Shillings and Eight Pence in the Pound to be paid by every Person born within this Realm of England and Five Shillings and Four Pence by every Alien and Stranger born out of the King's Obeisance Four Shillings in the Pound out of all Land in the Hands of all Persons born under the Kings Obeisance and Eight Shillings in the Pound out of all Lands in the Hands of Aliens Denizens or not Denizens born out of the King's Obeysance How sar this distasted the Court at that time I can't tell but no Parliament was called until Fourteen Years after Foelix quam faciunt c. Charles the First did nothing in Trade for the good of his Subjects Oliver Cromwell put out a Proclamation upon the Thirteenth Day of May 1655 to support the Merchant-Adventurers of England in their Trade and particularly Established a Staple for English Goods at Dordrecht in Holland which place was agreed upon between the Fellowship of the Merchant-Adventurers of England and the Magistrates of that City he strictly forbad any English Woollen-Manufactures to be carried to any other Parts of Holland and at this time our East-India Trade was quite sunk Lands in England was never higher than at this time nor ever a more general Imployment for our Poor which brought much Riches in few Years into this Kingdom and gave such satisfaction to our Artificers that those times are still remembred with Veneration to this very day Charles the II. laid the Foundation of our Misfortunes in Trade by the Settlement of the Book of Rates so much in favour of France and our East-India Company particularly upon the Article of Linnens which is a Commodity of great Use in England and our Plantations and natural to be rais'd in France Flanders and Germany which three Places stand in Competition with this Commodity and the least favour in Customs given to any one must needs distance the other Flemish Gentish Isingam Overisils Rouse Brabant Embden Frieze-Cloth Bag-Holland Brown Holland all Flanders Linnens was charg'd at three pence per Ell Custom Fine Broad Dowlas of France the Piece containing one hundred and six Ells was charged at Five Shillings a little above one half-penny per Ell and all other sorts of Linnen in like proportion a piece of fine Lawns containing thirteen Ells of Germany Linens was charged at six Shillings Custom a piece of fine Muslin or Callico from the East-Indies six-pence per piece This impoverisht the Linen-Manufactures in Flanders and Germany and as much advanc'd the French which made way to the French Conquests in those Parts As the Consumption of Flanders and Germany Linnens lessen'd in England the consumption of our Woollen-Manufactures sunk in a like proportion in those Parts which in the Year 1663 made the Woollen-Manufacturers Petition the Parliament against the Merchant-Adventurers having large Stocks of Cloth upon their hands which they could not Sell the Parliament at that time Addresseth the King to make a Trial of a Free-Trade which was then seconded by some other English Merchants who were not Free of that Company who prevail'd and with strained false Cloth made some advantage to themselves in Flanders and Holland at the first time but this Gap being open'd to the Hollanders the English Interlopers were totally rooted out by the Dutch and other Nations and Agents for them settled in England which is well in Memory Wooll sunk from twenty five shillings per Todd to fourteen and the other produce of Land in like proportion and this un-easiness gain'd another Advantage to the French and Dutch In the twenty fifth Year of King Charles II. a Law was procured to take off Aliens-Duties which was the Fatal Stroke to our English Merchandize and Navigation which by this Means was preserved from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth It is well remembred how all French Commodities were encourag'd in England Linnen Clarets Brandy Silks Gauzes nay Druggetts made of our own Wooll c. The French could now turn their Clarets and Brandy into Perpetuana's and Colchester Bays and send them to Spain upon as good Terms as any Englishman and have Home Pieces of Eight in Return and Spanish Wooll in a settled Course of Trade which the King of France improved to the very utmost and upon a Modest Computation above a quarter part of the Wooll of this Kingdom was carried into France James the II. did nothing relating to Trade in his Reign His Martial Genius led him to the execution of that which was prepar'd in the last And upon this foot we stood at the Revolution at which time we could not reasonably promise our selves any safety without lessening the power of France who by the enjoyment of these advantages in Trade ever since the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second was come to a prodigious heighth The stop of our Wooll the Improvement of our Manufacture English Merchandize and Navigation the natural supply of our Treasure to a thinking Politician might have been a good help to the attainment of this End but nothing alas of this could be done without touching the Interest of Holland and in the heat of these Affairs the Vogue of a free Trade a free Trade Lil-ly Bullero a free Trade so much prevailed that instead of making up our Mounds which were pull'd down in K. Charles II's Reign like the inconsiderate Trojans we pull'd down our Walls to let them in and usher'd in a Clause by way of Rider in a pretended Bill to prevent the Exportation of Wooll to the Destruction of our Factories abroad the Father destroy'd his own Son and all opposition to this Interest in Trade has hitherto prov'd ineffectual A numerous Petition the very next Year to prevent the Transportation of Wooll by taking off the Felony and to redress some Grievances in Trade from a County then declining in
