believe an Act of Naturalization would inlarge the Trade of this Nation so would the planting Foreign Protestants in Ireland And it seems but reasonable that this Nation should make some Advantage by that sink of their Blood and Treasure which they never yet have done but every Forty Years at most are put to the Expence of a New War It is astonishing to reflect on the Story of that Kingdom in which it is said there hath been above Fifteen Hundred Thousand English murdered in Fifty Two Rebellions It would be but a reasonable and provident Consideration how to prevent such continual bleeding in that Kingdom for the future But Matters of State is not the design of this Discourse only where Trade must call to it for Aid as in this case it seems to do for the Government to give a hand to the planting that Kingdom by which it may be profitable to this and it can never be by lying waste or being kept poor which is a general Opinion amongst us and I fear one of our most pernitious Mistakes in Trade as it is point of our security we should allow some Thoughts and Value for the Bodies of Men and if we did so there would not be such continued Slaughter in that Kingdom without producing one good Statute to secure that Countrey as in reason it should be intirely to the obedience and disposition of this the greatest part of the Land of that Kingdom is or ought to be in the hands of our Brethren and they sure will not be unwilling to give us the priviledge of governing it especially when by it we preserve them as by sending Foreign Protestants among them we should do In private management we should think him Lunatick that would pursue one Method a thousand times over though he had as constantly miscarried in it that seems the Case of Ireland it is vain to imagine that British so I think they call the English and Scotch of Ireland can ever ballance the Irish it is said the Irish are now above twenty to one at this time notwithstanding much more of the Irish perished in this last War than of the British That then which I conceive would be the best management this Nation ever made of Ireland would be to dispose the Forfeitures of that Kingdom to Strangers of all sorts that are not of the Church of Rome and having made that exception it will be necessary to give my Reasons for it My Principles I must confess are against Force in Religion but in this Case of Ireland there is a necessity to exclude as much as may be those that have any Relation or dependance on the Church because the Irish are a Bigotted People and own a Foreign Jurisdiction which is a Principle against the Government and Laws of the Land and where those of that Opinion are superiour in Number to them that are in the Interest of Government it seems absolutely Incumbent on the Government to provide against such Men as believe themselves under the most Sacred Tyes of Religion and Conscience to Obey and Promote the Edicts and Injunctions of a Foreign Prince for so the Pope is But to return to that of bringing Protestants to Ireland I conceive there must be more than making them Denizons because at this time Ireland differs very little from a new Plantation and to Plant such there is always given larger Incouragement to New Comers than in Setled and Planted Countreys If therefore such Methods were thought on as might make those that would settle in that Kingdom Freeholders of small Proportions of Lands at very easie Rents that might be a great Inducement to Foreigners to go and fill that Countrey and they would soon by intermixture in Marriages with the English and Scotch become British and so those of the Interest of England would be Superiour to that of the Irish and Interest of Rome and until it be so England can never be sure of Ireland All that this Nation ever yet had by it was a breathing time of thirty or Forty Years and then had a new Conquest to make But such a disposition as this would prevent Future Rebellions and also greatly Improve the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom For it is to be Noted that the Chief Consumption of Ireland is of the Product and Manufactory of this Kingdom And by an Account I have seen Ireland takes off more from us than Virginia and New England and if we take it into our Care would Imploy more of our Ships but of that I intend in the second part of my Essayes to treat at large and in the mean time shall here Insert Verbatim part of a Discourse I find in a Pamphlet Intituled The Linnen and Woollen Manufactories A Discourse Printed in the Year 1691 The whole was Rational but that which I think applicable to what I am now upon was as followeth He begins the Paragraff thus as I said before Ireland is no more than one of our Foreign Plantations only I think it will be allowed the first Place and more than any other in nearness of Blood and that of our Nobles there being many Families in that Kingdom descended from the Antient Families of this and most of the Estates in Ireland held by the decent from our Brethren who purchas'd it with their Blood These Reflections may prevail for our care of them at least to any Collony abroad and we never think it our prejudice to have them thrive nor would the growth of Ireland if rightly disposed or understood And here give me leave to make a Digression if it may be call'd so but you may think it not Foreign to the Discourse I find it generally believed that Ireland is as mischievous to our Trade in time of Peace as it is destructive to our Men and Treasure in time of War and though this Opinion never went far with me yet something I did doubt was in it until I met with something that gave plain Demonstration to the contrary and it was this I fell into an intire acquaintance with a Gentleman of Ireland whose experience and long continuance in all the Foreign Trade of that Kingdom furnished him with Arguments I could not answer to prove that England was a great Gainer by the Trade of Ireland When I could not confute him nor he prevail with me he told me he would shew me that which carried Authority with it and so he did being as he assur'd me the work of some years as he could spare time to compose it The whole Discourse takes up many Sheets upon the Trade of Ireland to all parts and particular Remarks upon every Commodity Exported and Imported into that Kingdom and where and how it affects England Some other things he reserv'd as Secrets from me as he doth the rest from others for it was never seen by any but one beside my self Out of the whole he hath extracted an Account of the Exports and Imports for one year in a medium
