Practices if continued will prove so mischievous that unless Foreigners come in amongst us in few years there will not be People to Manure our Lands Eat our Provisions Wear our Manufactures or Manufacture the Staple-Commodities that are of the growth of the Kingdom without which it is no wonder if Lands yield little Rent or Sell not for above 14 or 15 years Purchase And if Foreigners must come over or our Estates here grow worse there must then Encouragement be given them so to do else they will think themselves Well-Seated where they are following their Trades encreasing their Estates Enjoying all the Liberties and Priviledges of Free-born Subjects know how and have Liberty and Encouragement to improve their Estates and when they have got them can keep them therefore will never come themselves nor bring over their Families or Estates amongst us here to be accounted of as Aliens and Strangers such as may not purchase Estates amongst us and if they do shall not enjoy the same nor their Children after them That sort of people which we most want are such who though they would come over and dwell amongst us yet cannot spare 50 or 60 l. out of their Stock to procure themselves naturalized by Act of Parliament especially if they bring over Wife and Children with them which would be more advantageous for us than for them to come over alone Or if they should spare Money to Naturalize themselves yet perhaps they may not have so much as to pay for the naturalizing of their Wives and Children who as our laws are cannot be permitted to Inherit what their Fathers purchase unless they be naturalized also So that an Act for a General Naturalization is absolutely necessary if we will be supplyed with People from Foreign parts But the passing such Act alone will not be sufficient to encourage Foreigners to come and dwell amongst us there must be Liberty of Conscience also granted unto them and they must be assured that they shall not be Imprisoned Banished or have their Estates seized and taken from them and sold only for differing from the Church of England in the way of their Discipline whilst they agree in the Fundamentals of Religion live peaceably under the Civil Government and disturbe not the Government of the Church established for they having such liberty abroad where they are will not without assureance of the same here be induced to come amongst us How many thousands have left England and gone to seek shelter in Forreign parts for the persecution they were under for their Consciences who otherwise with their Families would have Continued amongst us How many have been forced to leave their Trades by being kept in Prison and having their Goods and Estates taken from them How many for fear of being undone not knowing but that so soon as their Goods come into their Shops they may be seized for their having been at Conventicles have left their Trades drawn off their Stocks and keep up their Money not knowing how soon they may have occasion to make use of it in the time of their distresses which otherwise would have been imployed in Trade to the benefit of the Kingdom How many thousands of Farmers have been necessitated to leave their Farms and come to dwell in London or to live obscurely in the Country for fear lest when they should have imployed their Stocks Plowed and Sowed their Land Reaped their Corn and Stocked their Pasture-Land all should be taken from them and they imprisoned and forced from their Families for their Religion Are not these great mischiefs to the Kingdom and great reasons of the decay of Trade and of Gentlemen their wanting Tenants for their Lands a thing so generally complained of all over England that men are not suffered to live as they would do quietly and employ and improve their Stocks as they might do to the advantage of Trade and the Kingdom in General which if they were permitted would occasion the Consumption of more of the provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom Imploy more poor people at Work and thereby Improve the Rent of Lands and would send many of the Gentry and Farmers who left the Country for the Reasons aforesaid and now live obscure in London and some other places back to their Country-houses or to their Farms again it would remove their Fears quiet their Minds and cause their Purses again to be opened and every one would be putting himself upon some way of Improving his Estate and not live upon the main Stock as now they are forced to do It were greatly to be wished that there were more love and Charity amongst us And that all men would Consider seriously what they do when they take upon themselves thus to impose their own Principles upon all others as such that are only right and Condemn all others as Erroneous this is to magnifie themselves as Infallible and despise all others Upon all these Reasons I humbly submit to Judgment whether an Act for a general Naturalization and Liberty of Conscience be not absolutely necessary at this time And whether the Passing thereof may not be of great advantage to the Kingdom since it would increase Trade Promote a vast Consumption of the Manufactures and Provisions of the Kingdom make us more Industrious Imploy more of our Poor Increase his Majesties Revenue of Customs and bring our Lands to let for greater Rents and to sell for more years Purchase than ever heretofore they would have done V. THe Fifth Thing Proposed is That the Act for Prohibition of the Importation of Foreign Cattle so far as it relates to Ireland and Westphalia-Hams may be Repealed This Act hath no way answered the end designed by the passing thereof but on the contrary proved First Very prejudicial to his Majesty in his Revenue of Customs Secondly To all or most of the Land-Owners in England Thirdly To the Navigation and Trade of the Kingdoms 1. To his Majesty for before this Act passed there were so many great Cattle and Sheep Imported from Ireland as Computing the Custom paid for them and for the other Commodities exported out of England into Ireland in lieu of them amounted yearly to 80000 l. besides the Customs of all Norway Spanish and Westphalia Hams which sum the King loseth every year and the Kingdom to their Vast prejudice have lost that Trade 2. To Land-Owners this prohibition must necessarily be a great prejudice If it be considered 1. That the breeding-Breeding-Lands of England are not able to raise a sufficient Stock for the feeding six months feeding being as much as four years Breeding 2. That by reason of the scarcity of such Stock the Breeders Impose a greater price on Lean Cattle then they will yield when fatted whereby feeding-Feeding-Land becomes worth little or nothing 3. That for want of Irish Cattle the Victualling both for Home-Consumption and Foreign Trade and Naval Provisions most of it is transferred from England into Ireland which is a great prejudice
