abuses How much necessary may it then be supposed that there should be very good incouragement given to such honest publique spirited men as should diligently enquire after such sinister practices and as it was before touched those Smuglers are not only well acquainted with some Attorneys and Smugglers are befriended Clerks who will either use undue practices or make delaâ—es but they make good interest with the Under-Sheriffs in the Countyes where they drive their Trade and then these Undersheriffs also have strange tricks and delays in their returns in which some of them will take part with the Offenders instead of executing the Law against them so that such Offenders are incouraged and by this means it is that our Wooll and Fullers Earth and other prohibited Goods are exported so frequently out of the Kingdom and Forrein prohibited Goods and Merchandize imported so that our Manufacture is in a great measure gone to decay other Countries are greatly enriched who also live at a lower rate and work cheaper than our People in England whereby our Trade is much taken off in Forrein parts and our poor live idle with the other inconveniences consequent thereto as hath been already spoken to By this means it is in good part that so much of the Treasure is exhausted Treasure of the Kingdom is exhausted and drawn away to other Lands the general complaint now being what shall we do there is no Money stirring and Lands are reduced to a lower value than formerly they were Now though all these Mischeifes do not flow in at one time and place yet it is like a Pond that is soon filled with many Springs when as one Spring would do it in length of time that which may seem to be at first but a small Evil will in process of time with constant Practice destroy the happiness of the whole Kingdom as a little Leak if not taken notice of and amended will in time sink the greatest Unfaithful Officers Ship or empty the greatest Cistern even so will Offenders unfaithful Officers being the only persons in trust with those affairs fill the Kingdom with Forrein prohibited goods and commodities and empty it of our Wooll and Fullers Earth with other prohibited goods which evil Practices are now so frequent that if not timely prevented by our Ministers of State our Kingdom will be soon filled with Poverty and emptied of Wealth and Happiness by this loss of our Trade and Manufacture which now is in so great danger of sinking and that without all hope unless those that guide the Helm do steer the great Concernments thereof into some secure Harbor and there amend what may by searching be found amiss by displacing such Officers as have proved in the least unjust either by conniving at the Offenders or abetting and assisting them to the great discouragement of those that are faithful in their Imployments and that care also be taken that all due encouragement and countenance be shewed to such as are found to be just faithful and exact observers of the Lawes that are extant against such Smugglers and abusive persons And without doubt there is much Wooll Shipped off from Ireland annually unto forreign parts which might be Wooll out of Ireland as well wrought up in the countrey among themselves there being no want of people and such as for the most part live a lazy kind of life as I have credibly been informed or elce their Wooll if they work it not up might soon be transported over into England in twenty four hours time or thereabout with a fair wind and be wrought up in England which would turn to a treble account of profit as hath been already demonstrated but this I shall refer to others that are more knowing in the Irish trade but I am very apt to beleive the reports that I have heard concerning great quantities of Wooll carryed from thence both to France and Holland but to lay aside the informations of others although very well worthy of belief in all points I shall according to my promise in my Epistle speak to those things of which I have had some large experience I was a Clothier my self and Apprentice to the Trade many years and afterwards set up for my self and followed my Trade many years thriving very well thereby till about nineteen years agoe that I was burnt out of all and put upon the adventures of fortune and taking notice of the occurrances of affairs I did find large testimonies of the decay of Trade with the occasions thereof but while I did keep the Trade going I have rode far and near to get Spinsters and other work folkes and gave great Wages as also did all other Clothiers and yet could not procure half so many as we would have imploy'd but suddenly after our disorders and disregard to our Lawes as aforesaid the Market fell and many Clothiers were forced to leave off their Trades because Clothiers leave off they could not vend their commodity All those poor people formerly so imploy'd were ready to starve for want of bread in and about those places where the Clothiers left off and failed and every day it grew worse and worse and those confusions among us increased more more that very few men were of one mind and hardly any at all that minded the publique good but now some thoughts are busied of restoring things to their Lustre and trade to what it was before the decay Some wise men have been of the opinion that the abating the interest of money would greatly increase and advance trade and very probable it might be a good lift to it Others again being out of hopes of the recovery of the former trade think men must imploy their wits and knowledge in the invention of some new sorts of Manufacture and some covetous wretches have been very ready to declare their opinion that the increase of the interest of money and the abatement of Servants and Workmens wages to which adding great frugality and good husbandry would make the Kingdome to be happy and flourishing again and many there are that make it their business and study to outwit and destroy other men and under pretence of honesty and many by clandestine means swallow up the good and pious gifts of our Ancestors belonging to the Church and to the Poor for in this our Iron age men have left off to do good and loft their obedience to the Lawes of the Land and have ceased from the exercise of those two unspeakable graces Faith and Charity And therefore truly I fear we have little hopes of happiness or being restored to our Pristine flourishing condition Kingdome flourished under King Charles the first till we do return to our old obedience and exercise our selves in love and good works fearing God and honouring the King and not giving our minds to change but let every one endeavour to amend one and strike off from the error of his own waies and