much Incouragement as a Lottery but to the contrary should be suppressed And I know a great Minister who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll and that it was a burthen to the Nation It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute which I the rather do that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France it was brought him in Writing and demonstrated That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal The Minister made little return to that but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did That there was three Years Wooll then in England and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England the Gentleman laid down these Positions First That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories Secondly That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before and that abated our Trade abroad Thirdly That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home This I remember put the Minister into a â—aughter and laying the two first aside he desir'd him to make out the last Position That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that which was left was a Mistery he could not understand but seem'd to him the only way to make it rise But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion that every Pound of English Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll and that as much as they Manufactur'd so much was Abated in our Exports for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll as they could not make without it and consequently by that means one pound of our Wooll with theirs made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it if we had kept it at home From which he Inferred That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts there would be as much Manufactoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets as we could make if we had wrought all our own Wooll and so much being made Abroad we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England and he being brought for Proof of what he said That which was Matter of Fact I thought undeniable though it would not be allowed so by the Minister The thing was this The Year after the Restauration there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King with a Non obstante to any Statute for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland upon which some Merchants in London buying the Grant sent over to Ireland and bought most of the Wooll and sent it to Foreign Parts this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll both there and in England but in so short a time as Five Moneths it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England came then to England yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they shipped it for Foreign Parts This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d to be litterally true and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland And he farther added that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland makes Wooll in both Kingdoms fall in Price according to the Quantities that are sent out This part of the Dispute being over the next Question was Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks and consequently keep down the Rents of Land This was answered in the Negative to all the three that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll nor hinder the Increase of Sheep or Abate the Rents of Land That the Irish Wooll coming into England helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England and most proper for Bayes and Serges That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall but it was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief and for the reasons before given he concluded that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad as is made in England so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms the Flocks of both might be trebled and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Nature and Improvement of the Wooll of these Kingdoms and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate for that he robs but a small Number but he that sends out Wooll destroys Thousands weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back there cannot be enough done to secure it but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation neither to punish or reward Impunity in the first makes us abound in Criminals and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey I mean in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation than we do at Noon-day I have often thought that it was possible for a Monarch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tributaries to him in Trade by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Navigation of these Kingdoms without being oblig'd to any help but what ariseth from his own Dominions of which
out of six and then distinguish'd what related to England by what Ships brought in and out then computed the Value of each Commodity and to what they were Improved being Manufactor'd in England and then what Money in Specie or Bills of Exchange which is the same was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland all which appear'd being brought up to a Sum that England Gained by Ireland Two Millions Sterling per Annum It seem'd to me an Incredible thing but being as he affirms Matter of Fact for which he hath the account of the Customs it is not to be denyed the breviate is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easie to any Understanding and therefore to mine I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter but he thinks it may be made use of a better way and affirms that as great as this looks yet it might be improved to much more if the Trade of Ireland were dispos'd as it might be to the Advantage of England But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign since the first Conquest of Ireland consulted in its Trade but left to its self or treated like an Enemy All the use made of it was for Courtiers Men of Projection and Necessity to Traffick and