Lock in his Position That an equal quantity of Silver is always of equal value to an equal quantity of Silver I think was scarce Orthodox on either side We may with less difficulty be slipt out of our Silver Coin than we had to procure it and the difficulty of former times will I hope put us upon Consideration in this matter in due time The Banishment of all Cotton-Linens out of Enrope was once propos'd at a Treaty of Nimeguen which would be an excellent Expedient at this time to increase the Treasure of Christendom to strengthen our Alliance by a profitable Commerce in our Woollen Manufactures and the Flaxen Linens of Flanders Germany and Holland which will be the best Guard against France establish a more solid Foundation for Charity and make our Habits more agreeable to our Profession Had Dorcas's Garments been made of Muslin her Name had hardly been memoriz'd by the Tears of the Poor Solomon compares a Vertuous Woman to the Merchants Ships Prov. 31. v. 14. and I think no Women were ever so exact to the Letter of the Simile as ours in Flag and Sail extended in levity a prora puppique and if they do not so fully answer the end of the Simile as might be wisht in bringing home our Treasure as is seemingly intimated by the Wooll Flax Spindle and Distaff I am sure they contribute very much by their Musling-Sails to the carrying of it out had Solomon lived in our days all his Wisdom had fail'd him in distinguishing the Harlot by her Attire And since these Indian Commodities has made so little difference between Abigail and my Lady in Habits the Master too often took one instead of the other which may have occasion'd a greater inconveniency than we are well aware of in preventing the due reproofs of this extravagancy thro' fear of a closer application at Home Lectures against Pride were Jewels by their rarity in our late Reigns and hereby this Monster Pride has made her own Intrenchment The next Point to be considered is our Merchandize in which we are evidently expiring Eight Parts in Ten of the Native Commodities of this Kingdom which are Transported I am well assured are bought in England by Forein Merchants and our English Factories abroad sunk in a like proportion and a very great share of the profit of our easie Retail Trades in England is geting into the hands of Aliens of a lower degree Nay we have Wooll-brogging Jews It was said in the Reign of Edward the Sixth that their Names Numbers and Nations were unknown and into what a Babel are we got into an English-man may soon lose his own Language upon the East part of our Exchange I can't but wish the Wind may vary from that Point that we may carry our Merchandize out and they tarry at home The reason which was urged in Henry the Seventh's Reign was that when Foreigners had got Estates in England they carried them into their own Countries which is very natural as our Merchants brought their Estates home but here is the odds there is a Seminary of Merchants still growing in England out of the younger Sons of our Gentry who have always Fortunes given them by their Friends when most of these Foreigners come very light into England wholly depending upon Commissions which is now drove very low and if they take to drink high instead of carying an Estate home in a fair way they many times make their Fortunes by the loss of our Manufacturers get an Estate over and never pay as Trade is now settled in Advices twice a Week how all Commodities govern a Dutch or German Merchant can manage a Stock in England by an Agent of his lodging in a Garet at a Packer's House or by some Englishman for one per Cent. Commission whilst his Stock is secure from any Taxes and the whole benefit and influence thereof accrews to his own Countrymen No Man fixt in a good way of living in his Native Country will be willing to leave it and if we must make them fat here I can't but think our own Subjects by a preservation of their Rights will thrive best in our own Pastures How much per Cent. the profit of our Merchandize may be allowed to be or what Concern it is for us to secure this Employment for the youner Sons of our Gentry I shall not determine only consider briefly the attendant inconveniencies of this alteration to the Publick I. THE Government of Trade is hereby taken out of our hands which gives double advantage to the Alien in buying of our Goods and selling of his own as likewise in some measure the Government of the Exchange No Person now living can remember the like loss that our Nation lately sustained in this particular twenty five per Cent. advantage in Remittance of Money to buy Tallies at Five and Forty per Cent. and receive Eight per Cent. Interest which Money is now spent in Holland a hard Article upon us that so great a part of the Revenue of our Kingdom is spent abroad Madder is sold above double the usual Price Spiceries a third part advance c. II. Since this Alteration vast quantities of our Wooll has been Transported our Manufactures much debas'd carry'd off without being fully manufactur'd and many Goods smuggled to the loss of the King's Custom III. THE strength of our Nation in case of a War is hereby