of the Land directly nor indirectly but lay it out in the goods and wares of England their necessary expences excepted according to the true intent and meaning of the said Statute Whether it be not worthy to be taken into consideration concerning the fineness and weight of our English Coin above Quere 20. and beyond the Coin of our neighbouring Nations and whether that be not the cause of its Exportation out of the Land a broad twenty shillings peice of Gold being worth in France Flanders and Holland twenty seven shillings and a Crown piece of silver worth six shillings so that I suppose we may cease wondring what is become of the money of the Kingdome considering it is such profit to the Merchant to transport it beyond Sea Whether it would not very much increase Trading and be highly advantageous to the King's Majesty to have money Quaere 21. plentiful in the Land and greatly benefit the Common-Weale if money in England was in some measure made sutable or equal to the weight and fineness of money in other Lands and whether this would not be a great means of bringing in money from other Lands and then keep it in the Kingdome being brought in by such means the King would be sure to have a speedy supply on all demands for his occasions and it is granted on all hands that good Treasures of Money are the principal Sinews of War Whether we in England ought not in reason to take the Quere 22. same care for the preservation and advancement of our Native Commodities as every other Kingdome and Countrey doth for theirs as in Spain the labour of the people is in their Vineyards for the Production of Wine and Fruit concerning which they take great care that they make the ulmost and spend little of these things themselves that they may make money of them to furnish their needs with what is sutable and many times they will not part with these their goods for Barter or Exchange for other goods but will have ready money and at dear rates too as I have heard by those that have traded into those parts some have given to the Spaniards at the Canaries 100 peices of Eight for an ordinary Pipe of Wine in ready money which 100 Peices of Eight are well worth twenty two pounds Sterling with us and likewise in France concerning their Wines Salt Brandy c. what care is by them taken to make the best of them that may be and what vast quantities of French-Wines Brandy Vinegar c. do come over into England in a year to pay for which I doubt there goes a great deal of ready money and if so in other Countries why should not the same care be taken in England for the advancement of our Manufactures endeavouring thereby to imploy our Poor and so to inrich the Kingdome especially considering the far greater advantages of so doing that we have in England than any other Nation hath as hath been already at large set forth Why should the humour of our people in England so far Quere 23. engage them to an old custome of burying the dead in Linnen as to contradict and disobey so good a Law as was lately made by Act of Parliament for the burial of our dead in Woollen doubtless there was reason enoug then produced in Parliament to sway with the King and those two Honourable Houses for the Enacting the same and whether it be not as decent to cover the dead Corps in Flannel as it is with Linnen beside the burial of the dead in Flannel will greatly advance the Manufacture of the Nation and in reason advance the prizes of all other Woollen wares and this Woollen Cloth is of our own production and when we bury our people in Linne that causeth so much expence for the generality of the goods of other Countries and whether it ought not to be considered that the Law provided in this case ought to be re-inforced Now to draw towards an end I have met with an Objection to this Treatise that it may be judged Superflous because several Books are errant concerning this Subject to which I Answer Though I have reason to beleive them that told me so yet I do beleive that the Reader will find a great difference between this and any other if they be compared together and that in many respects And again I Answer that the more Complaints are made of the Abuses and great Losses to the Kingdome so much the more ought all good men to enquire into the truth of those Complaints and endeavour for sutable Remedies in Tendency whereto I have presented something here by way of Quaere c. And now methinks I hear some wise men say that it is Reason that such abuses should be punished and that severely if any should presume to act such things as are here complained of or any waies vindicate those that do them to the which I answer that I wish that I were called to prove my knowledge of those things without too much charge or Attendance before any that should be appointed to enquire into and to regulate the same for I do not make it my business to set forth in this discourse the perticuler abuses of those Countrey Atturneys Under-Clerks Under-Sheriffs in their returns and the abuses of their Officers and the