dispose it into Grants Imployments and Offices and so made it rather a Forest for Game than a Plantation for Trade and Commerce and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England believing it grew too fast and incroached on their Trade though it is demonstrable Ireland doth us no hurt but where we by our own Laws force it and that Act pardon the expression like Lunaticks that strive to suppress their Shadows for fear they should assault them None will say England would be the worse if it were double the Acres it now is And though the Sea part us from Ireland may not Laws make us one in our Interest and Trade and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in General than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion There never was so fair an opportunity for Inriching this Nation by Ireland as now it is by Divine Providence once put a Blank in our hands in which His Majesty may stamp what he pleases And we have reason to believe That He who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure One thing I must not omit which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts That Ireland neither Interferes with nor gains on England for that in the last Twenty Years of Irelands greatest Prosperity not one Man in England purchased in Ireland but Numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England as they of that Kingdom I mean the English always do as they Increase their Fortunes This being so Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure and affects us though in a much larger Proportion as Hudson's Bay whatever is gained in them terminates in England Here I end with the Pamphlet of which I shall only say If the Matter of Fact be truly Related as by the Authority he gives we have reason to believe it is then there is plain Demonstration that Ireland hath been and may be made much more profitable to this Kingdom then most of our Foreign Plantations Of them we take great care and why not more of this since it lies so near and costs us so dear seems unaccountable The truth is our Ancestours had never such a happy Juncture to do it as we have now to secure it If therefore we lay not hold on the opportunity put into our hands we cannot answer it so well as they might The Numbers of Refugees here and in other Countreys near us are Objects in this case both for our Charity to them and Advantage to our selves There hath been for several Sessions of Parliament much talk of the Forfeitures of Ireland and that it was reasonable they should be Sold and made a Fund to raise Money towards the carrying on the present War which might be thought reasonable for us of England to press because it would ease us of so much in our Taxes But why the Gentlemen of Ireland were so busie to promote it was at first to me a question and set me on the Inquiry and from some of themselves I had this answer That though they could not deny but the benefit of those Forfeitures were justly due to us of England yet the Justice of the thing was not all the motive they had to promote it but their own future security was at least as much consider'd by them for that they hoped the Sale of those Forfeited Lands would put them in Protestant hands and by that strengthen the British Interest in Ireland which could never be secure whilst the Irish held so great a proportion in the Kingdom and that whilst the Land lay undisposed they fear'd the Irish would find wayes to be restor'd they having got enough by their Robberies and Plunder of the English to purchase them though they cost them Ten Years purchase And that they were in fear also of the Irish buying from such as had great Grants of Forfeited Lands but if there was a Publick Sale they would come into so many hands that most of them would stick with the Purchaser and not come to the Irish They further said It was not the Interest of England to let the Forfeitures come again into the Irish hands for that they never Improved nor Traded and so were no wayes profitable to England If this apprehension of the Protestants be valid either to them or us it seems that a disposition of these Forfeitures of Ireland to Protestant Strangers would answer all objections and be a more certain way to keep such Lands of Ireland out of Irish hands then by selling them to the English for by that they would be to greater value in one Mans hand and the English would for advantage sell them to the Irish Proprietors for that few Purchasers would go to settle on their Lands nor could they find Tenants in the Countrey since there is so much Land waste but if Foreigners had it in small Proportions they would be able to manage it themselves and so keep it from returning to the Irish I have been longer on this of the Forfeitures then perhaps will be thought proper since my Subject is Trade But since it hath relation to the Improvement of Ireland in the way of Trade this Digression I hope will be excus'd I return then to shew how the bringing in Refugees to Ireland will advance the Trade of England and that may appear in three particulars The Increase of People in Ireland will occasion the
I attempt to prescribe Rules or give my Opinion in these matters as I may venture to do in that of Trade and therefore as Rural Matters have relation to that so I shall here treat of the Plow and of the Pruning-Hook the Field and the Orchard How Land may be improved there cannot be a truer or greater President than that of the Land of Canaan a spot of Ground not so large as one third part of England yet maintained double the People England doth That the Fertility of the Soil did not make the difference in their great increase above ours is observed by such as Travel there that at this time under the manage of the Lazy Turk that Land is much worse and brings forth less increase than ours So then it is apparent Labour and Industry makes the difference Now if the foregoing Computation be right that there were near double the People in that little Spot than there are in England as there is reason to believe for that in David's Reign the Number of Fighting-men was 1510000 besides the Two Tribes not brought into the Account this being allowed it will follow that there is not one Sixth part made of the Land of England as might be But to this might be said the want of Hands is the cause of our scant Production