to the Consumption in England So that Lean Cattle though they be dearer because of the scarcity of them yet fatted Cattel are cheaper for want of the Consumption we formerly had The Consequence whereof is That the Ends of the prohibition are not answered Rents of Lands are not Raised but on the Contrary Feeding-Lands must and do fall for want of a Cheap Stock and our former Consumption and Breeding-Lands through the decay of Trade which this prohibition hath occasioned 3ly This Prohibition is prejudicial to Trade and Navigation 1. Because those Foreigners who formerly Victualled here do Victuall themselves in Ireland 2. And they have their Provisions for the fourth part of what we pay for ours whereby they have a great advantage in point of Trade and can Sayl Cheaper than we which forceth the English to Victual there also 3. All Irish Cattle which formerly came unto England and for which they carryed out no Money but took of our Manufactures in return are carryed to other places beyond Seas and from thence fetch the Commodities wherewith we before the prohibition supplyed them So that the Traders in Lancashire Cheshire and other Northen parts where the Breeding-Lands lie their Loss is greater for want of a Consumption of the Manufactures of those Countries which formerly were sent into Ireland than the Advantage they receive by advanceing the price of Lean-cattel doth amount unto 4. It hath enforced the Irish for to lessen their Heards of Cattel and increase their breed of Sheep having gotten of our largest and best Breeders So that they have now Vast Flocks and prodigious quantities of Wooll besides Hides and Tallow which proves mischeivous to England three wayes 1. By their sending Wooll beyond Seas unmanufactured which notwithstanding the Prohibition every day they do which being manufactured by Foreigners they grow rich thereby whilst our poor in England starve for want of the work they had when they were Imployed in manufacturing for a Foreign Consumption 2. By sending their Hides Tallow and Wooll in great quantities into England which for want of a Consumption here bring down the price of our own growth 3. By setting up the Woollen Manufacturies in Ireland where having the Wooll Land and all Provisions cheaper than in England they must necessarily have their Workmen cheaper and if so they will be able to make enough not only for their own use but to supply Foreigners also with that which England used to supply them with heretofore which in a short time if not prevented will undermine the Staple and most Advantagious Trade of this Kingdom It is the Interest of England being the Seat of Government to maintain a preeminence in the Trade and to see that the Manufacturies thereof be preserved intire within it self Otherwise by how much the more Ireland is Improved by so much the more England will be Impaired therein For they working cheaper lying nearer Foreign Markets and their freight being less do what we can will underfell us where ever they come whereby our Manufacturies will be destroyed and Manufacturers with their Families be Ruined It is observable 1. That the Trade with Ireland kept three or four hundred ships in full imploy which were paid by the Irish Freighters there and occasioned the breeding many Seamen yearly but now all those ships are laid aside the breed of Scamen neglected and that Trade managed in Foreign Bottomes 2. That the Cattel and Sheep formerly imported by Computation amounted unto a Million of Money per Annum 3. That they carryed no Money out of England but the effect of their Cattel was all laid out in our Manufacturies or other Commodities Imported into England and from thence sent to Ireland and the King had a Custom paid both upon the Importation and Exportation and also for every head of Cattle brought over The Irish being now Prohibited this Trade are necessitated to send all their Victuals to Forreign parts where they sell them for more than we paid for them and buy what ever they want Cheaper than they had them from us by which means they will be concerned to take no Commodities from England Nor can they Trade with us if they would because they have no way to pay for what they buy unless they bring over Money in Specie to the mischeife of that Kingdom or by Bills of Fxchange which cannot be had under 15 or 16 per Cens. which is double the profit gotten by those that Trade with them That Exchange of monies thence is very high Gentlemen whose Estates are Returned over do find and by reason thereof are forced to retrench a fixth part of their Expences here which is a further lessening to the Consumption of the Manufacturies Provisions of this Kingdom and of Trade with them which is further dangerous for if we send Goods they having a new Trade to Forreign parts we must send our Stocks thither So that if any loss happen it is the English that undergoe it Irelands being peopled from England was at first a hurt to us because it lessened the Consumption of our Provisions here But to prohibit them Trade with us is ten times worse for that not only takes off the Consumption they used to make of our Manufactures but destroyes all those Families in England that used to be Imployed for their supply So that they can neither spend of the Provisions nor Manufacturies of this Kingdom as formerly they did And besides these Handicraft-men there are many Eminent Trades in London as Mercers Milliners Haberdashers c suffer greatly for when Fashions were out here they used to send them into Ireland in return for their Cattle and they went off as new there for want of which utterance many of those Tradesmen by reason of the often changing of Fashions amongst us have been and are daily undone There is one other high Inconveniency like to fall upon England by this Prohibition which hath put Ireland upon Industry For some part of Ireland lying nearer to France Italy and Spain than England doth and so the Irish having Salt from France and Cask and Mens Labour and all Tackle for Fishing being cheaper there than we have here do set up the Fishing Trade there from whence they need but one Wind to carry them to their Markets and they catch the Fish six weeks before they come into England If so then what hinders but that they may cure them and supply Foreign Markets sooner and cheaper than we can which in time will destroy the Fisheries of this Kingdom Not but that Ireland should have its proper Advantages and may if they please there being many additional Manufactures that both they and we want to which the nature of that Soyl and the inclination of the People gives encouragement particularly that of Linnen the greatest part of the Countrey being turf-Turf-Land and naturally proper for Hemp and Flax and being employed to that use with due regulations those Commodities may be had cheaper there and
