in England because he cannot make above three per Cent of it upon Interest at home But if they should call home all the Money they have with us at Interest it would be better for us than if they did it not for the Borrower is alwayes a slave to the Lender and shall be sure to be always kept poor while the other is fat and full HE THAT USETH A STOCK THAT IS NONE OF HIS OWN BEING FORCED FOR THE UPHOLDING HIS REPUTATION TO LIVE TO THE FULL IF NOT ABOVE THE PROPORTION OF WHAT HE DOTH SO USE WHILE THE LENDER POSSESING MUCH AND USING LITTLE OR NONE LIVE ONLY AT THE CHARGE OF WHAT HE USETH AND NOT OF WHAT HE HATH Besides if with this Law for abatement of Interest a Law for Transferring Bills of Debt should pass we should not miss the Dutch Money were it ten times as much as it is amongst us for that such a Law will certainly supply the the defect of at least one half of all the ready Money we have in use in the Nation Object 2. If Interest be abated Land must rise in purchase and consequeâ—tly Rents and if Rents then the Fruits of the Land and so all things will be dear and how shall the Poor live c. Answ. To this I say If it follow that the Fruits of our Land in consequence of such a Law for abatement of Interest grow generally dear it is an evident demonstration that our People grow richer for generally where-ever Provisions are for continuance of Years dear in any Country the People are rich and where they are most cheap throughout the World for the most part the People are very poor And for our own Poor in England it is observed That they live better in the dearest Countries for Provisions than in the cheapest and better in a dear year than in a cheap especially in relation to the publick good for that in a cheap Year they will not work above two dayes in a Week their humour being such that they will not provide for a hard time but just work so much and no more as may maintain them in that mean condition to which they have been accustomed Object 3. If Interest be abated Vsurers will call in their Money so what shall Gentlemen do whose Estates are Mortgaged c. Answ. I answer That when they know they can make no more of their Money by taking out of one and putting it in another hand they will not be so forward as they threaten to alter that Security they know is good for another that may be bad Or if they should do it our Laws are not so severe but that Gentlemen may take time to dispose of part of their Land which immediately after such a Law will yield them thirty yeaâ—s purchase at least and much better it is for them so to do than to abide longer under that consuming Plague of Usury which hath insensibly destroyed very many of the best Families in England as well of our Nobility as Gentry Object 4. As Interest is now at six per cent the Kings Majesty upon any emergency can hardly be supplied and if it should be reduced to four per cent how shall the King find a considerable sum of Money to be lent him by his People Answ. I answer The abatement of Interest to the People is the abatement of Interest to the King when he hath occasion to take up Money For what is borrowed of the City of London or other Bodies Politick nothing can be demanded but the legal Interest and if the King have occasion to take up Money of private Persons being his Majesty according to good right is above the common course of Law the King must and always hath given more then the legal Rate As for instance The legal Rate is now six per cent but his Majesty or such as have disposed of his Majesties Exchequer-Tallies have been said to give ten and twelve in some cases and if the legal Rate were ten his Majesty might probably give thirteen or fourteen So if Interest be brought to four per cent his Majesty in such cases as he now gives ten must give six or seven by which his Majesty would have a clear advantage Object 5. If Interest be abated it will be a great prejudice to Widows and Orphans who have not Knowledge and Abilities to improve their Estates otherwise Answ. I answer That by our Law now Heirs and Orphans can recover no Interest from their Parents Executors except it be left fully and absolutely to the Executors to dispose and put out Money at the discretion of the Executors for the profit and loss of the Heirs and Orphans And if it be so left to the Exccutors discretion they may improve the Monies left them in Trade or purchase of Lands and Leases as well as by Interest Or when not the damage such Heirs and Orphans will sustain in their minority being but two per cent is inconsiderable in respect of the great advantage will accrew to the Nation in generel by such abatement of Interest Besides when such a Law is made and in use all Men will so take care in their Life to provide for and educate their Children and instruct their Wives as that no prejudice can happen thereby as we see there doth not in Holland and Italy and other places where Interest is so low Having now offered my thoughts in answer to the aforesaid Objections it will not be amiss that we enquire who will be advantaged and who will receive prejudice in case such a Law be made First His Majesty as hath been said in answer to that Objection will when he hath occasion take up Money on better terms Besides which He will receive a great Augmentation to his Revenue thereby all his Lands being immediately worth after the making such a Law double to what they were before his Customs will be much increas'd by the increase of Trade which must necessarily insue upon the making such a Law The Nobility and Gentry whose Estates he mostly in Land may presently upon all they have instead of Fifty write one Hundred The Merchants and Tradesmen who bear the Heat and Burthen of the Day most of our Trade being carried on by young Men that take up Money at Interest will find their Yoak sit lighter upon their Shouldiers and be incouraged to go on with greater alacrity in their Business Our Marriners Shipwrights Porters Cloathiers Packers and all sorts of Labouring People that depend on Trade will be more constantly and fully employed Our Farmers sell the product of their Lands at better rates And whereas our Neighbours the Netherlanders who in regard of the largeness of their Stocks and Experiences the Sons continually succeeding the Fathers in Trade to many Generations we may not unfitly in this case term Sons of Anach and Men of renown against whom we fight Dwarfs and â—igmies in Stocks and Experience being younger Brothers of Gentlemen that seldom have
Riches as it hath done in Holland From Italy I have endeavoured to gain a certain accompt of their legal Interest but am advised that no taking of Use-Money is allowed by their Pontificial Laws the Interest now taken there which is generally 4 per Cent is done only by dispensation of Pope Paul the fifth and that notwithstanding no man can recover Interest of Money there if the party who should pay it can prove he hath no gained the value of the Interest demanded Now let the Reader judge whether that practise of Holland and this of Italy where the Romish Church-men have so great power who are to take Cognizance and may by their Auricular Confessors of all Offences of this kind the Laws concerning the use of Money in those Countries being Pontificial do not amount in effect to a low stated Interest by Law in England But to deal more ingenuously with my Opposer then he hath done with me I will grant him that much Riches will occasion in any Kingdom a low rate of Interest and yet that doth not hinder but a low stated Interest by Law may be a cause of Riches For if Trade be that which enricheth any Kingdom and lowering of Interest advanceth Trade which I think is sufficiently proved then the Abatement of Interest or more properly restraining of Usury which the antient Romans and all other wise and rich People in the world did always drive at is doubtless a primary and principal cause of the Riches of any Nation it being not improper to say nor absurd to conceive that The same thing may be both a Cause and an Effect Peace begets Plenty and Plenty may be a means to preserve Peace Fear begets Hatred and Hatred Fear The diligenâ— Hand makes rich and Riches makes men diligent so true is the Proverb Crescit amor Nummi quantum ipsa pecunia erescit Love we say begets Love the fertility of a Country may cause the encrease of People and the encrease of People may cause the further and greater fertility of a Country Liberty and Property