and that nothing but Crouds forceth Labour this is true as to matter of fact but not so as to be without a Remedy Nmbers of People make Laws for Industry out of necessity and good Laws may do the same with this Advantage that enlarging the Labour in Rural Affairs will produce more than is consumed in the Nation and that adds to the Treasure of it Whereas Numbers of Hands that only work to feed themselves adds nothing to the Riches of the Kingdom Now as Riches increase so will the Bodies of Men which is indeed the best Treasure we see this in the United Provinces where all Nations flock as Fowl where they find best feeding Money is so to Men and where that abounds Labour and Industry is encouraged but to sit down with an Opinion that England cannot be improved for want of People is too mean and abject for Englishmen There is a visible Prospect how great Improvements may be made in this Kingdom by the Hands we have and if that were done we should soon have more There are thousands of Persons in this Kingdom that beg who might be serviceable in many things relating to the Plow if lame in their Feet yet they may weed Corn that perchance now takes up the time of a lusty Man A Blind man may carry Burthens in company with other a Man without Hands may look to Cattle c. There are numbers of Men of no Employment that we have Laws that might oblige to Work and if they are not full enough to reach them they may be made to do it There is also another Set of Men that are lost in the Nation under the Cover of being Serving-men and Footmen Now this might be restrained and Men confined to the Numbers they keep according to their Quality which if done might add to the Plow and other Country Employments many thousands in this Nation I differ with them who complain of our Gentries humour of taking French Valets de Chambres I wish there were a Law that none but such should be taken into such Employments or at least that no Gentleman should have above one Englishman in his Family in Service as a Waiter or Foot-man this would drive Young men into the Country to Labour when they had no expectation of a Lazy Life and Maintenance as now they have Tho this is a General Complaint thorow the Kingdom of the want of Men for the Plow and that the Wages of a Plow-man is risen from 5 to 10 l. per Annum no man will say it is because there are not Men in the Kingdom but it is because there are easier ways to get a Living tho at the same time if those that chuse that idle Life of waiting on Gentlemen did but consider their hazard of begging their Bread in their Old Age or sooner if Sickness or any other Accident befal them Whereas there are few instances of Labouring-men in the Country that come to such misfortunes many from the Plow or Orchard arrive to a decent Living and Competency but few from holding a Plate I have often lamented the sight of Four or five lusty young Fellows hanging at the Tail of a Coach when they are wanted at the Plow and since it is not practicable to get Plow-men from France but is to get Foot-men and Valets de Chambres to me it would seem a good Law to prohibit Englishmen from such Employments and that would bring in French and other Foreigners enough to supply their places Thus I have laid down my thoughts of adding hands to our Country Employments which may be improved by better Judgments All I shall further say is That to me it seems plain that there might be 40000 Persons added to those we now have in Country Employments and they would so advance and enlarge Rural Production as would invite Numbers both at home and from abroad into the Country which hath been for some Ages so much neglected the humor of this Nation running too much after the French I mean those of them that come abroad for their Peasantry never do those we have from them are Artizans or Lacquies and such too many of our Nation affect to be and so quit their Country Employments I mean not by this any discouragement to Manufactories they cannot exceed but some have too many that attend them especially such as are consumed in the Kingdom which advanceth the Vanity of the Nation whilst the most solid Improvements and Employments of it are neglected for want of hands and if what is here proposed may produce and bring Numbers into Country Labours the next enquiry will be how to Employ them so as to make Plowing and Land-Improvements as much a Trade and Manufactory as other Manual Arts for that which hath always discouraged Tillage in this Kingdom hath been the practice of making Provision for no more than the Expence of the Nation whereas if such quantities of Grain was Sowed as might make it a Commodity for Exports that would soon invite Merchants to Exportation The Statute which was made for encouragement of Tillage was for that part of allowance at the Custom-House of good use but something more must be done to make Corn a Commodity for Exportation and that must be to have quantities yearly Sowed beyond the Expence of the Nation that so Merchants may be sure of a constant Trade as they have in the Sound where the Country depend as much on their Harvest as France doth on its Vintage and Merchants being sure of a constant supply make Provision for the Trade whereas ours is only a chance Market when the Harvest proves beyond expectation and often failing puts
it is so with Trade and Navigation among others that of New-found-land is the Property of the Imperial Crown of England and the French have no more Right to fish there than in the River of Thames This Nation was the first that ever threw a Hook and Line in those Seas and tho there is no Land-marks above Water for the Bank of New-found-land it lying out of sight of the shore yet there is under Water from the first Soundings and so far this Nation hath a Property and we may now if ever hope to have it asserted since we have a King who hath put a stop to that Towering Monarch who knew no Bounds before And there seems good grounds to believe That if we are not wanting to Him who exposeth His Royal Person so far for us That the French King must soon retire into his own Limits But upon Discourse of this nature I have been answered When it was so and the War over then and not before was a proper time to treat of Trade I have mentioned something of this in the following Sheets and therefore shall say the less now