of the Kingdom by the manufacturing whereof great profit doth arise to the Publick Yet of these if occasion require it will be made appear above 100000 with their Families are in great measure ruined by them And I pray you who are advantaged thereby what persons are imployed or set at work by them save only a few Servant-Coachmen Postilions and Hostlers whom they pretend they breed up and make fit for the service of the Nobility and Gentry of the Land a most incomparable School to train men up in and to fit them for the Gallows more likely than to live in sober Families but in the mean time while these are breeding up the Price and Rents of Lands are so brought down by hindrance these Coaches do make of the Consumption of Provisions and Manufactures that in a short time few Gentlemen will be in a capacity to keep Coaches so that if all Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans were supprest it would do well But if some few Coaches were continued to wit one to every Shire-Town in England to go once a week backwards and forwards and to go through with the same Horses they set forth with and not travel above 30 miles a day in the Summer and 25 miles in the Winter and to shift Inns every Journey that so Trade might be diffused these would be sufficient to carry the Sick and the Lame that they pretend cannot travel on Horseback and being thus regulated they would do little or no harm especially if all be suppressed within 40 or 50 miles of London where they are no way necessary and yet so highly destructive But this as well as the rest I submit to judgment VIII THe Eight Thing Proposed is That the Act for Transportation of Leather unmanufactured may be repealed or at least not renewed after the expiration thereof There would never have been any necessity for this Act had it not been that vast quantities of Hides are Iimported from Ireland which brings down the price of our English Hides And for the Stage-Coaches their hindering the Consumption of that Leather in England which before they set up was used for Boots Saddles Portmantues Hat-eases Holsters Belts Girts Reins Stirrup Leathers and many other things now become almost useless The making whereof for Home-service and Foreign-Consumption employed about 100000 Families whose Livelihood depended upon the manufacturing of Leather whereby they got Money with which they maintained their Families spent five or six good Joints of Meat in a week in their Houses and wore good Clothes thereby occasioning the Consumption of great quantities of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom more than now are consumed Till this Act passed it was felony to transport Leather unmanufactured and then France Spain Germany and other parts who could not be without our Leather had vast quantities of Boots Shoes and Saddles with their Appurtenances Portmantues Hat-Cases Holsters Trunks c. from England by the making whereof many thousands of Families got a handsom subsistance and grew rich but Stage-Coaches hindring the Consumption at home as aforesaid and Irish Hides being Imported into England and also great quantities from Ireland exported to Foreign Parts our Hides fell in their price in England The Question then arose how to raise them to their ancient value and it was by the Parliament conceived that giving a liberty to transport the same unmanufactured might answer the end proposed therefore an Act for that purpose was passed But sad hath been and yet is the consequence thereof for ever since that liberty given the best of our Leather is constantly bought up and transported beyond Seas unmanufactured Foreigners who formerly were supplyed with Leather wrought here will not buy or carry over a penny-worth that is manufactured so that all those poor people who served Apprentiships to learn their Trades and whose Trade depended upon manufacturing for Foreign Consumption are undone they that kept 20 or 30 Journey-men at work every day cannot now though eminent men of their own Trades keep two by means whereof upon computation at least 50000 Men and their Families Livelyhoods are wholly taken away and they so impoverished that they are ready to receive Alms of the several parishes wherein they live whilst in the mean time Foreigners grow rich by manufacturing one of the Staple Commodities of this Kingdom and whereas till this Act passed all our old Boots and Shoes were bought up mended here and then sent beyond the Seas and there worn The case is now otherwise for the best of our Leather is not onely bought up and transported unmanufactured and wrought beyond Seas but when it is wrought it is then imported back and vended here to the great prejudice and discouragement of Manufacturers in England who have many of them been forced as great a want of People as there is in England to transport themselves beyond the Seas for want of work at home and there have taught their Art to Foreigners What then doth naturally follow all these things What Consequence can be drawn from hence but this that instead of 500 ls worth of Leather formerly sent beyond Seas manufactured we send now as much Leather but it is not worth above 100 l. because the same is carried over unwrought by which means our Manufacturers lose 400 l. which they should have gotten if the Leather had been Cut and Wrought in England and so thereby we grow poor and Foreigners grow rich by gaining that 400 l. which our Manufacturers lose But this is not all for most of our Leather that is exported goes into France with whom we never were able to keep up a Ballance of Trade but have traded with them for ready Money they taking little or none of the Manufactures of England in exchange for their Commodities By a moderate computation from the best intelligence I can get France receives from England 30000 ls worth of our Leather every year which they cannot be without for our Leather-Manufacture was the only Manufacture that they were forced to be holden unto us for 30000 ls worth of our Leather manufactured was worth in France 120000 l. then at least 70000 l. of that went into our Manufacturers Pockets the rest to the Merchants and what our Manufucturers got was spent in the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom which being consumed bare a better rate than now and helpt to keep up the Rents of Lands This Money we not only now lose to our Impoverishment and the French get to their Inriching but considering that we now import as much nay far more of French Goods into England than we did formerly and taking it for granted that when we transported the most that ever we did yet could not a ballance of Trade be kept up between the two Kingdoms but our ready Money went for a great part of the Goods imported then must it naturally follow that by sending our Leather unmanufactured which formerly was mannfactured we must send over nigh 100000 l.