conduce to the encrease of Trade and Emprovement of any Country and the encrease of Trade and Emprovements conduce to the procuring as well as securing of Liberty and Property Strength and Health conduce to a good digestion and a good digestion is necessary to the preservation of Health and encrease of Strength and as a Person of very great honour pertinently instanced at a late debate upon this Question An Egg is the cause of a Hen and a Hen the cause of an Egg. The incomparable Lord Bacon in his History of Henry the 7th saith pag. 245 of that Prince as well as other men That his Fortune worked upon his Nature his Nature upon his Fortune the like may be said of Nations The Abatement of Interest causeth an encrease of Wealth and the encrease of Wealth may cause a further Abatement of Interest But that is best done by the Midwifery of good Laws which is what I plead for the corrupt Nature of man being more apt to decline to Vice then incline to Vertue Folio 15. he affirms Lands are not risen in Purchase nor Rents improved since the Abatement of Interest That I shall say no more to it is matter of Fact and Gentlemen who are the Owners of Land are the best Iudges of this case only I would entreat them not to depend upon their Memories alone but to command particular accompts to be given them what sum or sums of Money were given 40 or 50 Years past for any intire Farms or Mannors they now know and I doubt not but they will find that most of them will yield double the said sums of Money now notwithstanding the present great pressures that Land lies under which ought maturely to be considered of when this judgment is made I rather desire the enquiry to be made upon the gross sum of Money paid then the Years purchase as being less fallible because many Farms have been of late Years so rackt up in Rents that it may be they will not yield more Years purchase now according to the present Rents then they would many years past and yet may yield double the Money they were then bought or sold for because the Rents were much less then Fol. 15. he impertinently quarrels at my instance of Ireland saying I quote it sometimes to prove the benefit of a low Interest pag. 8. And sometimes the mischief of high Interest pag. 9. Which seems to me to be an unfriendly way of prevaricating For pag. 8. I mention the late great improvement of Ireland only as an accidental cause why our Rents at that present fell and in this it appears I was not much mistaken for within a few Moneths after I first writ that Treatise the Parliament took notice of it Pag. 9. I mention that place among others that pay a high Interest and are consequently very poor if there be any contradiction in this let the Reader judge Pag. 16. the Gentleman puzleth himself about finding Mistakes in my Calculation of the encrease of Merchants Estates but discovers none but his own so I shall not trouble the Reader further about that all Merchants granting me as much as I design by it though some of them have not or care not to observe the Abatement of Interest to have been the principal cause thereof Fol. 17. Because he cannot answer that large and pregnant instance of the effects of a low Interest which I gave in the case of the Sugar-Bakers of London and those of Holland which was but one of a hundred which I could have mentioned he endeavours to set up another of a contrary effect which is a weak rediculous Instance and nothing to his purpose for that Commodity that I mentioned viz. Sugar is a solid bulky Commodity always in fashion not consequent to humor as is that of Silk-Stockings 1000 l. worth whereof may be with less charge carried to Italy then 30 l. worth of Barbadoes Sugar can be sent to Holland Besides the reason why we of late sent Silk-Stockings thither is accidental not natural only happening by means of an Engin wâ— have to weave them whereof they have not yet the use in Italy Besides wearing things being more esteemed through Fancy then Judgment the Italians may have the same Vanity which is too much amongst us to esteem that which is none of their own making as we do French Ribonds and the French-men English ones besides he is mistaken in saying we bring the Silk we make them of from Italy for the Silk of which we make that Commodity is Turky not Italian Silk Fol. 18. The Gentleman begins to be kind and finding me out of the way pretends to set me right viz. to instruct me as first what will bring down Interest 1st Multitude of People 2dly A full Trade 3dly Liberty of Conscience I Answer That I have I think proved that the Abatement of Interest will effect the two former
younger Persons which were never before at Sea I appeal to the Reader whether such a yearly return of Sea-men abiding at home with us all the Winter and spending their Money here which they got in their Summer-Fishery were not a great access of Wealth and Power to this Kingdom and a ready supply for his Majesty's Navy upon all Emergencies 6. The Fishing Ships yet are and always have been the breeders of Sea-men the Planters and Boat-keepers are generally such as were bred and became expert at the cost of the Owners of Fishing Ships which Planters and Boat-keepers enter very few new or green men 7. By the building fitting victualling and repairing of Fishing-Ships multitudes of English Trades-men and Artificers besides the Owners and Sea-men gain their subsistance whereas by the Boats which the Planters and Boat-keepers build or use at New-found-Land England gets nothing Object But against all that I have said those that contend for a Governour at New-found-Land object 1. That without a Governour and Government there that Country will be alwayes exposed to the surprizal of the French or any Foreigners that shall please to attacque it 2. That the disorders of the Planters which I complain of and some others which for brevities sake I have not mentioned cannot be remedied without a Governour To which I answer first That when we cannot preserve our Colonies by our Shiping or so awe our Neighbours by our Fleets and Ships of War that they dare not attempt them our case will be sad and our Propriety will be lost or in eminent danger not only abroad but at home likewise 2 dly All the Fish that is killed at New-found-Land in a Summer is not sufficient to maintain strength enough on Shore to defend two Fishing Harbours against ten men of War whereas that Country hath more Harbours to defend than are to be found in Old England 3 dly If a Governour be established the next consequence will be a Tax upon the Fishing and the least Tax will encrease the price of Fish and that unavoidably will give the Trade away wholly into the French Hands 4 thly A Government there is already of antient Custom among the Masters of the Fishing-Ships to which the Fishermen are inured and that free from Oppression and adapted to the Trade insomuch that although a better might be wished I never hope to see it XI That New-England is the most prejudical Plantation to this Kingdom I am now to write of a People whose Frugality Industry and Temperance and the happiness of whose Laws and Institution do promise to themselves long Life with a wonderful encrease of People Riches and Power And although no men ought to envy that Vertue and Wisdom in others which themselves either can or will not practice but rather to commend and admire it yet I think it is the duty of every good man primarily to respect the well-fare of his Native Country and therefore though I may offend some whom I would not willingly displease I cannot omit in the progress of this discourse to take notice of some particulars wherein Old England suffers diminution by the growth of those Colonies settled in New-England and how that Plantation differs from those more Southerly with respect to the gain or loss of this Kingdom viz. 1. All our American Plantations except that of New-England produce Commodities of different Natures from those of this Kingdom as Sugar Tobacco Cocoa Wool Ginger sundry sorts of dying Woods c. Whereas New-England produces generally the same we have here viz. Corn and Cattle some quantity of Fish they do likewise kill but that is taken saved altogether by their own Inhabitants which prejudiceth our New found-land Trade where as hath been said very few are or ought according to Prudence to be employed in those Fisheries but the Inhabitants of Old England The other Commodities we have from them are some few great Masts Furs