yet cannot omit that which stares us in the face The Neglect of Trade in time of War drives many out of the Kingdom who will never return It is observed so at this time of Ireland Thousands are come away since the Reduction of that unfortunate Kingdom that endured the whole brunt of the War and are not now in fear of the Irish but are reduced to Beggary by Idleness for want of Trade and Employment that they formerly had the consequence of which is easy to be read and how it will reach us at last but we are a People that neither Fire Sword Plague or Famine can work upon He that silently laments doats and he that complains of our impendent Misfortunes is mad a Character now more in use than ever in this Nation and found very useful for covering some mens actions I speak not this as having a Talent for or desire to be in Publick Employment I never was in any That which I believe would satisfy all men of Trade and Commerce I am sure it would me is the Motion of a Parliament-Man of Leverpoole which we find in Story That a Bill being brought into the House which bore hard on the Commons in Trials for Life and Death of the Lords the honest man of Leverpoole stood up and said Since he saw the House were for passing that Bill he gave his Assent also provided there might be this Exception in the Act That no Lord should kill either him his Wife Joan Son Tom or any of the good Town of Leverpoole for which he served So say I Since the Nation are contented that the Publick Treasure should be shared among Offices and Employments Merchants and Seamen c. are content so that they in the Management will give Security and Encouragement for Trade which pays them all but they are not wise to themselves that let Trade run from them whilst they are warring to secure it our Neighbours do not so Our improvidence in this matter is to our great Reproach since we are under the Blessing of such a Government as this Nation never had but once before And it is not to be forgotten that in that Reign tho encompassed with Wars there was more done in the advancement ef Trade and Navigation than ever was done before We have taken care to lose much of it since but we have now a King that denies us nothing we ask for the good of the Nation and where any thing is entire in himself and it is well some things are so we find it There never was Better or Greater Men in the Church and on the Bench which is sufficient demonstration that where we are unhappy it is by our own Recommendation and Parties The Filth of the last Reign still sticks about us from which Time will I hope relieve the King and Us. THE CONTENTS OF Trade in general Page 1. Of Naturalizing and Encouraging Foreign Protestants 7. Of Providing for Foreign Protestants 11. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wool 22. Of Free Ports 29. Of Exports of Foreign Importations 32. Of a Council of Trade 37. Of Prohibiting Forreign Commodities 41. Of Sumptuary Laws 49. Of Working-Schools and Hospitals 57. Reasons humbly offered for establishing by Charter Hospitals and Working-Schools 65. Of the New-found-land Fishing 68. Of Navigation and Seamen 75. Of Building Ships 84. Of the Act of Navigation 92. Of Banks and Lumbers 109. Of Agriculture and Rural Employments 116. ON Trade in General THESE Kingdoms of Great Brittain and Ireland differ from most parts of the World in that of their Strength as they do in that of their Scituation and Aptness for Trade Their Scituation gives them the Preferrance of the most Valuable Trade in the World which must pass their Doors before it comes to their Neighbours and as they are happy in their Scituation so are they as Superiour to other Countreys in their Native Growth and Production for Commerce as Rich Soyl is to that which is Barren these Kingdoms producing Trade as some Land doth Fruit without Art or Labour when other Countries like forced Ground raise their Trade by Assiduity in both And such a People are more to be feared than those that abound with the Blessings of Nature but want that of Industry we need go no further than the Dutch and Spaniards for Demonstrarion The Danger that hath been impendent over us for more than Thirty Years in this of our Trade is from the French and in Truth no Nation in the World can so well contest it with England as they can and therefore it seems reasonable to consider them in this as much as we do in that of their Armes and perhaps they may be found laying a Foundation in War to enlarge their Trade and Navigation and we at the same time declining in both That these Kingdoms cannot be safe under the Growth of France none will deny and that it is safer for England to meet them in Flanders than here but if the Advance Guards should be only consider'd and the Main Body neglected the consequence might be fear'd Our Naval Force is thought the Main Body and Strength of the Nation Now though large Supplies in Parliament are absolutely necessary for that use yet there is something else wanting to make us formidable at Sea and that is Marine Trade and Navigation which like Food to the Body must be dayly renewed or else our Naval Strength will decay And although perhaps it is not consider'd yet the want of Seamen for our Navigation and Trade in time of Naval War Impoverisheth the Nation more than the Charge of the War There goes many Threads to make up the Webb of Trade too fine for every eye to see and among others the Cheap Navigating Ships is one Now our want of Seamen obligeth Merchants to advance their Wages and that gives Advantage to our