is humbly offered and submitted to their considerations whether there can be any way in the World found more certain equal and easie to raise the same than by a Land-Tax for then they will know what it is they give when and how certainly it will come in and the time when the same will end and may proportion their Contracts and Payments accordingly Besides a Land-Tax will be a certain Fond for to advance Money upon in a short time at easie Interest wherewith speedily to discharge and pay off those Debts for which now great interest is to be paid I know it will be Objected that Land is a Drug bears little or no Price to be let or be sold what Rent it is let for Tenents are not able to pay for to lay Taxes upon that would utterly undo the Gentry who have nothing to live upon but their Rents To this I answer that it is very true Lands let poorly Rents are ill paid and yeild very little if sold But let us examine the Reasons hereof and see if some things may not be proposed to remedy those Mischiefs and bring Land to its former value which if we do then every Man will certainly be of Opinion that a Land-Tax is the best way to raise Money and be glad on that Condition to have it imposed I am of Opinion that Gentlemens being wanting to themselves is the greatest occasion of the decay of their Estates and lowering of their Rents Now in Order to the bringing them to the same Rate and Value if not to a better than they formerly bore I humbly propose that these several Particulars following which can only be done by Act of Parliament may be enacted as Laws And I shall endeavour to Demonstrate the Mischeifs we suffer for want of them and the great Advantages we may rationally expect to receive by their being Enacted 1. I propose that a stop be put to any farther Buildings in or about the Cities of London and Westminster Borough of Southwark or in any place within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality the Head being already too big for the Body And that a years Value of all Houses Built upon New Foundations may by the Owners of such Houses be paid to the King towards payment of Publick Debts which would advance above 300000 l. 2. That all the Nobility and Gentry of England who have Estates in the Country and are not obliged to atterd on His Majesty by reason of their Offices be enjoyned with their Families to live where their Estates do lie so many Months in each year as to the Wisdom of Parliament shall seem meet 3. That a Bill be passed for setting up of Registers in every County for Registring Sales Mortgages Leases for term of Years or Lives and all other real Securities and if possible all Bonds c. which Work may be done with little charge to the Subject and yet a profit of above 50000 l. per annum arise to the Publick 4. That an Act for a General Naturalizing of all Foreign Protestants be passed and an assurance of Liberty of Conscience given to all that shall come over into England and place themselves and Families amongst us And that the same priviledge be given to his Majesties Subjects at home 5. That the Act for prohibition of the Importation of Irish Cattle be repealed and a Trade between the two Kingdoms Established whereby his Mejesties Revenue of Customs would be advanced above 80000 l. per annum 6. That Brandy and Mum Coffee and Tea be prohibited and Coffee-houses suppressed which may be done without any dimunution of his Majesties Revenue of Excise 7. That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads be all or most of them suppressed especially those within forty or fifty Miles of London where they are ino way necessary and yet most numerous and mischievous and that a due regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued Which done his Majesties Excise would be worth above 30000 l. per annum more than it now is and the Post-Office by 6000 l. per annum 8. That the Act for Transportation of Leather Unmanufactured be repealed or so far discountenanced at least that it be not renewed when the seven years is expired 9. That a Court in the nature of the Court of Request in London be established for Westminster Southwark and all parts within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality if possible and in every City and Town Corporate in England to determine differences between poor People for small Debts Words or Trespasses that so they may not be undone by Law Suits 10. That a bound be put to the Extravagant Habits and Expences of all sorts of Persons that Servants and Handicraft Tradesmens excessive Wages may be reduced and that no foreign Manufactures except from Ireland be suffered to be worn in England but that the importation and exposing of them knowingly to Sale be both made Felony 11. That it be made Lawful to assign Bills Bonds and other Securities And the Frauds of Men Breaking with design to Enrich themselves out of their Creditors Estates may be prevented 12. That the New-Castle Trade for Coles may be managed by Commissioners for his Majesty which would be a great advantage to the Subjects and raise his Majesty above 300000 l. per annum 13. That the Fishing Trade be encouraged all Poor set at Work to provide Tackle for that use and be paid out of the Money Collected yearly in every Parish throughout England for relief of the Poor which would be of vast advantage to the Publick In Order to the evincing of the necessity of Prohibiting any of further Building in and about London and Westminster and of the Gentries being confined to live some part of the year upon their Estates in the Country I desire every serious considerate Person that knew London and Westminster and the Suburbs thereof fourty or fifty years ago when England was far richer and more populous than now it is to tell me whether by Additional Buildings upon new Foundations the said Cities and Suburbs since that time are not become at least a third part bigger than they were and whether in those days they were not thought and found large enough to give a due reception to all persons that were fit or had occasion to resort thither whereupon all further Buildings on new Foundations even in those dayes were prohibited Nevertheless above thirty thousand Houses great and small have been since built the consequences whereof may be worthy of our consideration These Houses are all inhabited considering then what multitudes of whole Families formerly dwelling in and about the said Cities were cut off by the two last dreadful Plagues as also by the War abroad and at home by Land and by Sea and how many have transported themselves or been transported into our foreign Plantations and it must naturally follow that those who inhabit these new Houses and many of the old