and Train-Oyl whereof the Yearly value amounts to very little the much greater value of returns from thence being made in Sugar Cotton Wool Tobacco and such like Commodities which they first receive from some other of his Majesty's Plantations in Barter for dry Cod-Fish salt Mackerel Beef Pork Bread Beer Flower Pease c. which they supply Barbadoes Iamaica c. with to the diminution of the vent of those Commodities from this Kingdom the great Experience whereof in our own West-India Plantations would soon be found in the advantage of the value of our Lands in England were it not for the vast and almost incredible supplies those Colonies have from New-England 2. The People of New-England by vertue of their Primitive Charters being not so strictly tied to the observation of the Laws of this Kingdom do sometimes assume a liberty of Trading contrary to the Act of Navigation by reason whereof many of our American Commodities especially Tobacco and Sugar are transported in New-English Shiping directly into Spain and other foreign Countries without being Landed in England or paying any Duty to his Majesty which is not only loss to the King and a prejudice to the Navigation of Old England but also a total exclusion of the old English Merchant from the vent of those Commodities in those Ports where the New-English Vessels trade because there being no Custom paid on those Commodities in New-England and a great Custom paid upon them in Old England it must necessarily follow that the New-English Merchant will be able to afford his Commodity much cheaper at the Market than the Old English Merchant And those that can sell cheapest will infallibly engross the whole Trade sooner or later 3. Of all the American Plntations his Majesty hath none so apt for the building of Shiping as New-England nor none comparably so qualified for the breeding of Sea-men not only by reason of the natural industry of that people but principally by reason of their Cod and Mackerel Fisheries And in my poor opinion there is nothing more prejudicial and in prospect more dangerous to any Mother Kingdom then the encrease of Shiping in their Colonies Plantations or Provinces 4. The People that evacuate from us to Barbadoes and the other West-India Plantations as was before hinted do commonly work one English man to ten or eight Blacks and if we kept the trade of our said Plantations intirely to England England would have no less Inhabitants but rather an encrease of people by such evacuation because that one English man with the ten Blacks that work with him accounting what they eat use and wear would make employment for four men in England as was said before whereas peradventure of ten men that issue from us to New-England Ireland what we send to or receive from them doth not employ one man in England To conclude this Chapter and to do right to that most Industirous English Colony I must confess that though we loose by their unlimitted Trade with our Foreign Plantations yet we are very great Gainers
the Year to be worth ten Shillings or being worth ten to be worth twenty Shillings and so in Proportion then to purchase an other Acre worth five or ten Shillings And in every Acre thus purchased to the Owner by the amendment of his own there were another purchased to the Common-Wealth And it is the Blessing of God to this Land that there are few places of it to which he hath not given means by reasonable Cost and Industry greatly to amend it in many to double the value so as in time if for their own good mens Industry were compelled that way the Riches and Commodities of this Land will near be doubled Then would all the wet Lands in this Kingdom soon be drained the barren Lands mended by Marle Sleech Lime Chalk Sea-sand and other means which for their profit mens industry would find out We see with how great industry and charge our Neighbours the Dutch do drain and maintain their Lands against the Sea which floweth higher above them then it doth above the lowest parts of our drown'd Lands I will admit a great deal to their Industry but I should very unwillingly grant that they are so much more ingenuous and industrious then we as that all the odds were therein Certainly the main cause of it is that with us Money is dear and Land cheap with them Land is dear and Money cheap and consequently the Improvement of their Lands at so great a charge with them is gainful to the Owners which with us would be lossful for Usury going at ten in the Hundred if a man borrow five Pounds and bestow it on an Acre of Ground the amendment stands him in ten Shillings the Year and being amended the Land is not worth above fifteen Years purchase But if the Use of Money went at no more with us then in other places then five Pound bestowed upon an Acre of Gound would stand a man but in five or six Shillings a Year and the Acre of Land so amended would be worth as hath been shewed six and twenty or thirty years purchase Whereby it appeareth that as the rate of Use now goeth no man but where the Land lieth extraordinarily happily for it can amend his Land but to his own loss whereas if Money were let as it is in other Countries he might bestow more then double so much as now he may and yet be a great gainer thereby and consequently as was before remembred should to his own benefit purchase Land to the Common-wealth Neither would such purchase of Land to the Common-wealth be the benefit to the Landed men only the benefit would be as much to the poor Labourers of the Land For now when Corn and other Fruits of the Land which grow by labour are cheap the Plough and Mattock are cast into the Hedge there is little work for poor men and that at a low rate whereas if the mendment of their own Lands were the cheapest purchase to the Owners if there were many more people then there are they should more readily be set a work at better rates then they now are and none that had their Health and Limbs could be poor but by their extreamest laziness And as the high rate of Usury doth imbase Lands so it is as great a hindrance to Discoveries Plantations and all good undertakings making it near double as chargeable to the Adventuâ—ers Money being at ten in the hundred as it is in other Countrieâ— where the Use of Money is so much lower Now let us see by the contrary and conceive if Usury were tollerated at fifteen or twenty in the hundred and I fear many Borrowers all things considered pay above ten what the condition of things would then be and if it appear how desperate the hurt would be which that would bring it may at least upon good reason perswade us how great the good would be of calling it down Certainly it must of necessity come to pass that all Trades would in a short time decay For few or none and reckon the hazard at nothing yield so great a gain as twenty in the hundred and all other Nations might with so great gain out-trade and under-sell us that more than the Earth would of her self bring forth we should scarce raise any thing from it even for our own use within the Land and Land would be so much imbased as men might afford without loss to themselves to carry the Compost out of their Closes upon their next adjoyning Lands to mend them so far should we be from Marling Liming Draining Planting and any other works of Cost or Industry by which Lands are purchased to the Common-wealth So far from building making of Havens Discoveries new Plantations or any other actions of Vertue and Glory to the State for private gain is the Compass men generally sail by And since we cannot without extraordinary diligence Plant Build Drain or any other way amend our Lands but it will be dearer to us than the purchase of others Money being at ten in the Hundred if Money then should go at twenty in the Hundred the charge of mending our Land would be doubled and the Land abased to seven or eight Years purchase and consequently all works of Industry and Charge for improving of Lands would be quite neglected and given over We should only eat upon one another with Usury have our Commodities from other Nations let the Land grow barren and unmanured and the whole State in short time come to beggary Against this perhaps may be objected That before the 37 of H. 8. there was no limitation of Vsury and how did we then To this may be answered That in those times there was a stricter Band in that point upon Mens Consciences So far forth as Usurers were in the same case as Excommunicate Persons they could make no Wills nor were allowed Christian Burial Therefore let us for our Fore-fathers sake hope that the tie upon their Consciences then was a greater Restraint of Usury than the Statute of ten in the Hundred is now I fear Fornication is too frequent among us yet thanks be to God not so much used as where there is allowance of Curtizans and Stews The Objections likely to be made against the calling down of Money are First That general Objection of Ignorance against all Changes be they never so necessary and apparently good that it hath been so a long time and been well enough what will become of the alteration we cannot tell why then should we make any change Secondly That as in Bodies Natural so in Politique great and sudden Changes are most commonly dangerous Thirdly That Money will be suddenly called in and so all Borrowers greatly prejudiced Fourthly That Money will be harder to come by and thereby Commerce greatly hindred Lastly That much Money of Foreigners by Reason of the high rate of Usury is brought over here to be managed at Interest which would be carried away again if the Rate of Usury