Assistance that some great Smugglers have from some Magistrates and Justices of the Peace in the Countrey together with the affronts that have been offered to our good Lawes of which I have had a large and sad experience And although our Lawes are good and our Judges are just yet the corruption in the practice of the Law by under-Officers is so exceeding bad and destructive to the Trade and publique good of the Kingdome that in case I should perticularly recite those abuses that I my self have met with among the Practicers of the Law I should fill a Book many times bigger than this And now I shall conclude with the true and hearty wishes of an Englishman that all our Ministers of State may so agree especially in this juncture of time that they may unanimously joyn together as one intire body against all Intruders upon our Trade and Priveledges both at Sea and Land that the Walls of this Kingdome may be built up and preserved and our Tradeing may encrease and flourish so that no cunning Usurpers may rob us of our old Prerogatives of the Seas or the Manufacture of our native Trade upon the Land FINIS In Laudem Authoris Subjecti HAd I but lived in Ben. Johnsons dayes I would have learn't of him to speak the Praise Of Native English Wooll and to set forth It 's real Excellency and it's worth The Poets tell us of the Golden Fleece That Jason undertook to fetch to Greece But that 's a Fiction ours a real thing Which to the Kingdome doth great Riches bring So that no Nation to us might compare If diligent in working
AN ESSAY To the Restoring of our Decayed TRADE Wherein is Described the SMUGLERS LAVVYERS AND OFFICERS Frauds c. By JOSEPH TREVERS LONDON Printed for Giles Widdowes at the Green Dragon in St. Pauls Church-Yard John Sims at the King's Head at Sweetings Alley end in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange and Will. Milward Stationer aâ— Westminster-Hall door in New-Pallace-Yard 1677. The Contents 1. THat no Nation hath such advantages whereby to inrich themselves as England hath 2. That the private Exportation of our wooll and Fullers Earth doth exceedingly binder the Trade of this Kingdome as also doth the private Importation of Forreign Prohibited Goods 3. The ignorance of our common People of the Law in such cases and want of incouragement to the discoverers 4. The great loss our Silk and Ribbon-Weavers 5. That the Trade of Clothing is the cheifest thing in the Nation 6. The profit gained by working up our Wooll by our own poor people is almost unspeakable and influential to all degrees of persons in the Kingdome 7. That there is lost Millions per annum to the King and Kingdome in Customes c. by losing our Trade of Clothing 8. That no other Country affords Wooll to make good cloth without our English Wooll and Fullers Earth 9. A recital of several Statutes concerning Wooll and the Transportation thereof setling the Aulangers Office and for the well making of Cloth and the abuses of our good Lawes 10. Setting forth the industry of the Dutch and other Countries whereby in a great measure they undermine our Trade 11 How the decay of Trade occasions the Poor to be so numerous brings Rents low and consequently Poverty to the Kingdome 12. Several Quaeries Propounded by way of Remedy By A true friend to his Countrey JO. TREVERS To the Right Honourable EDWARD SEYMOUR SPEAKER of the Right Honourable House of COMMONS Treasurer of His Majesties Royal Navy and one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy COVNCEL FOr me to speake of the Nobility and Worth of your Ancestors and the Noble Family most Honoured Sir would be but as an Eclipse of the Sun by the Moon which is the Planet that moves in the lowest Orbe but laying a side all such thoughts the Occasion of the Dedication of this ensuing Treatise to your Honour is First for that you are signally Elected to be the Speaker of the Honourable the House of Commons the Representative of the Kingdome wherein such Lawes are framed and setled as are conducible to the Weal Honour and Safety thereof 2. Because your Honours Abilities are so publiquely manifest as that you are likewise singled out to be one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Councel 3. And that which doth very much move me hereto is because your converse hath been much in and about the Counties of Devon Summerset and Wilts where the Trade of Clothing is very much used and therefore it may in all reason be deemed that your Honours knowledge of and acquaintance with Clothiers and their Imployments is more than ordinary Sir the great Ambition I have to manifest my Loyalty to the King and my zeal to serve the Countrey puts me upon these endeavours to discover not only the advantages by our Manufactures and the disadvantages to the Kingdome by the cessation thereof but also the great Frauds and Abuses in the Out-Ports by the Custome-Officers which when reduced and brought into a better Method by those cheif Officers that are concerned therein I hope it may prove a good Balsome to heal our wounds and a Cordial to our drooping spirits It is well known that the improvement of our Manufactures in this Nation hath a communicative influence upon thousands of young and old people yea maâ—â—â— that are now idle and loose people have been more numerously imploy'd formerly than now they are by reason of the decay of Trade which if it should thus continue or grow worse might be a great means to depopulate the Nation and to draw great burdens upon many Parishes for the maintenance of their Poor but if not timely prevented will cause the Trade to be driven by Forreigner and so exceedingly cause an abatement of Rents among us Sir your publique Imployment your generous and Courteous Deportment give me confidence to Dedicate these Rude and Unpolisht lines to your view because I know you have Ability to judge and Charity to