ones must be persons coming out of the Country which makes so many Inhabitants the less there where they are most needful and wanting For the occasion of the Rents of Lands falling every year arises not so much from Lands growing worse as because of the want of Tenants with good Stocks to manage the Farms they take And this mischief hath been and is in great measure occasioned by these additional Buildings for had they not been erected those who inhabit them would have been in the Country living an Industrious and Laborious Life improving their Stocks and thereby advantaging Gentlemens Lands and the Trade of the Nation But now if a Man get two or three Hundred pounds in his Pocket up he comes to London takes a House payes a Fine layes out the rest of his Money in furnishing it for Lodgers thereby promising himself a lazy Life free from care or else he sets up an Alehouse or Brandy House both tending to the debauching and destroying of Youth when as had there not been these Buildings to draw them hither and give shelter then those Men with their three or four hundred pounds a piece Stocks employed in the Country might have made each of them a good Tenant for a Farme of 100 or 200 l. per annum which Farms by their removing to London are thrown into the Landlords hands so that by a moderate Calculation it is judged that there are 60000 Families at least now in and about London more than would or could conveniently have been if these Houses had not been Built which Families if they had continued in the Country would have kept up the value of Lands which fall only for want of Tenants If therefore more Buildings should be hereafter erected more Mischiefs in all probability will be done of this kind to the Country And really Gentlemen may thank themselves for the prejudice they receive by these means they having given the example and been the occasion thereof For they never thinking their Estates would have an end weary of an honest and commendable Country-life come up to London to see fashions fall into ill company learn how to run out of all their Estates in a short time by extravagant Habits gaming drinking and other debaucheries destructive to their Healths as much as Estates As if to have lived in the Country upon their own Estates and to have taken care of and managed them and kept a handsome retinue of Servants and a good House of Hospitality and to have taken off their Tenants Provisions for their Family expences in part of their Rents relieving and setting the Poor at work and incouragement of Art Industry and Labour were not so commendable in them or so much for their Advantage and Honour as to live idly in London pursuing their lustful pleasures paying whilest their own houses stand empty and go to ruine for want of being inhabited more for their Lodgings than would maintain their Families handsomely in the Country and encrease the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom than which nothing can conduce more to the Improvement of Land I would desire to know of any sober Person how far the many Gentlemen who have thus foolishly and idly run themselves out of their Estates have done good with the same who is the better for it Is the Country where their Estates lie or their Tenants that rent them or the poor Inhabitants about them No not at all but all are the worse and undone thereby for when these Persons come first to London they bring up all the Money they can get in specie and no sooner do their Rents grow due in the Country but they or their Bailiffs or Stewards rack the poor Tenants for the same gather in all that they can get and sue or distrain where Money is not presently to be had taking away Tenants Cattel selling them for half their worth and thereby ruine not only idle Persons or ill Husbands that have run out of their Stocks but also many Industrious men and great husbands who have Stock and Goods enough if sold wherewith to answer the Rent and the want of a vent for the product of their Farms is the only reason why they could not raise present Money for their Landlords How many persons by these means have been undone forced to leave their Farms which thereby have been thrown into their Owners hands who have been forced both to abate Rents and keep their Farms a year or two without making any thing of them before they could dispose of them again And I know none the better for these things but the Gentries and Nobilities Bailifs and Stewards who being entrusted to Let and Set Receive Rents and manage their Masters Estates do by their neglecting to call them to account or looking after and disposing their own Affairs grow vastly Rich and frequently in Trustees names become Purchasers of their Masters Estates whilst they in the mean time by means as aforesaid become greatly impoverished The rather for that frequently when they receive their Masters Rents they pretend the Tenants have them in their hands and put their Masters thereby under necessity of borrowing Money for their present Supplies which when they have done they being imployed to procure the same do frequently furnish them with their own Money making them pay Brocage Procuration and Continuation-Money and Interest for the same which helps forward their Ruine In short these New Buildings are advantageous to none but to the Owners of the Ground on which they are built who have raised their wonted Rents from a hundred pound to five or six hundred pound per annum besides the Improvements in Reversion or to the Builders who by slight building on long Leases make ten or twelve pound per cent of their moneys But the advantage of these persons being the Countries great prejudice Therefore in my poor Opinion it seems agreeable to Reason that they ought to help to pay the publick Debts of the Kingdom and the Country who are hurt by them should be eased And for them to pay one year or a year and halfs Improved Rent to the King would not be much considering the greatness of the Improvement they have and are like to make So that admitting that there are 30000 Houses Built upon New Foundations as aforesaid and that each of those Houses one with another should pay but 10 l. per annum Rent and the King should have but one years Rent from each House the same would amount unto above 300000 l. which would go a great way in the discharging the publick Debts But one years Rent from each of these Houses it is conceived would come to above 500000 l. and the enforcing them that have Built contrary to the Statute to pay such a Fine would deter others from Building for the future of which there can be no need considering that there are above 3000 brave Houses which for the Honour of the Nation are at great