LICENSED November the 18th 1689. And Entered according to Order A DISCOURSE ABOUT TRADE Wherein the Reduction of Interest of Money to 4 l. per Centum is Recommended Methods for the Employment and Maintenance of the Poor are proposed Several weighty Points relating to Companies of MERCHANTS The Act of NAVIGATION NATURALIZATION of Strangers Our WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES The BALLANCE of TRADE And the Nature of Plantations and their Consequences in relation to the Kingdom are seriously Discussed And some Arguments for erecting a Court of Merchants for determining Controversies relating to Maritime Affairs and for a Law for Transferrance of Bills of Debts are humbly Offered Never before Printed Printed by A Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane And Sold at the Three Keys in Nags-head-Court Grace-Church-Street 1690. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE following Sheets were wrote as the Reader will observe by the Contents soon after the dreadful Fire which happened in London in the Year 1666. they fell very accidentally into my Hands in Manuscript as they had ever since continued this last Summer and having in my Conversation in the world heard several of the Propositions therein discussed frequently contrasted I did set my self with some Curiosity to run them over and in doing it discerned as I thought much experimental Truth and Reason and a more then ordinary Life and Spirit for the Publick good in the whole Work I therefore made suite to the Judicious Worthy Author to permit me to the same end for which it appears to have been at the first wrote to hand it over to some of our best Patriots to which he being pleased to concede I began to transcribe it but finding that that would prove a tedious task and that that way would confine this excellent Treatise to too narrow bounds I have presumed thus to emit it to the World I may not divulge the Author's Name but this I may truely say He is no Trader neither pays any Use for Money but receives a great deal yearly and hath to my knowledge a considerable Estate in Lands and therefore the most invidious cannot conceive he had any private or selfish end in the following Discourses I have in my time been privy to and frequently concerned in the buying and selling of much Land and I find every thing he said at that time so true of the then low Rates of Land as was his Prediction of its rising in Purchase so soon as that lazy way of Usury by Bankeering should be broke that I am morally confident if the Parliament should be pleased to abate the Interest of Mony by a Law to 4 l. per Cent. We shall as certainly see Lands in England as generally sell at twenty five years Purchase within five years after such a Law as We did see them about the time the following Discourse was Wrote sell at seventeen years Purchase and as We do now see Lands currently sell at twenty years Purchase and upwards I took occasion in my discourse with the Author to observe to him that though Lands in general were risen in sale as he fore-saw to twenty years purchase or more that yet Marsh and Feeding Grounds were abated in Rent to the Tenants at least 20 or 30 l. per Cent. He granted me to be in the right herein and imputed the cause thereof partly to the Prohibition of Irish Cattle and partly to the late general practice of sowing Clover Saint-foyne Rye-Grass and other Grass-Seeds upon which I ask'd him Whether he thought it would not tend to the publick Good to prohibit by a Law the sowing of those Seeds He said by no means Honest Industry and Invention is never to be obstructed by Laws I queried then why Usury should be checkt by a Law He replyed that in the Trade of Vsury there was neither Industry not Invention but Idleness and Oppression and that all Christian Churches as well as most particular eminent Divines ever since our Saviour Christ's time had condemned Vsury as sinful The fore-going Discourse leads to another great Question Whether Foreign Commodities such as tend to nourish Vice and Luxury ought not for the publick Good to be prohibited by a Law or by loading them with a deep Custom such as VVines Brandy Sugar Tobacco c. And I am humbly of opinion with the most profound submission to all my Superiours whose proper Business it is to agree and constitute Laws that it is not for the publick Good to load even such Commodities with so great a Duty as doth or may ruin our Plantations or totally prevent the English from a possibility of supplying the Eastern and other parts of the World with these Commodities because by so doing We give away the most precious of all our Trades a great part of our Navigation to our wiser Neighbours the Dutch who had rather pay their Twentieth Penny twice a year than loose their Trade to the Baltick with Salt Wine Brandy Tobacco c. I might say too with Chesnuts and VValnuts as inconsiderable as their value is Every thing being to be prized above Gold that encreaseth the Navigation of any Country especially that of this Island of England I have been always an Advocate for Liberty and an Enemy to Persecution for matters of Religion and so I am confident was the Gentleman our worthy Author as the following Tract clearly evinces and by so doing gives the Reason why this admirable Work hath till now lain in obscurity the Policy and Councils of the late Reigns constantly discountenancing that excellent Principle And because Liberty of Conscience is frequently touch'd in this ensuing Discourse and declared to be a principal means to advance the publick Good of this Kingdom viz. Trade Which 't is evident is the real and only design of this Treatise I shall take the freedom to tell my thoughts very plainly in relation to it I remember that greatest Master of Historians Cornelius Tacitus says of the incomparable Roman Emperour Nerva that he did Reconcile Res olim insociabiles things never before adjusted the freedom of all Men with the sole Command of one Such a Prince I hope and verily believe God Almighty in abundant Mercy to this poor Nation hath sent us in his present Majesty our truly good and gracious Soveraign King William the Favourite of Heaven and Delight of Men under whom We may most undoubtedly be the Happiest People upon the Face of the whole Earth if We will but We shall never attain that Happiness and hand it over to Posterity except We all as well Dissenters as Church of England Men do sincerely and cordially endeavour to imitate the Wisdom and Goodness of that Memorable Prince Nerva to reconcile things formerly unsociable viz. Liberty of Conscience to all with the preservation of one entire Vniform National Church in the enjoyment of all the publick Revenues thereof these two things in my most unbiass'd retired thoughts are so far from contradictions that as our People in England are