pardon the Errata's that you may find therein When I did first set Pen to Paper about this matter I found my self in a Labyrinth and there might have suffered had not my Education as a Clothier given me a glimmering light to extricate my self And yet when I had purchased my Enlargement by my strict enquiery into those Mysteries I had a great dispute with my self whether I should put my Abortive thoughts into Print or no but more respecting the common good than my private Reputation I resolved rather to make my wishes publique than to bury them in Oblivion Now Sir it is not only a pleasant study for Statesmen to promote the Publike good but the only way to true and lasting Honour and Happiness and that these poor Endeavours of mine may attain that good effect to the King and Countrey as I really design aiming at no other I earnestly beg of God to direct you for the Improvement of them in your publique imployments which may like the 〈◊〉 Heaven break open the Springs of Trade â—â—â—…ary and thirsty Land to revive and refresh the same and by so doing Sir you will not only do eminent service to the King great kindness to your Countrey but also oblige all people to pray for your happiness both in this world and that which is to come for the which also most earnestly prates Your Honours most humble and most devoted Servant JOSEPH TREVERS To his Honoured Friend Cap. Joseph Travers on his Book Entituled An Essay to the Restoring of our decayed Trade IF I a Poet were I 'de undertake To write some Verses for the Authors sake And give him commendation for his pains For I beleive no more will be his gains For such men as do mind the publique good Their merits are but slightly understood Yet unto lasting age their fame shall bud The Author of this Book who took the care Exactly to observe the great affair Of this our Kingdome which consists in Trade Of Clothes and Stuffes which of our Wooll are made Hath here the profit clearly shewn to us And what advantage yearly cometh thus If we were wise to be industrious Together with the mischiess that do come On the whole Kingdome by neglect of some And treachery of others which is worse A heavier and more Prodigious curse Cannot well lighten on the English Nation To send away our Wooll by Transportation This if not cur'd will bring to desolation As much as in them lies for selfish ends Such bring destruction to their best friends First to the Soveraign Majesty of the King Then to the Common-wealth for this doth
lowest there is a necessary dependance of one imployment upon another and the falling off from one general Trade occasions the ruin of many inferior Tradesmen who had subsistence for themselves and Families thereby and this in our Kingdom of England is seated principally and cheifly in the Trade of Cloathing and the Manufacture of Wooll So that upon the failing of this Trade of which there is too great a cessation and decay in many parts of this Kingdom there comes in inevitably such a general loss to the whole Nation for first and most principally the King loseth hereby and that extreamly not only because his The King Looseth Subjects are not set at work and so are unabled to live comfortably and to pay such Taxes and impositions as are requisite for his Majesties support and defence against his powerful Enemies Nor in that the Honor and splendor of the Kingdom is hereby so much advanced and promoted as it might be but also because his Majesty looseth so great a revenue which would accrue to him in his Customes if the Cloathing Trade was carried on with Vigor so that the effectual carrying on or desisting from the Cloathing Trade is of very high Concernment and Importance to the King in profit or loss and so it runs through the meaner sort of People also as hath allready in part been spoken to For what Customes come in Yearly to his Majesty concerning The Kings Customâ—s the Manufactures of Wooll in its several and perticular sorts of the Old and New Drapery in all the Varieties of Stuffes made now a days and Stockins by being Transported to Forreign parts and what store of Money and other goods equivalent to Money being necessary commodities for the Kingdom do they bring in again for our Cloath Stuffs c. so sold or bartered and what Customs again do all those imported goods bring into His Majesties Coffers may not be difficult to be computed besides the imployment of so many Ships and Seamen and training up young Seamen than which nothing in this age of ours is more necessary to be taken care about for there is I believe the greatest want of this sort of men in the Kingdom for although there may be enough found in the Kingdom to Man His Majesties Royal Navy and it may be some to spare yet it is believed there are not neer enough for His Majesties Service and for Merchants service too which may many times be carried on both together as occasion may require And if we do but look back a little to a few Generations past we may soon find what high Advantages have accrued to His Majesty in His Customs and to the Kingdom in general by the Cloathing trade being lively managed by the The Companies of Merchants Merchants and what worthy and noble Companies of Merchants have been Associated and Incorporated whos 's Trading hath for the most part consisted in Woollen cloaths as in the Merchant Adventurers Trading to the east-East-lands and in what esteem their Agents and Factors were in Forreign parts and how Rich and great their Stock and Treasure hath been in so much that they have been able to lend a very considerable supply and assistance to the King or Queen upon any Occasion and Particularly and Eminently may it be spoken to their Honor their Assistance of Queen Elizabeth of most happy Memory in the year Eighty Eight and since upon any Occasion of the like nature Neither is here to be omitted that company which is called