from thence than from any other part of the World which would be a great encouragement to the setting up of the Manufactures thereof It must necessarily be cheaper because Land is far cheaper there than in those Parts from whence we have our Hemp and Flax and what we fetch comes charged with great Freight and Customs Which might be saved if the Commodity were fetcht from Ireland What then would there be wanting but a method to manufacture this Commodity cheaper Which done that place may supply not only England but all Europe with Linnen-Cloth at easier rates than now they pay for the same And if so what hinders but that they may ingross the whole Linnen-Trade and quickly grow rich And that they may manufacture cheaper there consider that in this part of the World there cannot be found a place where people may live cheaper have Lands at easier Rates than in Ireland so then consequently no place in the World where people work for less than there If then the Commodity to be wrought and the working of that Commodity be cheaper in Ireland than in any other Part the Manufacturies when wrought may be sold from thence cheaper than from any other part and this would bring Trade thither take away no more of the Stock of this Nation than is absolutely necessary for the supply of our Necessities And it would be a great advantage to the Kingdom to be furnished with that within our selves which we necessarily want and are enforced to depend upon Foreigners for In short the Prohibition of Irish Cattel puts them on a necessity for something they must do with their Cattel and the product of their Lands or be utterly destroyed that necessity forceth them to Industry which Industry if not determined with us but continued or encouraged with Foreigners the more industrious they are the more pernicious it will be to England in all its concerns For if the Irish by reason of their Religion and the sense of our conquering them have as some affirm and I and all English-men have good reason to believe a natural antipathy against us English-men and as natural an Affection and Sympathy to and with Foreigners who are of their own Perswasion and Religion And if Nations grow Intimate espouse Interest and mix by Trade and Commerce it is humbly submitted whether for the security of England both in its Government and Trade it be not adviseable to annex Ireland as a Province to England as our Islands abroad are annexed whereby his Majesties Revenue of Customs would be advanced at least 80000 l. per annum which would help to pay the Publick Debts and do a publick good to the Nation Concerning the Importation of Westphalia-Hams I have onely this to say That though Prohibited yet they are Imported the King loseth the Custom of them which formerly he had the Merchants buy them far cheaper beyond Seas than ever they did in England the Subjects pay twice as much as they might have bought them for before the Prohibition and not any good is done to the Kingdom thereby VI. THe Sixth thing proposed is the Prohibition of Brandy Mum Coffee Chocoletta and Tea and the suppressing Coffe-Houses These greatly hinder the Consumption of Barley Malt and Wheat the Product of our Land and thereby bring down the prices of these Grains consequently the Rents of Land to the ruine of Tenants who cannot sell their Corn when they have it and of Landlords whose Rents Tenants are not able to pay because they have no vent for the Product of their Farms There is as I am upon strict Enquiry of the most knowing persons informed so vast a quantity of Brandy Mum Coffee Tea and Spanish Chocoletta every year imported into England and consumed here that reckoning the Brandy to be sold at two pence the Quartern and no more whereas most of it by retail is sold for three pence the Mum at six pence a Quart and the Coffee Tea Chocoletta at the rates they are usually sold for yet is there expended by the Subjects yearly in these drinks above 400000 l. If these Liquors were prohibited then would there be made in England with our Wheat or Malt such quantities of Brandy or a Spirit equal to it and of Mum also as would in all probability occasion the Consumption of at least two or three hundred thousand Quarters of Wheat and Malt every year more than now is consumed and that would raise the price of the Commodity and thereby keep up the Rent of Lands which every year falls for want of a Consumption of the Product thereof And the Prohibition of Brandy would be otherwise advantageous to the Kingdom and prevent the destruction of His Majesties Subjects many of whom have been kill'd by drinking thereof it not agreeing with their Constitutions How many instances have we had yearly of mens dying suddenly after drinking of Brandy How many after over-drinking themselves with this Liquour have lain languishing till they have dyed thereof Before Brandy which is now become common and sold in every little Alehouse came over into England in such quanties as now it doth we drank good Strong Beer and Ale and all laborious people which are the far greatest part of the Kingdom their bodies requiring after hard labour some strong drink to refresh them did therefore every morning and evening use to drink a pot of Ale or a flagon of strong Beer which greatly promoted the Consumption of our own Grain and did them no great prejudice it hindred not