as it may be Constituted the Trade and Treasure of this Nation will be very much increas'd all the Poor and now Useless hands Imployed not a Beggar in the Streets And since England wants nothing so much as People One way to supply that defect is to increase your work for them you have And so one Man may be better than two as to the Riches of the Nation And the full Imployments of the Hands we have is the only way to get more but to invite Strangers into a Kingdom where the Taxes for the Poor amount to more than the Revenue of some of the Neighbouring Countreys shews we consider Trade as wise Men do Play for Diversion not Business and in that Delusion may be read the Ruine of these Nations Of Naturalizing and Incouraging Foreign Protestants IT is observed that though there is no part in the Universe so streightned and filled with Inhabitants as the Vnited Provinces yet there is no Government that gives such Incouragement to Invite in more They make their Country as God hath the Air every Mans Property that Breathes in it and equally in the Power of a Man to be a Denison or a Tenant a Burger as a Parishioner the good Effect it hath in that Commonwealth needs no Illustration It may be supposed this Provident Oeconomy happen'd in that State above any Government in Europe by reason of their being of latter Date in their Establishment and so saw the mistakes of their Neighbours and on the other hand our Government deriving from Antiquated Laws and Prescriptions which according to the Experience of those times made Bullwarks against Strangers and Foreigners believing they could never be secure of what they had in possession or at Liberty to inlarge their Fortunes if Strangers were allow d the Freedom of Natives But in the Reign of Hen 3. there was large Immunities given to the Easterlins then so called to settle Trade in the Kingdom which the Steel-Yard yet bears the Memory of but that was but a particular and limited thing the Old Laws and Prohibition of Naturalization still continued and by it this Kingdom deprived of such Numbers as might have in some proportion fill'd those wastes that this fruitful Island hath now in it for that it cannot be said to be one half Peopled There now seems a greater tendency in the Nation to remove those Bars that lie in the way of New-Comers by that Charitable Law for Liberty of Conscience and as we owe great part of our Woollen Manufactories to the Blessed Memory of Queen Elizabeth receiving in the Persecuted Protestants from Flanders whose Posterity are now become Natives so may we the Inlarging of our Navigation Fishing and Numbers of our Inhabitants to this Reign if Incouragement were given to Invite Protestants of all Nations to settle here with the same Security and Priviledge as Natives I will not determine whither the Limitation of Offices and Imployments of Profit may not be necessary to such as are not born in that Kingdom but I think that would be no obstacle to such as are worth receiving for that Trade and purchasing in that Kingdom must be the business of those as are supposed to be invited in and there Posterity will be capable of Preferments in the Common-wealth and the fewer there is of such I mean Places and Offices of Profit amongst us the better we see it so in the Vnited Provinces where perchance there is not by Civil Imployments so many Men Inriched as we have in one Parish Where there is most Trade there is fewest Offices But to return to the Advantage of bringing in Foreigners I presume Men of Real Estates do believe that it will advance the Rates of Lands by a greater Consumption of the Native Product And however some of our Artizans may mistake it yet the most considerable of them allow that the Increase of Hands in labour improves and increases Manufactory even in the very Expence of them that are added one Man that Works may have five or six that only Eats and Wears And it is undeniable that if the Increase of hands abates the Price of Manufactoryes it will inlarge their Exports and Expence at home the Cheap making of Manufactories abroad is known to be the chief Cause of abating our Rent The next Consideration is that of Seamen to Increase them by Foreigners admits of no Objection since we are forced to make use of them at dear Rates and they carry out our Money for their Wages If Merchants will not complain at the bringing in and Naturalizing Foreign Seamen for the Reasons before so neither will our Seamen complain for that the Increase of them will ease ours from the Press when Foreigners are made as liable to it as they whereas now they do our Seamen a double Injury take their Imployment in Merchant-men and leave them no way of getting their Bread but by Sailing in Men of War There remains then only to be question'd the Prejudice Foreign Merchants may do to ours for none deny but that they are an Advantage to all other Societies and Persons in the Nation by their Trade and Expence but to our Merchants some may say they are a hindrance though I do not think any Merchant that is truly so will say it they are not found so in Amsterdam but Merchants there are pleased with their Numbers and it is alwayes accounted a Misfortune even by them that slay to have Merchants quitt a Place There might be much more said if it were wanting to shew That Naturalising Foreign Merchants can be no Prejudice to Natives but since it concerns Men of the best Sence and Knowledge in business it is but waste of Time They know Foreign Merchants abate not their Trade for want of Naturalization but it is our advantage to have them brought under the Taxes and Offices of Charge in the Nation as well as to have their Estates fixed in it Upon the whole I submit to better Judgment Whither the Treasure of the Nation in the Bodies of Men which I take to be of the greatest Value The Wealth of the Nation by their Estates and their Support of the Government by bearing part of the charge of it will not be advanced by the bringing Foreign Protestants into all the Priviledges and Immunity of English Men which it in time will make so If we reflect on the Numbers lost in five years past there may seem as much reason to recruit the Nation as the Army Laws and Property hath always been the Language of our Nation and much talk of securing them this ought to be done but there is something of greater Value that ought not to be left undone which we hear not off and that is Provision for the Increase of Posterity and Wayes to Invite in present Supplies If this came once under Consideration of Parliament I cannot but believe it would produce the best Statute this Nation ever saw Of Providing for Foreign Protestants AS I