the East-land Company whose principal Trading also consists East land Company in the same commodity of Woollen-Cloaths by which they do furnish all those Eastern Countries about the Baltick-Sea and to Russia by which means also our discoveries of those Northern parts of the World have bin made very Evident and well known to Us to the great Advancement of our Navigation to the Northward as far as Green Land and of late years hath given occasion of that Discovery about Hudson's Bay commonly now called the Northwest Passage made by that stout and adventurous Seaman Captain Zachariah Gillam But the main and chief Trades of all are the Turkey and Turkey Company East-India Trades and the Riches by those Companies procured chiefly by Woollen-cloaths So highly Advantagious to the King in His Customs to the Companies in particular and to the whole Kingdom in the general as is not a thing easily to be known or computed How the Turkey Company in particular by their discreet management of the Trade in those parts with that commodity of Woollen-cloaths chiefly do bring into England all the rich Goods from all parts of the Streights and how the East-India Company by their Trade in the same commodity East-India Company in a great measure do purchase the Rich commodities of India Persia China and the South-seas with the Odoriferous Drugs of Arabia and all such Goods as those countries afford for necessary Use and Delight although of late years the Dutch have wrought us out of a great part of the South-Sea Trade of which more might be largely The Dutch have spoiled our trade in the South seas spoken concerning their usage of our English-men in those parts but that it hath bin already sufficiently laid out in Print to the view of the English Nation And to add a little to what was before intimated what excellent Good ships built yearly Ships are annually built and prepared for the services of these two Honorable Companies whose imployment as aforesaid is principally for the Exportation of our Woollen-cloaths and if we do look back but to thirty years past four or five Ships of the Turk's men of War durst not adventure upon one of our Smirna Ships and also how worthy is it of Consideration to take notice how many of our best Seamen Seamen bred up and Artists are bred up in those imployments by the two last worthy Companies Imployment So that besides what Revenue is brought to the King in his Customs by these great Sea-Trades of these worthy Companies mentioned both for the Exportation of their cloaths c. and the Importation of all manner of Goods by this Stock so purchased abroad in Forreign parts our Merchants are grown marvellous Merchants grow rich Rich in so much that they are able upon any necessary Occasion that His Majesty hath for Money to furnish him at Can lend the King money a weeks warning and that which is worthy the noting also our Seamen are grown of late years to be the most famous in the world to the great glory honor and safety of His Majesty and the Kingdom and all this is evident by what hath bin said to arise chiefly next to the blessing of Heaven from the Manufacture of our Wool in England by our own people which how much it ought to be incouraged and of what high concernment it is to the Honor Wealth and Security of the Kingdom let the Sober and
goods are brought in among us to the great injury and undoing of many Tradesmen as Silk and Ribbon Weavers and other Artificers in and about London and several parts of the Kingdome which occasions the great decay and loss of our own Manufacture with the loss of the imployment of the Poor to the ruine of many thousands of men women and children that have had their dependance cheifly if not only on those Merchandises which are dayly Imported from France Flanders and other Sea-ports secretly into this our Kingdome There are many of our Sea-Port Towns and several Creeks and holes along the South-shore of England besides Dover Rumney Fairlee Hastings Foleston Rye Bredhempston c. where these things are practised and indeed in the Summer time when it is fair weather goods may be Landed on the Shoar and Shipped off from the Shoar on Vessels all along the Coast almost from Dover to the Lands end in Cornwal and many times there are both brought ashore and Wooll Shippâ—d off carried off such Goods as are Prohibited both wayes both for coming into the Land and carrying out of the Land and this done in a fair night and the goods brought in lye sheltred in Countreymens houses which can hide and secure them till there be a convenient opportunity to dispose otherwise of them with safety and these Countreymen help them to Horses to carry them to London or other Markets Neither do I here mention any thing of the North-Coast because I have hitherto been altogether unacquainted with those parts although I have reason to beleive that the same Smuggling Trade is also practised in those quarters for their Coast lying over against Holland doubtless the people there are as ready to comply privately in forbidden tradeing with the Dutch as along the South-Coast they are with he French notwithstanding there is sufficient Provision made in our Lawes against such sinister and evil Practices But about Kent and Sussex are most frequently imported Prohibited goods from France and Flanders and they are goods of such value that a single Horseman may arry five or six hundred pounds worth about him and yet it shall hardly be known that he hath any thing with him Now if these things were well considered what quantities of goods are privately imported and so as that they are seldome discovered with what also comes into the River of Chatham River Medway alias Chatham which lies about twenty seven miles from London by Land and the most convenient River in England I beleive to Land goods privately it would easily appear what loss it is to his Majesty