pounds Portion with a Daughter sixty Years ago were not esteemed a larger proportion then Two thousand pounds is now And whether Gentlewomen in those dayes would not esteem themselves well cloathed in a Searge Gown which a Chamber-Maid now will be ashamed to be seen in Whether our Citizens and middle sort of Gentry now are not more rich in Cloaths Plate Jewels and Houshold-Goods c. then the best sort of Knights and Gentry were in those days And whether our best sort of Knights and Gentry now do not exceed by much in those things the Nobility of England sixty Years past Many of whom then would not go to the price of a whole Sattin-Doublet the Embroiderer being yet living who hath assured me he hath made many hundreds of them for the Nobility with Canvas backs Which way ever we take our measures to me it seems evident that since our first abatement of Interest the Riches and Splendor of this Kingdom is increased to above four I might say above six times so much as it was We have now almost One hundred Coaches for one we had formerly We with case can pay a greater Tax now in one Year then our Fore-fathers could in twenty Our Customs are very much improved I believe above the proportion aforesaid of six to one which is not so much in advance of the Rates of Goods as by encrease of the bulk of Trade for though some Foreign Commodities are advanced others of our Native Commodities and Manufactures are considerably abated by the last Book of Rates I can my self remember since there were not in London used so many Wharfs or Keys for the Landing of Merchants Goods by at least one third part as now there are and those that were then could scarce have Imployment for half what they could do and now notwithstanding one third more used to the same purpose they are all too little in a time of Peace to land the Goods at that come to London If we look into the Country we shall find Lands as much Improved since the abatement of Interest as Trade c. in Cities that now yielding twenty Years purchase which then would not have sold for above eight or ten at most Besides the Rent of Farms have been for these last thirty Years much advanced and although they have for these three or four last years fallen that hath no respect at all to the lowness of Interest at present nor to the other mistaken Reasons which are commonly assigned for it But principally to the vast Improvement of Ireland since a great part of it was lately possessed by the Industrous English who were Soldiers in the late Army and the late great Land-Taxes More might be said but the Premises being considered I judge will sufficiently demonstrate how greatly this Kingdom of England hath been advanc'd in all respects for these last fifty Years And that the abatement of Interest hath been the cause thereof to me seems most probable because as it appears it hath been in England so I find it is at this day in all Europe and other parts of the World Insomuch that to know whether any Country be rich or poor or in what proportion it is so no other Question needs to be resolved but this viz. What Interest do they pay for Money Near home we see it evidently in Scotland and Ireland where ten and twelve per Cent is paid for Interest the People are poor and despicable their Persons ill cloathed their Houses worse provided and Money intollerably scarce notwithstanding they have great plenty of all Provisions nor will their Land yield above eight or ten Years purchase at most In France where Money is at seven per Cent their Lands will yield about eighteen Years purchase and the Gentry who may possess Lands live in good condition though the Peasants are little better then Slaves because they can possess nothing but at the will of others In Italy Money will not yield above three per Cent to be let out upon real Security there the People are rich full of Trade well attired and their Lands will sell at thirty five to forty Years purchase and that it is so or better with them in Holland is too manifest In Spain the usual Interest is ten and twelve per Cent and there notwithstanding they have the only Trade in the World for Gold and Silver Money is no where more scarce the people poor despicable and void of Commerce other then such as English Dutch Italians Iews and other Foreigners bring to them who are to them in effect but as Leeches who suck their Blood and vital Spirits from them I might urge many other Instâ—nces of this nature not only out of Chriâ—â—endom but from under the Turks Dominions East-India and America But every man by his Eperience in Foreign Countries may easiy inform himself whether this Rule do universally hold true or not For my own part to satisfie my own curiosity I have for some Years as occasion offered diligently enquired of all my acquaintance that had knowledge of foreign Countries and I can truly say that I never found it to fail in any particular Instance Now if upon what hath been said it be granted that defacto this Kingdom be richer at least four-fold I might say eight-fold then it was before any Law for Interest was made and that all Countries are at this day richer or poorer in an exact proportion to what they pay and have usually paid for the Interest of Money it remains that we enquire carefully whether the abatement of Interest be in truth the Cause of the Riches of any Country or only the Concomitant or Effect of the Riches of a Country in which seems to lie the Intricacy of this Question To satisfie my self wherein I have taken all opportunities to discourse this point with the most ingenious men I had the Honour to be known to and have searcht for and read all the Books that I could ever hear were printed against the Abatement of Interest and seriously considered all the Arguments and Objections used by them against it All which have tended to confirm me in this opinion which I bumbly offer to the consideration of wiser Heads viz. That the Abatement of Interest is the Cause of the Prosperity Riches of any Nation and that the bringing down of Interest in this Kingdom from six to four or three per Cent will necessarily in less then twenty Years time double the Capital Stock of the Nation The most material Objections I have met with against it are as follows Object 1. To abate Interest will cause the Dutch and other People that have Money put out at Interest in England by their Friends and Factors to call home their Estates and consequently will occasion a great scarcity and want of Money amongst us To this I answer That if Interest be brought but to four per Cent no Dutchman will call in his Money that is out upon good Security
to impose upon his Country And now that our Interest is at 6 per cent as the same worthy Author did wisely fore-see I appeal to the Judgment and Experience of my Country Men whether the genuine price of our Lands in England now would not be 20 Years Purchase were it not for accidental Pressures under which it labours at present such as these 1. Our late great Land Taxes 2. And principally the late great Improvement of Ireland mentioned in my former Treatise the consequence whereof is that that Country now supplieth Foreign Markets as well as our own Plantations in America with Beef Pork Hides Tallow Bread Beer Wool and Corn at cheaper Rates then we can afford to the beating us out of those Trades whereas formerly viz. presently after the late Irish War many Men got good Estates by Transporting English Cattle thither And that the Improvement of Ireland is the principal cause why our Lands in purchase rise not as naturally they should with the fall of our Interest appears evidently from the effect the fall of Interest hath had upon Houses in London where the growth of Ireland could have no such destructive influence which hath been so considerable that whosoever will please to inform themselves by old Scriveners or antient Deeds shall find that a House in London about fifty Years past that would sell but for 300 l. at most would readily sell within a short time afâ—er Interest was brought to 8 per cent at 5 or 600 l. and the same Houses to be sold sometime after Interest was brought to 6 per cent viz. before and after the late Dutch War would have yielded without scruple 1000 or 1200 l. The abatement of Interest having had a double effect upon Houses by encreasing Trade and consequently raising Rents as well as encreasing the number of Years purchase 3. A third reason why Land doth not at present bear an exact proportion to 6 per cent which should naturally be twenty Years is the late Plague which did much depopulate this Kingdom 4. The late Fire in London which hath engaged Men in Building in the City who otherwise would have been purchasing in the Country 5. The unusal plenty of Corn which hath been for these three or four Years past in most parts of Christendom the like whereof hath been seldom known it happening most commonly that when one Country hath had great plenty others have had