their work neither did it take away their senses nor cost them much money But now this sort of people since Brandy is become so common and fold in every little house a small quantity costing them three pence do sometimes spend their days wages in this sort of Liquor before they get home in an evening and thereby impoverish their Families and not only so but frequently by their drinking to excess they are bereft of their senses for two or three days together so that they cannot work In short Brandy burns the hearts of His Majesties Subjects out in few years it hath been the destruction and death of some thousands who if they had kept to Beer and Ale might have received better refreshment therefrom and now been living to have served the King and their Countrey and might have help'd to consume the Manufactures and Provisions of the Kingdom And if so then what reason can any man give for the Importation thereof For my own part I declare I know of none unless it he because it pays a great Custom or Excise to the King And as to that I answer and affirm That if Brandy be prohibited the Excise of the Beer and Ale that would be then consumed more than is now will more than answer the duty of Brandy that the King shall lose by such Prohibition as is desired admitting that all the Brandy imported paid the duty imposed when as not one half thereof is paid for
the same being stolm insomuch that when the duty to the King was four shillings per Gallon Brandy was sold for three shillings which was twelve pence less than the Kings Duty But admitting that if Brandy should be prohibited the additional Excise of Ale and Beer would not answer the Kings lose he shall sustain thereby and taking it for granted that our English Constitutions are now so accustomed to Brandy that it is become absolutely necessary for them to use the same or some Liquor like it If it be so then from our Malt and Wheat may be extracted a Spirit equally as good if not for our Constitutions much better than Brandy And then laying a small duty as a penny a Gallon upon low Wines will more than answer what the additional Excise shall fall short of to the King yea and very much exceed what he shall lose by the Prohibition desired And in as much as nothing is so much wanting in England as people Therefore all means possible in point of Prudence and Policy ought to be used to preserve the lives and healths of those we have But the Importing of Brandy hath destroyed many is like to destroy more ergo it ought to be prohibited And the rather in regard that Brandy comes from France and whatever we import from France ready money is paid for the same or for the greatest part thereof For although we impose but between Four and Ten pound per cent upon any of the Manufacturies or Commodities of the growth of France except the duty upon Wine and Brandy yet the French King either prohibites the Importation of the Manufactures of England into his Dominions or the selling them there unless they be sealed for which Seal a great duty is paid or else he burns them if they are imported and sold without such Seal as he did the Silk Stockings or imposeth upon the Importation thereof a duty of 30 40 or 50 l. per cent which is double as muchas was imposed till within these few years last past and is in effect a Prohibition For when we do Transport any thing thither of our Growth or Manufacturies the French by reason of the high duty imposed upon them undersel us whereby we are necessitated to keep our goods till spoiled or bring them back And if so them plain it is that whatsoever we have from France ready money goes for the same So that by a moderate computation they have at least 400000 l. per annum in money from us which is a vast prejudice to England and a great enriching to France who impose upon us not only vast proportions of their Brandy and Wines but also of their Silks Stuffs Ribbons Laces Points and divers other things whereby our Manufacturers in England are ruined and the Treasure of the Nation exhausted I know it will be said that we lay far greater Impositions upon their Wines and Brandy than they do upon any of our Manufactures and it is true that we do so But consider that whatever duty we lay upon Wines is laid upon the King of Englands own Subjects they pay it and such duty doth not hinder the Importation thereof for more comes in now then ever there did when the duty was not half so high and the French force the English to pay more for their Wines than ever they paid before But the Impositions laid by the King of France upon our Manufactures have stopt us from sending any thing considerable thither whereas before such duties imposed we sent great quantities So that in a few years if not prevented the very Commerce with France is like to destroy England As for Brunswick Mum I am sure we brew as strong in England as they do there and yet afford to sell it for half the price they sell theirs for therefore there is no necessity of the Importation thereof to supply any defect we have here consequently 't is not fit to be encouraged because it hinders the Consumption of the Grain of this Kingdom And for Coffee Tea and Chocoletta I know no good they do only the places where they are sold are convenient for persons to meet in sit half a day and discourse with all Companies that come in of State-matters talking of news and broaching of lyes arraigning the judgements and discretions of their Governors censuring all their Councels and insinuating into the people a prejudice against them extolling and magnifying their own parts knowledge and wisdom and decrying that of their Rulers which if suffered too long may prove pernicious and destructive But say there were nothing of this in the case yet have these Coffee Houses done great mischiefs to the Nation undone many of the Kings Subjects for they being very great Enemies to Diligence and Industry have been the ruine of many serious and hopeful young Gentlemen and Tradesmen who before they frequented these places were diligent Students or Shopkeepers extraordinary husbands of their time as well as money but since these Houses have been set up under pretence of good husbandry to avoid spending above one peny or two pence at a time have got to these