in perticular in his Customes which by these and such like Practies are stollen and in general to the Trade of the whole Kingdome It is also well known that those which steal the Duties of the King's Customes and do Import and Export Prohibited Goods and Commodities are none of the meanest persons in the places where they dwell but such who oftentimes have great interest with the Magistrates about those places and seeing they get their money so easily by not paying the Kings due Custome for their goods as honest Merchants do and being Purse-proud do not value what they spend to ingratiate themselves into the favour of such Gentlemen as Smugglâ—rs mâ—ke maâ—y friends have authority as aforesaid and then make it their business by the assistance of such Magistrates and their countenance to destroy all such as shall discover their fraudulent dealings or elce by some small Bribes to stop their mouths that so these Cheats may avoid the penalty of the Law and prevent others from the future from discovering their doings The King's Custome houses ought to be so many locks and Keys to the Kingdome to let what is warrantable and lawful to come in and to keep out what is forbidden its entrance and to prevent the great abuses that are so frequently complained of both in the Exportation of our Prohibited goods and the Importation of Forreign goods forbidden by Law and if the Officers were but as vigilant and faithful as they ought to be they might easily and readily prevent these enormities with their care and diligence which are so dayly practised But it is too well known how remiss and careless the Blank Certificates a Cheat. Officers are and neglectful of their duties in many of the out-Ports especially that it is a thing very usual with Smugglers to get blank Certificates with the Seal of the Custome-house to take up their Bonds that are given for the true delivery Exchanging the Master of the Vissel of their goods at some other Port in England and moreover there is a great cheat in the shifting Masters of such Vessels as take in such goods they will oftentimes exchange the Master before he goes out of the Liberty of the Port where the goods were Shipped and yet if all these things fail and their coast Bonds come to be forfeited and put into Suit it is not to be exprest the delayes shifts and deceitful tricks that are practised by some undersheriffs and their Deputies in their returns and in the Execution of the Law which ought to be done both with speed and justice but both these are by such persons omitted and these kind of doings do highly incourage these offenders in their sinful practices I have also observed that the Farming the King's Customes Farming the King's Customes hath been an occasion of great prejudice to the trade of the Kingdome and the publique good for when the weal and good of the whole Nation comes in competition with the Injury to the Kingdome present profit of the Farmers they are apt to resolve the question for their own advantage permitting Prohibited goods to be Landed so long as the due Customes for them come into their Coffers and the under-Officers knowing what the Farmers their Masters do are very apt to learn the trade to let pass our goods out of the Land that are also prohibited and those Smuggling Merchants that deal in such kind of wares can easily find out the blind side of such Officers that will be bribed to wink at such their deceitful practises such an unfaithful Officer shall be highly commeâ—ded among these theevish Merchants for a brave fellow one that knows his business and for a very civil person that will do a Merchant a kindness upon occasion Thus evil is called good and good is stiled evil as I said before those Officers that Springs to fill us with Forreign goods are faithful to King and Countrey are called Knaves Troublesome fellowes evil Neighbours c. these the honest good men ' c. Good Lord what a pass are we come to in this Nation people account it no sin to steal from the King and now a daies those that practice such things have changed the terme it is not by them called stealing Custome but saving custome for my part I am of the opinion that he that steals Custome from
the King to the value of twenty shillings deserves to be punished as well as he that steals so much from any other man For as I heard a Scholler once a reasoning either it is this or that c. so I say here either Custome is the Kings due or it is not but no man dares be so impudent as in words to deny it but they must needs acknowledge it a truth that it is his due and if so why then do they not give to Caesar the things that are his according to the Commandement of our Saviour and the Commandement of the King and Parliament it being established by Law and constituted for the publique good and the general advancement of the Trade of the Nation and such Officers as will not comply with these sort of people to cheat the King are called Fooles men that do not know their business but if another had that Office he would make something of it c. but such men minding the faithful and conscionable discharge of their duty to God to the King and Kingdome with the blessing of God live better and do a thousand times more good than others and may be principal Instruments to make the Kingdome happy and flourishing I have had discourse with some persons who have had the thoughts of getting a Pattent to put the Laws into Execution that are against the Transportation of Wooll and other Pattent against Transporting Wooll prohibited commodities but I can hardly think they would be careful and diligent in that imployment except they should reap a considerable profit for their labour how should they expect to ballance their expence I refer to the censure of the judicious except it be by conniving at or do more harm than good compounding with the Offenders so