and Tarr for Soil to raise Hemp and well enough for making Iron But there seems some difficulties in the want of hands to work and supply that is the only Objection I see in this Affair and altho that hath been too great for particular men to undertake yet may not tho if undertook by a publick Fund which perchance upon a thorough consideration may be found necessary to be done upon some such Inducements as these It would make New England of the most useless and unprofitable Plantation of this Nation the best and most advantageous to this Nation I might enumerate many particulars but I presume this will come into hands that need no more than to put them in mind of the Place and Product That New England lies better for a Market to Spain Portugal and the Levant than the Northern Crowns who now furnish that part of Europe with those Commodities New England can furnish That establishing this Trade will Employ many Ship-Carpenters and Seamen which I cannot omit whereever it comes in my way to say is the Treasure and Strength of these Kingdoms That this Trade will occasion the Consumption of more Woollen Manufactories than all our Foreign Plantations it being a Cold Climate and Men with hard Labour wear out much Cloaths That there will be room and reason to give great encouragement for Foreigners to settle in this Plantation and Undertaking which next to our Seamen seems of moment to advance which even those that are against at home will not be when they are abroad And to sum up all As this Plantation may save the Nation the Expence they are now at in purchasing Naval Stores so it will bring in considerable returns in Bullion for what they send into the Levant Spain c. And that this may not appear as a Chimera it is to be noted That there hath been many years since several Ships loaden in New-England with Masts c. for the Streights but for the Reasons before given the want of Hands and Publick Encouragement that Trade did not prosper Merchants do not affect a Trade that takes up much Time and little Stock as the Lumber-Trade doth which is more profitable to the Ship and Men than the Merchant and it is a mistake in those that think Merchants are always Owners perhaps they have least share in the Ships of England Having thus given some sew Hints for they are no more if compar'd with what is to be said on this Copious Subject it may be expected that I should say something of the Modus for setting up this Manufactory and building Ships in New-England To set down an Exact Scheme would take up more Sheets than I design Lines in this Place but something I shall mention 1. To carry on this Work it will be necessary that extraordinary Privileges be given to Foreign Protestants that will inhabit there as having Land given them free Liberty of Conscience greater Wages than they can have in their own Countries Houses for some time Rent-free from all manner of Impositions c. 2. That such Encouragement be given as may invite the Natives to work They are very ingenious and docible but naturally averse to Labour yet I have seen some of them take great pains in working Curiosities and that which induceth me to believe they would work if they were sure of good Wages is the great labour they take in making their Wampompeeg of which the most skilful and laborious amongst them cannot make above Two Shillings a day Now if these men could have so much a day for any other work it is reasonable to believe they might be brought to it and by that means they would be better cloath'd than those that are idle and that would tempt them in also But to this may be objected That this dear Wages would make those Commodities dear To which I answer That there is some works in Falling Floating and Drawing Timber that cannot be had cheaper and that there are no men will sooner learn the best labour than they and as the Countrey fills and the Indians are brought to work Wages will fall 3. There may be Negroes brought whose labour will come cheap and their very little Children will be very useful in peeling Hemp picking Oacum and other things about Pitch and Tar. This Undertaking being thoroughly managed will be such a Staple for Shipping and Naval Stores as no part of Europe can exceed and put these Kingdoms out of the Power of their Neighbours in that of their Naval Provisions and our Ships may be cheaper built than in any part of Europe with the advantage of preserving the Timber of England for the Royal Fleet. I have often wondred that such a disposition as this hath not been thought on for that unprofitable Plantation which now brings nothing to this Nation but to the contrary buries Numbers of Industrious People in a Wilderness that produceth nothing but Provisions to feed them and yet the most useful Commodities in it for the Nation being that which makes our Walls and Bulwarks This neglect is such as was in this Kingdom in exporting our Wool which was consider'd by that Wise Prince Edward the Third who thereupon pass'd a Law for encouraging Foreign Clothiers and that they should settle in what part of the Kingdom they pleas'd A good President for giving all the Encouragement and Immunities imaginable to invite Foreign Carpenters and others into a Plantation that might raise such Commodities as are the Foundation of our Wealth and Security Of the Act of Navigation TO write upon this is to enter upon Controversy in Trade which I think doth as little good as that in Religion and is commonly undertook or at least started by those that have least share in the Practice I have never been so attach'd to my own Understanding as to conclude those in the wrong that differ with me but I must own my self a great Votary to the Act of Navigation believing it the Sea Magna Charta and the only Law that ever past in England for the securing our Trade and Navigation and I had like to have said with it our Religion Laws and Properties too for that no men in the Government are more averse to Popery and Arbitrary Power than they are And altho I believe we can never add too many to our Number on Shore yet perhaps it may be the Interest of the Nation to keep as many English in our Sea-Employments as we can for that they are in truth our Guards and tho when Naturaliz'd and Inhabitants Foreign Seamen may be useful yet so as that they may be but a small Proportion to the whole Number of Seamen in our Trade and Navigation It is observable that notwithstanding the States in Italy are inseparably united in their Force at Sea against the Turks yet they are so jealous of each others Growth in that Strength that they are oblig'd to each other not to exceed the Number of Galleys they are