much lessen'd Supposing a War with Holland and the Exeter Serge-Makers wholly depending upon Dutch Merchants they could not subsist long when many instances may be brought in the like Case when the Merchant-Adventurers of England took off vast quantities of Goods and laid them up to the out-side of their Stocks and being Men of Interest borrowed much more for the same purpose and the Service they did this Kingdom Anno 88 is worthy to be remembred to their honour when they supply'd the Navy-Royal with a whole Ships lading of Powder and Shot from Hamburgh which came luckily even in articulo temporis when there was a great want thereof and far greater quantities of Cloth has been Ship'd off by this Company than ever was in a loose disorderly Trade and larger English Ships employed which would be of Service in a War IV. Hereby the sharpest People of all Countries are let in upon us After our Coin was par'd to the quick it was admirable to hear the Logical Discourses of our Coffee-Houses upon the intrinsick value of a Guinea which by the strength of Reason was brought up to Thirty Shillings directly contrary to a Law made in the Reign of Edward the Sixth being settled a little time at this value and considerable Payments made to our Woollen-Manufacturers for large quantities of Goods bought at little or no Advance the Summer Crop of Wooll bought up some for Holland and another part by our Wooll-boggers about Michaelmas the danger of the Fall of Guineas begin to appear those that had Wooll remaining upon hand would not sell but at a proportionable advance the Jobbers held theirs at a like Rate the Manufacturer is brought upon the Rack to take the Wooll at this Price or his Work-People starve as soon as this is done and Goods came to Market early in the Spring the Tyde turn'd all was at Stake if the Price of Guineas was not brought down the Manufacturers that had the dear Goods upon hand petition'd the Parliament to ward the Blow but ineffectual the Guineas made a trip to Holland which made a stop in Trade the Clothier sold that Cloth which he could not afford under 15 l. at 10 l. some at 9 l. The last thing I shall mention to prove my Assertion is our Navigation in which particular we are come to a lower Ebb if possible not one Ship in 40 employ'd in our Merchandize to Holland Flanders and Breme and very few to Hambro and the East-Country to which parts two thirds of the Native Commodities of this Kingdom are Exported and a greater share of our Plantation-Goods a very great increase of Shiping at Breme where every Ship which they have advanc'd have sunk the Imployment of a Ship in England Most Merchants are concern'd in Shiping and its natural to imploy their own Country-men how much the strength of our Nation is lessned in this particular I leave to the more judicious the imployment of as many Seamen as would Man a Fleet for our Security is hereby lost who are always within the compass of a Post-Letter twice a Week our own Seamen are hereby become Strangers in our home Seas which would be of as good service and as much to be depended upon as if kept in the King's Pay which Proposal I take to be the same with that of building Work-Houses for the Imployment of our Poor whilst at the same time the Dutch and French get a quarter-quarter-part of our Wooll Nothing in the eye of reason but an effectual stop to our Pride and Luxury in a Forein Consumption as well upon a Politick as a Religious account can secure this Kingdom from ruine The Dutch and Forein Nations are actually in the possession in Merchandize and Navigation of the profitable part of our Commerce in respect to the Publick The Stock remaining in English hands is chiesly imploy'd in bringing home Materials to maintain this Pride and Luxury and in ingrossing all sorts of Materials to the greater Oppression of our Poor which Stock being stopt upon one hand will naturally fall into the other by the Support and Enlargement of our Hambro East Country and Russia Companies under due Regulations And our Misery or Welfare resolving it self by the actions of this great Council I hope all true Englishmen will join in hearty Prayers for a Blessing upon Your Undertakings That no more of our English Subjects may starve in our Streets
Britania Expirans OR A BRIEF MEMORIAL OF COMMERCE Humbly Offer'd to the Parliament LONDON Printed 1699. Britannia Expirans TO the End there should be a Commerce amongst Men it hath pleas'd God to invite as it were one Country to Traffick with another by the Variety of Things which the one hath and the other hath not which the Winds and Sea proclaim Quòd vento gentis locis dissipatas miscuit sua omnia in regiones ita descripsit ut necessarium mortalibus esset inter ipsos comercium and this Seneca thought to be a principle Benefit of Nature that there should be a necessity of Commerce amongst Men. IN what a miserable condition were the Netherlanders if they receiv'd not a Supply from other Nations they have nothing of their own and yet they abound in all things by the Supply and Revenue they receive from other Nations IF any Kingdom under the Sun can subsist of it self none has more reason to bless God than this Island of ours which is richly adorned with variety of all things necessary for Mans Life and Welfare as Corn Cattle Fish Fowl Sider Wool Cloth Leather Tin Lead Iron Hops Timber Flax c. whereby we have not only sufficient for our Maintenance but do abundantly supply the