that by such a design as this the transgressors may be encouraged to sin more and more for if such Patentees should too much discourage that sort of people that carry off the Wooll c. to other Nations who are the only men that must bring grifts to their Mill it would be as ridiculous a thing as for Lawyers to perswade people to peace and by that means lose their Practice and it is generally beleived that there would be more Prohibited goods transported then than what have been before if the care for the putting the Lawes into Execution were once committed to Pattentees for as in other cases of the same nature the love of Money is so natural and money so much hunted after that it may be acquired that the minding of putting the Lawes into Execution and men doing faithfully and uprightly their duty is not a thing now a dayes at all regarded or taken into consideration as it ought to be But I hope that his Majesty with all the Peers of the Realm and all others are made in some good measure sensible of the great concernement of Trade and the sad effects and consequents of exporting our Wooll Fullers earth c. as also of the idleness of our poor people occasioned by the loss of forreign Markets for our woollen Manufactures that I think it is high time for all Loyal Subjects to give their utmost assistance to discover all Offenders and make them manifest in their kind and for all Superiors to give their just assistance that the Lawes may be put into a speedy and severe execution against all Delinquents as soon as made visible In the dayes of King Edward the third formerly spoken of and since to the times of our late unhappy confesions the Trade of Clothing made the Kingdome flourish for many years together and doubtless would do so again if our Lawes were but put into Execution and every one were obliged to discover and make manifest the Transgressors for this is not a business for two or three men to do let them imploy themselves with all endeavours imaginable but the eyes of all men must be about this matter tending to such a Reformation and the Courts of Judicature must be expeditious and severe in the administration of Justice against such Offenders when once convicted and let not one of them be spared who deserve to be punished without mercy because for a little private advantage they do their utmost to bring ruine on the whole kingdome I could also declare other things that might be very assistant to the increase of Trade and the prosperity of the Kingdome which is not so convenient to be made publique before it be debated among the Clothiers and Tradesmen It hath pleased his Majesty to plant such Commissioners now for the management of his Customes that it is hoped they will do much good especially in the regulation of the Out-Ports concerning those notorious evil practises which have been continually done among them and for the encouraging of those Officers that are honest and faithful if they should be troubled at any time or be any wayes damnified about lawful seizures by reason of Actions brought against them that they shall be releived by the Commissioners and the charges that may arise in such cases at the Law to be born by the common stock I could say something for the Staplers though not much Concerning Staplers Quaere 1. because I cannot find by our Lawes that any such people were in those dayes when the Trade and Manufacture of Wooll was first brought into England and yet Wooll was sent to the Staples and all the Manufacturers thereof had those sorts that suited best for their trade and we got and kept the whole trade of our English wooll and of other Countries to our selves in this Kingdome and had the command of the forreign Markets which was the occasion of the first setling all those Companies as hath been formerly and briefly set forth and I doubt not but that those Staplers will set a gloss upon their business and without question their money doth speak much for them lying for the most part in and about London so near to the Fountain of the Lawes yet I do verily beleive those people have much to answer for as to the ruine of many poor people occasioned by their Exportation of Wooll beyond Sea by which evil practice the Trade of the kingdome is in a great measure lost as hath been set forth already something largely by reason whereof many of our poor people in the kingdome are ready to perish for want of Bread notwithstanding the great plenty in the Land and this is because they want work I should lose time further to complain seeing all people are experimentally sensible of the loss and decay of Trade to the great disadvantage of the Nobility and Gentry in the Land as also to the great detriment of the Farmer and Merchant although indeed the Poor are most pinchingly sensible hereof throughout the King's Dominions and hence ariseth the want of Money the thing by all men complained of and the fall of Rents occasioned thereby I shall now proceed by way of Quaery to
propound and insinuate something that may tend towards a remedy for these Maladies formerly complain'd of and to be a restorative to our decaying Trade and to help it to life again for as Physitians having found out the cause of the Distemper know the readier how to apply what is sutable in order to the Cure So here I having I hope discovered the causes and occasions of our lose of Trade shall take the boldness to give in tacitly my advice most humbly begging pardon for such a presumption and in all submission presenting my conceptions to better judgements VVHether it would not be convenient to have a Committee of Clothiers some of the principal of all Counties with Merchants of the several Cities and some other Tradesmen and Artificers to be appointed whose other weighty affairs might not obstruct this great design of reviving and advancing our Trade to its former height and luster