may answer Ten Millions in the Currant Payment of the Nation for that few will take Money out but transfer from one account to another And it is reasonable to suppose that most men will lodge their Money in Bank for the greatness of Security and saving the trouble and hazard of telling Money For these Reasons it may be thought a Bank will pay no Interest and that may be injurious to the Nation in two respects First It may necessitate many people to carry their Money out of the Kingdom where they may make some Benefit by it when they are debarr'd from any Advantage at home The other mischief it may do reaches Widows and Orphans whose Support often depends upon the Interest of their Money and if Banks pay none they will be able to set out at very low Interest more than the wants of the Kingdom will require But that which I conceive may be an expedient in this case may be a Proviso in the Act of Parliament That these Banks shall set out no Money at Interest upon Real Estates by which means there will be room for private persons to set out Money upon Mortgages These Banks being National may be so constituted as to retrieve that most considerable part of the Navigation of the Greenland and New-found-land Fishing But because that may be discouraging to some persons that understand not Trade and only depend on their Money at Interest it will be necessary to shew That notwithstanding the Trade propos'd there shall be a certain Fund or Dividend of at least Five per cent per Ann. besides the Profit of Trade and that may be done thus Supposing the Fund of Land to be valued at 20 years Purchase the Rent will be Five per Cent. for Two Millions then for the other Two Millions in Cash allowing but Five per Cent. more for the Gain of Exchange that compleats the Five per Cent. upon the whole Fund This is a Certainty without reckoning any Advantage to be made by the Credit of the Bank and putting out Money to Interest There will not be here room to mention the Modus or Advantages that will attend that most important Undertaking of the New-found-land Fishing I shall only say it would employ all the loose and unprofitable hands in the Nation it would add Ten thousand Seamen to the Strength of it it would bring a Treasure into the Nation taken out of the Sea it would occasion the Consumption of great Quantities of Manufactories it would advance the Price and consume great Quantities of Provisions of this Kingdom for that New-found-land is no place for either Tillage or Cattel and we shall employ many Foreign Hands in that Trade The Advantages that will arise to the Nation by these Banks need no explanation for that they are easy to every Understanding among the rest that of supplying the King with Money upon any Publick Funds as shall be appointed by Parliament is not the least Lumbers for poor Artizans and others is an Appendix to Banks and may by Funds out of them in each County be supplied so as that the Poor may have Money to carry on their Trades and Employments on Pawns that may be so easy and with the advantage of selling in Publick Sales what they leave in Pledge and that what they borrow shall be of more advantage and ease to them than if the Money were lent them gratis and may be of great use in the improvement and enlarging the Manufactories of the Nation which are much discouraged by the necessities and hardships that are put on the poor for want of Sales which these Lumbers will supply and the best and readiest means for the poor to sell their Goods every Month whereas now they are often forced to sell their Labour to Shop-keepers at such rates as gives them little more than what their Materials cost them which hath the worse effect in that it encourages a set of Idle men in the Kingdom with folded Arms in a Shop to live upon the Ruins of Handicrafts-men their Numbers are increased even to a Nusance by their easy way of living on the Oppression of the Poor If we took Presidents from abroad this evil would not have grown thus amongst us It is observed That there is not so many Retailers in Amsterdam as there is in some Market-Towns in England and this evil is the more to be condemn'd since we want not a Statute to prevent it for in the 5 th year of Queen Elizabeth a Statute pass'd That Artizans Sons should not be Apprentices to Shopkeepers There was then none turn'd from Mechanical Arts to be Retailers as now there are Numbers that do and greatest part Quakers a People that for many reasons may be thought as unprofitable to the Nation as Jews and so I take the greatest part of Retailers and Hawkers to be they ought as much to be restrained and kept to a Quantum as Hackney-Coachmen and Coffee-Houses for tho both if confin'd to Numbers are useful yet in their excess are Nurseries of Idleness and such as I am of opinion would have been provided against by our Ancestors had they sprung up in their days But on this Subject among other Enormities I have writ at large in another Discourse which when the disposition of the Times will admit may come forth Of Agriculture and Rural Imployments BEfore I enter upon the Subject I must Apologize for my self that I am to the last degree ignorant of the Practick part of Husbandry the whole Course of my Life having been spent in Maritine-Towns or on the Sea I beg pardon contrary to Custom before I commit the Error giving an instance of my ignorance in Country Matters which I should not trouble the Reader with if I did not think it divertive It was in the 32 year of my Age that I first had a thought of Acres and being importun'd by Friends to fix something on the Land and not have all on the Sea I made a Purchase before I saw it for that I might do with as much Judgment as if had some time after I went to see the Purchase I had made and on the Road gave as much Diversion to my Friends in declaring my want of Understanding the Distinction and Names of every thing the Field produced as I did trouble to them to inform me tho it was near Harvest I knew not Barly from Wheat in the Ear and when I came to the Estate and riding thorow the Woods of which there were great Quantities on the Land I was yet more troublesome in asking the Names of Trees not being able to distinguish an Oak from an Ash or that from Wich-Hazel which made a merry Fellow a Ranger in the Woods say He had a Master he was sure would not question his Care or Honesty since he knew not a Tree from a Weed After this Account of my self I hope to be excused if I mistake in any Point of Country and Land-Improvement nor shall