great scarcity 6. The racking up of Rents in the Years 1651. and 1652. which was presently after the last abatement of Interest A seventh accidental Reason why Land doth not sell at present at the rate it naturally should in proportion to the legal Interest is that innovated practice of Bankers in London which hath more effects attending it then most I converse with have yet observed but I shall here take notice of that only which is to my present purpose viz. The Gentlemen that are Bankers having a large Interest from his Majesty for what they advance upon his Majesties Revenue can afford to give the full legal Interest to all Persons that put Money into their hands though for never so short or long a time which makes the trade of Usury so easie and hitherto safe that few after having found the sweetness of this lasie way of emprovement being by continuance and success grown to fancy themselves secure in it can be lead there being neither ease nor profit to invite them to lay out their Money in Land though at 15 Years purchase whereas before this way of private Bankering came up men that had Money were forced oft-times to let it lie dead by them until they could meet with Securities to their minds and if the like necessity were now of Money lying dead the loss of use for the dead time being deducted from the profit of 6 l. per Cent communibus annis would in effect take off 1 l. per Cent per Annum of the profit of Usury and consequently incline men more to purchase Lands in regard the difference between Usury and Purchasing would not in point of profit be so great as now it is this new invention of Cashciring having in my opinion clearly bettered the Vsurers trade 1 or 2 per Cent per Annum And that this way of leaving Money with Gold-Smiths hath had the aforesaid effect seems evident to me from the scarcity it makes of Money in the Country for the Trade of Bankers being only in London doth very much drain the ready Money from all other parts of the Kingdom The second point I am to prove is That it will advance the Rent of Farms To prove that it did so in fact depends on memory and for my own part I and most others I converse with do perfectly remember that Rents did generally rise after the late abatement of Interest viz. in the year 1651. and 1652. The reason why they did so was from the encouragement which that abatement of Interest gave to Landlords and Tenants to improve by Draining Marling Limeing c. excellently made out by the aforesaid two worthy Authors so that I do I think with good Reason conclude that the present fall of Rents is not natural but accidental and to be ascribed principally to the fore-going Reasons given for the present abatement of Land in purchase and especially to the late Improvement of Ireland The third thing I am to prove is That the abatement of Interest will encrease the bulk of foreign Trade which I do thus By evidence of fact it hath been so in England the encrease of our Trade hath always followed the abatement of our Interest by Law I say not preceded but followed it and the Cause doth always go before the Effect which I think I have evidently demonstrated in my former Treatise If any doubt of this and will be at the pains to examin the Custom-house Books they may soon be resolved 2. By Authority not only of that antient Gentleman Sr Thomas Culpepper in his second Treatise and therein of the judgment of the French King and Court in an Edict there recited but likewise of a Parliament of England King Lords Commons in the Act for reducing it to 6 per Cent in the Preamble whereof are these Words viz. Forasmuch as the Abatement of Interest from 10 in the Hundred in former times hath been found by notable Experience beneficial to the Advancement of Trade and Improvement of Lands by good Husbandry with many other considerable Advantages to this Nation especially the reducing of it to a nearer proportion with foreign States with whom we traffick And whereas in fresh memory the like fall from 8 to 6 in the Hundred by a late constant Practice hath found the like success to the general contentment of this Nation as is visible by several Improvements c. 3. By necessary consequence when Interest is abated they who call in their Money must either buy Land or trade with it If they buy Land the many
and I think my Opposer is not clear sighted if he cannot discern that the latter in a due and regulated proportion must be a consequent of them In the next place the Gentleman finding me at a loss as he says for the reason of our great Trade at present will help me as well as he can I answer Those latter Words as well as he can were well put in for as yet he hath told me no News nor given any shadow of Reason that I knew not before and had maturely considered on many Years before I writ the first Treatise The Reasons he gives for our present greatness of Trade are First Our casting off the Church of Rome Secondly The Statutes in Henry the 7 th's time prohibiting Noble mens Retainers and making their Lands liable to the payment of Debts Thirdly The discovery of the East and West-India Trades pag. 19 20. To his first and second Reasons I answer that Those Statutes of Henry the 7 th and our casting off the Church of Rome did long precede our being any thing in Trade which began not until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and afterwards encreased in the time of King Iames and King Charles the first as we abated our Interest and not otherwise there being a Person yet living and but 77 Years of Age viz. Captain Russel of Wapping who assures me he can remember since we had not above three Merchants Ships of 300 Tuns and upwards belonging to England Secondly That in Italy where there are no such Statutes for abridgement of Noble men's Retainers nor casting off the Church of Rome there is notwithstanding a very great Trade and Land at from 35 to 40 Years purchase which sufficiently shews that a low Interest is absolutely and principally necessary and that the other particulars alone will not do to the procuring of those ends although a low Interest singly doth it in Italy To his third Reason I answer that There are some men yet living who do remember a greater Trade to East-India and a far greater Stock employed therein then we have now and yet we were so far from thriving upon it that we lost by it and could never see our principal Money again Nor ever did we greatly prosper upon it till our Interest was much abated by Laws nor ever shall mate the Dutch in it till our Interest be as low as theirs The like in a great measure is true in our West-India Trades we never got considerable by them till our last Abatement of Interest from 8 to 6 per Cent. Pag. 21 22. he labours to prove that If we would have Trade to flourish and Lands high we must imitate the Hollanders in their Practices which in matter of Trade I know is most certain so far as they are consistent with the Government of our own Country And the first and readiest thing wherein we can imitate them is to reduce our Interest of Money to a lower rate after the manner of our Fathers and they did it before us which will naturally lead us to all the other advantages in Trade which they now use 1. For If Interest be abated to 4 per Cent who will not that can leave his Children any competent Estate of 1000 or 2000 l. each bring them up to Writing Arithmetick and Merchants Accompts and instruct them in Trades well knowing that the bare use of their Money or the product of it in Land will scarce keep them 2. Must not all Persons live lower in Expence when all Trades will be less gainful to Individuals though more profitable to the Publick 3. Will it not put us upon building as bulky and cheap sailing Ships as they 4. Will it not bring Trade to be so familiar amongst us that our Gentlemen who are in our greatest Councils will come to understand it and accordingly contrive Laws in favour of it 5. Will not nay hath it not already brought us to lower our Customs upon our own native Commodities and Manufactures 6. Will it not in time bring us to transferring Bills of Debt Is not necessity the Mother of Invention and that old Proverb true facile est inventis addere There is in my poor Opinion nothing conduceable to the good of Trade that we shall not by one accident or other hit upon when we have attained this Fundamental point and are thereby necessitated to follow and keep to our Trades from Generation to Generation 7. Do