Wants of other Nations in a wonderful Variety of our Woollen Manufactures Tin Lead Leather c. and no one Commodity that can be named which we are under an absolute Necessity of YET notwithstanding so many excellent and valuable Enjoyments there is so great a power in the Management and Contrivance of Commerce that no Nation hath ever been under greater Declensions in Trade at several periods of time than ours which by a Brief Survey of former Times as well as by a due Consideration of our present seems to have been evidently occasion'd By a too great consumption of Foreign Commodities purchast with our Treasure And by a too great Indulgence of Foreign Merchants Edward III. laid the Foundation of our Riches by the Establishment of our Woollen Manufactures in England Tricesimo septimo Ed. 3. cap. 9 to the carrying on of which Noble Design of his he strictly injoyn'd the Wear of our Woollen Manufactures by several Ranks and Degrees of People by Sumptuary Laws He took exact care that Merchants Aliens Tricesim octavo Edw. 3. cap. 2. who sold any Commodities in England should invest the Money upon the Growth of this Kingdom And by his wise Conduct in these Affairs he made a considerable Advance in the Riches and Glory of England in a few Years Richard II. by the Neglect of his Grand-Fathers Rules lost ground as fast which made a great un-easiness amongst the Kentish Men in which Parts the Cloth-Trade was first establisht even to a Rebellion Anno quinto Rich. II. cap. 1. He made England a Free Port and gave a general Invitation by Act of Parliament to all Merchants Strangers to come with their Goods and Families cap. 2. and Trade Freely in all Parts of his Dominions as well within Franchises as without by Gross or Retail to be under his safe Protection and depart into their own Countries as freely again Anno undecimo Rich. II. cap. 7. And if any Corporation gave them any disturbance they should Forfeit their Charter to the King which mounted in effect to a general Act of Naturalization and upon Payment of their Customs before-hand he made them a considerable Abatement He likewise gave them a liberty to Transport half their Money Decimo quarto Rich. II. cap. 1. BUT Alas These mistaken Politicks in few Years drain'd the Treasure of this Kingdom to that low Ebb that this Unfortunate Prince was denied a Loan of one Thousand Pounds by the City of London and forc'd shamefully to resign the Government He married the Lady Anne Daughter to the Emperor Charles the Fourth who very much incouraged her Country-Men the Bohemians to the discontent of the English Nobility and as the Historian tells us she brought in High-Head Attire picked with Horns and long-trained-Gowns for Women a Melancholy Omen in those days and if we have any Plot carrying on amongst us at this time I perswade my Self it is in this perticular this being the chiefest Seat of Treason at present Sampson set the Philistines Corn-Fields on Fire with Foxes Tails and if King Richard by this means was drove out of his Kingdom I can't tell but it may be a likely way to bring in or no Pride and Luxury seems to bid faire Henry IV. Who succeeded him Anno quarto Hen. IV. cap. 15. soon perceived the mischief which his Kingdom sustained by this indulgence to Foreign Merchants and in the Fourth Year of his Reign he oblig'd all Merchants Strangers to bestow their whole Money upon the Commodities of this Realm upon forfeiture of any Gold Silver or Plate which they should carry out Excepting their reasonable cost And in the next Year it was Enacted Anno quinto Hen. 4. cap. 7 that Merchant-Strangers shall be intreated and demeaned within this Realm in the manner form and condition as the Merchant-Denizens be or shall be intreated or demeaned in the Parts beyond the Sea upon pain of forfeiture to the King the Goods and Chattels of such Merchant-Strangers cap. 9. he likewise obliged Merchant-Aliens to put in Sureties that they would imploy their Money upon Commodities of this Realm and likewise appointed Officers to inspect their buyings and sellings and in the Year 1406. he granted a Charter to the Merchant-Adventurers of England Henry V. In the Fourth Year of his Reign confirms the aforesaid Laws Anno quarto Hen. V. cap. 5. And in the Eighth Year of his Reign he obliged every Merchant-Stranger to bring one ounce of Bullion of Gold to the Mint to be Coin'd for every Sack of Wool which he bought and one ounce of Gold or the vallue Anno octavo Hen. V. cap. 2. in Bullion of Silver for every three pieces of Tin upon forfeiture of the Wool and Tin Henry VI. In the Second Year of his Reign strictly enjoin'd Merchant-Alliens to put in Sureties in the Chancery Anno secundo Hen. VI. c. 13. every Company for them of their Company that none of them should carry any Gold or Silver out of the Kingdom and if any Proof could be made beyond the Sea upon any Merchant that went over his Sureties was obliged to make it good in England Anno octavo Hen. VI. c. 24. And whereas these Merchants-Alliens had obtained at this time a Credit with many of their Merchandizes whereby great losses fell upon the Manufacturers it was Enacted That no Credit should be given by any Manufactuerer to such Merchant-Alien upon forfeiture of his Goods Decimo octavo Hen. VI. cap. 4. In the Eighteenth Year of this Reign a farther Expedient was us'd to prevent the Exportation of their Bullion The Major Bailif or Chief Officer of every City where any Merchant-Alien