and that some of those Gentlemen sit at a certain known place as their occasions may permit so that some of them may be ready at all times to receive Petitions or Projections from workmen which may any way tend to the encrease and encouragement of Trade and for such Committees to prepare and digest the same into such a Method and form as might occasion the Production of such further Lawes if so thought necessary for the future as might restore and advance the Clothing Trade and the well making of Cloth and all sorts of goods both in the old and new Drapery and the rectifying such abuses among all other Tradesmen that are any way imployed about the said Draperies Whether all those Laws against Exportation and Importation Quaere 2. of Prohibited goods and for the punishment of unfaithful Officers of the Customes and others intrusted that do connive at such abuses to the King and Kingdome and neglect the faithful performance of their duty ought not to be put into effectual Execution and whether all other Lawes tending to the same matter or have any relation to these things ought not once in a moneth upon the market day to be publiquely read and declared especially in the Sea-Port townes round about the Land that by this means all the common people who have the best and greatest opportunities for discovering Offenders might know the Law and so consequently know how and wherein to do the King and Countrey service such as might be very acceptable to them and should not be unprofitable to themselves if they would be careful and diligent to watch and look out Whether all people ought not to be encouraged that shall Quaere 3. discover such as Transport Prohibited goods either into the Kingdome or out of it and that care should be taken for them in a very special manner that they might be protected from vexatious Suits and Troubles which are usually brought upon them that do discover such transgressors that so others may be terrified from such like discoveries allthough therein by making known such Smugglers that they may receive the justice of the Law they do the King and Kingdome the highest service that may be and that care may be taken how their Credits Families and Fortunes may be preserved against the malice of such Miscreants whose common practice is to multiply troubles on all such as do any way molest them in their unjust designes Whether the evil presidents on some faithful Officers being Quaere 4. vexed and molested by these Smugglers and their Adhaerents for doing their duty and being just in their places for the publique good both of King and Kingdome may not give occasion to many other Officers to take Bribes and comply with those Smugglers to cheat his Majesty of his due Customes rather than to run the hazard of such molestations to the utter ruine of themselves and Families Whether it may not be necessary to put those Laws into Quaere 5. Execution that appointed Staples on purpose to sell Wooll at and that none should be bought sold or bargained for but in the publique Market by the Clothiers or the Manufacturers therof or should be carryed too or from any place or lodged near the water-side under any pretence whatsoever without the Licences of some Officers appointed on purpose except only in the day-time by publique and open carriages from the place of its growth to the publique Market so that all those which shall carry Wooll concealed and others who with force of armed men in the night transport it to the water side in order to their private Shipping it off with as much obscurity as they can might be discovered by some honest Shepherds Husbandmen Porters or Watermen whose occasions call them to be abroad both early and late and so they have more convenient opportunities to find out such evil doers than other people have and that such as do give in Information of such transgressors shall be Protected and well rewarded Whether the wilful transgression of the Laws of the Land Quaere 6. made setled by the King Lords Commons in Parliament continued in obstinately practised be not the ready if not the only Introduction to Rebellion when such evil doers as have been formerly spoke of do make it their utmost endeavour to destroy the publique for a little private advantage as hath been already so much complained of having no respect to the Laws of the Land that Prohibit such evil practices as theirs and whether this be not a high contempt of the Authority aforesaid that Enacted those good Lawes Whether it would not forward the great work of reviving Quaere 7 our Trade and prevent those abuses complained of if an Office was appointed in every County to be kept by some honest upright men who have a clear respect to the publique good and advancing the National Trade that might receive all Informations of such abuses and transgressions of the Laws of the Land in the case before mentioned from any people that should be the discoverers of the same and that such Officers may have power to examine Witness upon Oath and if there be found a real guilt in the Accused person or persons that such Officer shall give to such discoverer of his or their good service and the matter to be Prosecuted at Law by a publique charge and the persons though never so mean that have given the Informations should be assured to receive his reward by vertue of his Certificate without any manner of trouble or charge to himself as soon as the Suit shall be determined all which would be carryed on with much ease and be accomplished in a short time if such an Officer as did Prosecute for the King had the countenance of the Courts of Judicature as they ought to have and the Cities and Countries made throughly sensible that this matter is of so great concernment to the publique good so that all Smugglers might be so much discountenanced by all people both high and low that none should