we not see that even as the World now goes dies diem docet scarce a Session of Parliament passeth without making some good Acts for the bettering of Trade and pareing off the extravagancy of the Law for which ends this last Session produced three That about the Silk-Throwsters That about Transportation of Hides c. That about Writs of Error 8. Will not the full understanding of Trade acquired by Experience and never wanting to any People that make it their constant business to follow Trade as we must do when Interest shall be at 4 per Cent quickly bring us to find our advantage in permitting all Straâ—gers to co-habit trade and purchase Lands amongst â—s upon as easie terms as the Dutch do Will not the Consequence of this Law by augmenting the value of Land bring us in time to regular and just Enclosements of our Forrests Commons and Wastes and making our smaller Rivers navigable the highest Improvements that this Land is capable of And have not these last 50 Years since the several Abatements of Interest produced more of these profitable Works then 200 Years before Will not the Consequence of this Law discover to us the vanity and opposition to Trade that there seems to be in many of our Statutes yet in force such as these fâ—llowing viz. 1st The Statutes of Bankrupt as they are now used in many cases more to the Prejudice of honest Dealers then the Bankrupt himself by compelling men often times to refund Money received of the Bankrupt for Wares justlâ— sold and delivered him long before it was possible for the Seller to discover the Buyeâ— to be a Brankrupt 2dly Such are our Laws limiting the price of Beer and Ale to one Penny per Quart which bar us from all Improvements and Imitation of foreign Liquors made of Corn commonly called Mum Spruce-Beer Rosteker-Beer which may and are made in England and would occasion the profitable Consumption of an incredible quantity of our Grain and prove a great aâ—dition to his Majestieâ— Revenue of Excise expend abundance of Coals in long boyling of those Commodities imploy many Hands in the Manufacture of them as well as Shipping in Transportation of them not only to all our own Plantations in America but to many other parts of the World 3dly Our Laws against engrossing Corn and other Commodities there being no Persons more beneficial to Trade in a Nation then Engrossers which will be a worthy Employment for our present Vsurers and render them truly useful to their Country 4thly Such
Kingdom thereby then the Dutch do by that And that in consequence thereof all Plantations of other Nations must in a few Years sink to little or nothing X. That it is more for the Advantage of England that New found Lands should remain unplanted then that Colonies should be sent or permitted to go thither to Inhabit under a Governour Laws c. I have before discoursed of Plantations in general most of the English being in their nature much a like except this of New-found-Land and that of New-England which I intend next to speak of The advantage New-found-Land hath brought to this Kingdom is only by the Fishery there and of what vast concernment that is is well known to most Gentlemen and Merchants especially those of the West parts of England from whence especially this Trade is driven It is well known upon undeniable poof that in the Year 1605. the English employed 250. Sail of Ships small and great in Fishing upon that Coast and it is now too apparent that we do not so employ from all Parts above Eighty Sail of Ships It is likewise generally known and confessed that when we employed so many Ships in that Trade the current price of our Fish in that Country was Communibus annis seventeen Rials which is eight Shillings six Pence per Qunital and that since as we have lessened in that Trade the French have encreased in it and that we have annually proceeded to raise our Fish from seventeen Rials to twenty four Rials or twelve Shillings Communibus annis as it now sells in the Country This being the Case of England in relation to this Trade it is certainly worth the enquiery 1st How we came to decay in that Trade 2dly What means may be used to recover our antient Greatness in that Trade or aâ— least to prevent our further diminution therein The decay of that Trade I attribute First and principally to the growing Liberty which is every Year more and more used in Romish Countries as well as others of eating Flesh in Lent and on Fish-days 2. To a late abuse crept into that Trade which hath much abated the expence within these twenty Years of that Commodity of sending over private Boat-keepers which hath much diminished the number of the Fishing-Ships 3. To the great encrease of the French Fishery of Placentia and other Ports on the back-side of New-found-Land 4. To the several Wars we have had at Sea within these twenty Years which have much empoverished the Merchants of our Western Parts and reduced them to carry on a great part of that Trade at Bottumry viz. Money taken upon Adventure of the Ship at twenty per cent per Annum 2. What means may be used to recover our antient greatness in that Trade or at least to prevent our farther diminution therein For this two contrary ways have been propounded 1. To send a Governour to reside there and to encourage people to Inhabit there as well for Defence of the Country against Invasion as to manage the Fishery there by Inhabitants upon the Place this hath often been propounded by the Planters and some Merchants of London 2. The second way propounded and which is directly contrary to the former is by the West-Country Merchants and Owners of the Fishing-Ships and that is to have no Governour nor Inhabitants permitted to reside at New-found-Land nor any Passengers or private Boat-keepers suffered to Fish at New-found-Land This latter way propounded is most agreeable to my Proposition and if it could be effected I am perswaded would revive the decaied English-Fishing-Trade at New-found-Land and be otherwise greatly for the advantage of this Kingdom and that for these following reasons 1. Because most of the Provision the Planters which are settled at New-found-Land do make use of viz. Bread Beef Pork Butter Cheese Clothes and Irish-Bengal Cloth Linnen and Woollen Ireish-Stockings as also Nets Hooks and Lines c. they are supplied with from New-England and Ireland and with Wine Oyl and Linnen by the Sâ—lt Ships from France and Spain in consequence whereof the Labour as well as the Feeding and Clothing of so many Men is lost to England 2. The Planters settled there being mostly loose vagrant People and without Order and Government do keep dissolute Houses which have Debaucht Sea-Men and diverted them from their laborious and industrious Calling whereas before there were settlements there the Sea-Men had no other resort during the Fishing Season being the time of their abode in that Country but to their Ships which afforded them convenient Food and Repose without the Inconveniencies of Excess 3 If it be the Interest of all Trading Nations principally to encourage Navigation and to promote especially those Trades which employ most Shiping then which nothing is more true nor more regarded by the wise Dutch then certainly it is the Interest of England to discountenance and abate the number of Planters at New-found-Land for if they should encrease it would in a few Years happen to us in relation to that Country as it hath to the Fishery at New-England which many Years since was managed by English Ships from the Western Ports but as Plantations there encreased fell to be the sole Employment of People settled there and nothing of that Trade left the poor old English-Men but the liberty of carrying now and then by courtesie or purchase a Ship loading of Fish to Bilvoa when their own Nâ—w-English Shiping are better Employed or not at leisure to do it 4. It is manifest that before ther were Boat-keepers or Planters at New-found-land Fish was sold cheaper than now it is by about 40 per Cent and consequently more vented the reason whereof I take to be this The Boat-keepers and Planters being generally at first able Fisher-men and being upon the place can doubtless afford their Fish cheaper then the Fishing Ships from Old England so doubtless they did at first as well at New-England as at New-found-land until they had beat the English Ships out of the Trade after which being freed from that competition they became Lazy as to that laborious employment having means otherwise to live and employ themselves and thereupon enhaunced the price of their Fish to such an excess as in effect proves the giving away of that Trade to the French who by our aforesaid impolitick management of that Trade have of late Years been able to under-sell us at all Markets abroad and most certain it is that those that can sell cheapest will have the Trade 5. This Kingdom being an Island it is our Interest as well for our preservation as our profit not only to have many Sea-men but to have them as much as may be within call in a time of danger Now the Fishing Ships going out in March and returning home for England in the Month of September yearly and there being employed in that Trade two hundred and fifty Ships which might carry about ten thousand Sea-men Fisher-men and Shore men as they usually call the
purchasing Land at twenty Years purchase or upwards No doubt for the present there would be great buying and selling of Land till Men had cleared themselves and payed their Debts But in short time Land as it is shewed before would sell at so dear a rate as Money let at a lower rate of Use would bring in proportion as great a rate above the Rent that would be made then by the purchase of Land as the rate of Money now is above the Rent of Land purchased at fourteen or fifteen Years purchase and so by consequence Money would then as easily be borrowed as it is now and so much easier as it would be more plentiful and fewer Borrowers To the last and weakest of Objections That there is now much Money of Foreigners in the Land to be managed at ten in the Hundred which if Money should be called down would be carried out of the Land There is no doubt it is true But I desire to know whether any man think it better for the State that they should now carry out one hundred Pounds or seven years hence two or fourteen years hence four or one and twenty years hence eight For so in effect upon the multiplying of Interest they do It will seem incredible to such as have not considered it but to any that will but cast it up it is plainly manifest that a hundred Pounds managed at ten in the hundred in seventy years multiplies it self to a hundred thousand pounds So if there should be an hundred thousand pounds of Foreigners Money now managed here at ten in the hundred and that doth seem no great matter that an hundred thousand pound in threescore and ten years which is but the age of a man would carry out ten Millions which I believe is more then all the Coin at this present in the Land I know we cannot conceive how any such sum should be managed at Interest yet this is sufficient to make us little to joy in Foreigners Money Besides we must not conceive that the Money of Foreigners which is here managed at Usury is brought into the Land in ready Coin or Bullion The course is That Merchants send over Bills of Exchange to their Factors for which they receive our Money here and this is the Money they manage at Interest and so they eat us out with our own Money The old comparison which compares Usury to the Butlers Box deserves to be remembred Whilst men are at play they feel not what they give to the Box but at the end of Christmass it makes all or near all Gamesters loosers And I fear the comparison hold thus much farther That there is as few escape that continue in Usury as that continue Gamesters a man may play once or twice and leave a Winner but the use of it is seldom without ruin Now because I know mens private Interests doth many times blind their Judgments and lest any may be tempted for their own against the publick Good I will desire them to remember that if they have Lands as well as Money that what they lose in their Money they shall get it in their Land for Land and Money are ever in Ballance one against the other and where Money is dear Land is cheap and where Money is cheap Land is dear And if there be any yet so hearty a well-wisher to ten in the hundred as that he still thinks it fit to be continued my wish is That he and his Posterity may have the priviledge to borrow but not to lend at that rate In the baginning of this Treatise I did disclaim the proofs of the unlawfulness of Usury leaving them to Divines this one only rising from the Premises which may serve for all I think fit to set down It is agreed by all the Divines that ever were without exception of any yea and by the Usurers themselves That biting Usury is unlawful Now since it hath been proved that ten in the hundred doth bite the Landed men doth bite the Poor doth bite Trade doth bite the King in his Customs doth bite the Fruits of the Land and most of all the Land it self doth bite all works of Piety of Vertue and Glory to the State no man can deny but ten in the hundred is absolutely unlawful howsoever happily a lesser rate may be otherwise To the King increase of his Customs To the Kingdom increase of Land by inriching of this To the Nobility and Gentry deliverance from Bondage and Debt To Merchants continuance and flourishing in their Trades To young Beginners in Trade and Commerce the fruits of their own Labours To Labourers quick imployment To Usurers Land for the Money Postscript SInce the fore-going Papers were delivered to the Press Mr Henry Dakers Merchant sent me a most rational and admirable Treatise concerning Trade called ENGLAND's INTEREST AND IMPROVEMENT writ by Samuel Fortrey Esq one of the Gentlemen of the Majesties Privy Chamber in which he mentions something concerning the Interest of Money in the following Words pag. 42. Viz. In the last place concerning the Vse of Money which being the Life and Sinews of Trade it hath been the Opinion of some that the greater Vse were allowed for Money the more would be the profit of the Publick for that Strangers finding a greater benefit to be made of their Money here than other where would send it hither whereby Money would be much more plentiful amongst us Indeed I should be of their Opinion if as soon as by this means great sums of Money were transported hither all their Money should be confiscate to the Publick But if otherwise sure it cannot be denied but the greater the Vse the more the Profit to the Vsurer and loss to the Debtor so as in a few Years we should find our selves so little inriched thereby that when the Principal should be again recalled we should find but little Money left all our own being wasted in Vse Wherefore indeed the true benefit to the Publick is To set the Vse of Money as low or rather lower than in our Neighbour Countries it is for then they would make no Profit out â—f us by that means but rather we on them And it is the clear profit that we get of our own that will make this Nation ricâ— and not the great sums we are indebted to others Which I have here inserted for such like Reasons First That the World may see I am not singular in this Opinion although I thought I had been so when first I wrote the afore-said Observations Secondâ—y For Confirmation of the Truth by the Authority of a Person of such known Abilities Thirdly To give the Author his due Honour of being the first Observer c. And I am sorry I know not the ingenious Author of the former Tract that I might do right to his Memory Who hath done more for his Country than would have been the Gift of some Millions of Pounds Sterling into the Publick Exchequer FINIS ERRATA Discourse concerning Trade c. IN page 15 line 15 read experience p 25 l 21 r a memorable p 31 l 6 r administrari Trade and Interest of Money c. PAge 11 line 27 for a due r due p 48 l 17 f this r his p 54 l 3 r conclude l 20 r discharged p. 57 l 26 r decreased p 59 l 7 f prophence r propense p 65 l 26 f care r cure p 83 l 16 r company p 97 l 21 r 50 or 25 l. per cent p 99 l 7 r estimate l 18 f not one r very few if any l 29 f our r any p 111 l 27 f or r of p 113 l 19 r maritine l 22 f are r and. p 117 l 13 dele so l 16 r record p 1â—0 l 15 f being r be l 25 f many r main p 121 l 26 f many r main p 131 l 19 r numbers p 134 l 7 r maker p 135 l 2 r is generally l 7 f infinite r infinity p 136 l 26 r and was p 138 l 26 r Bankrupts p 145 l 9 r furnisheth p 147 l 1 f is r if p 148 l 4 r accidents and. p 152 r diminution l 20 r that it is p 158 l 27 f onum r unum p 163 l 27 r plausible p 172 l 3 r involuntarily sent thither l 27 r hath been p 182 l 8 r distribution p 187 l 8 r as Sectaries p 194 l 17 r per cent l 18 r per cent p 195 l 27 r New-found-land p 199 l 12 f Bengal r Bandel p 231 l 9 r his Majesties