Coffee Houses where meeting Friends they have sate talking three or four hours after which a fresh acquaintance appearing and so one after another all day long hath begotten fresh discourse So that frequently they have staid five or six hours together in one of them All which time their Studies or Shops have been neglected their Business left undone their Servants been trusted and an opportunity given them thereby to be idle and deceitful the taking of money in many of these mens shops hath been hindred and their Customers gone away displeased How many by these means have received great losses and disadvantages in their Trade and by accustoming themselves to these houses have made it so habitual to them that they cannot forbear them though together with their Familes they are ruined thereby These Houses being very many of them professed Bawdy Houses more expensive than other houses are become scandalous for a man to be seen in them which Gentlemen not knowing do frequently fall into them by chance and so their Reputation is drawn into question thereby VII THe Seventh Proposal That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads may all or most of them be suppressed especially these within 40 50 or 60 Miles of London where they are no way necessary And that a due Regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued These Coaches and Caravans are one of the greatest mischiefs that hath hapned of late years to the Kingdom mischievous to the Publick destructive to Trade and prejudicial to Lands First By destroying the Breed of good Horses the Strength of the Nation and making Men careless of attaining to good Horsemanship a thing so useful and commendable in a Gentleman Secondly By hindring the Breed of Watermen who are the Nursery for Seamen and they the Bulwark of the
forced to beat down the price of them in the Market yet must let the Coachman have them for what he pleaseth otherwise he carries his Passengers to other Inns by which means the Inholders get little or nothing cannot pay their Rent nor hold their Inns without great Abatements Two third parts of what they formerly paid is in some places abated Upon such accounts as these Innholders where these Coaches do come are undone And if so since most Travellers travel in Coaches what must become of all the rest of the Inns on the Roads where these Coaches stay not Believe it they are a considerable number take all the grand Roads in England as York Exeter Chester c. There are about 500 Inns on each Road and these Coaches do not call at fifteen or sixteen of them then what can follow but that the rest be undone and their Landlords lose their Rents But were these Coaches and Caravans down and travelling on Horseback again come into fashion first every Passenger that now travels in Coach would have one Horse at least many of them one two or three Servants with them who now ride sneaking without any Attendants at all whereby in all probability according to moderate Computation there would be at least forty or fifty horses upon the Road instead of nine or ten that draw the Coach and Caravan 2ly These Travellers would disperse themselves into the several Inns upon the Road each man where he could find the best Entertainment whereby Trade would be diffused Innholders be enabled to pay their Rents and encouraged to provide accommodations fit for the reception of Gentlemen 3. Most Horses go to grass in the Summer time which would raise the Rents of Pasture-Lands about Cities and Corporations and other Towns upon the Roads above what formerly they were which of late years by means of those Coaches have fallen half in half even in Middlesex and other places adjoyning to London it self And nâ— other reason for it can be given but this That Citizens and Gentlemen about the City do not keep Horses as formerly they did Neither doth there now come a fixth part of the Horses to London that used to do but if Stage Coaches be supprest there will be a necessity for men to apply themselves to the breeding keeping and using Horses as formerly they did and it will necessarily occasion the Consumption of five times the quantity of Hay Straw and Horse-Corn that now is consumed whereby Farmers will have a vent for their Commodities and be enabled to pay their Rents for not only will there then be four times the number of Horses travelling upon the Roads as there are now but in the City of London and all the great Towns in England there would be great numbers of good Horses kept by Gentlemen Merchants and Tradesmen for their own uses and by others also to let out to hire to such as shall have occasion to ride and keep not Horses of their own It is very observeable that before these Coaches were set up what with the Horses kept by Merchants and other Tradesmen and Gentlemen in or near London and the Travellers Horses that came to London That City spent all the Hay Straw Beans Pease and Oats that could be spared within twenty or thirty miles thereof And for a further supply had vast quantities from Henly and other Western parts and from below Graves-end by Water besides many Ships Lading of Beans from Hull and of Oats from Lynn and Boston and then Oats and Hay and other Horse-Meat would bear a good price in that Market which was the Standard for all the Markets in England But now since these Coaches set up especially in such multitudes and those so nigh London London cannot consume what grows within twenty miles of it But if they were down the Consumption in London would quickly be as great as ever and that would raise the price of the Commodities advance the price of Lands and cause Rents to be well paid again Not only would every Traveller that now rides in a Coach travel on Horseback if Coaches were down and some of them with two or three Servants and so occasion a greater Consumption of the Provisions for Cattel But further every of these several Travellers who before clubbed together for a Dish or two of Meat would have one two or three Dishes of Meat for himself and his Servants which would occasion the Consumption of six times as much Beef Veal Mutton Lamb and all sorts of Fish Fowl Poultry and other Provisions as is now consumed on the Roads And such Consumption would raise the price of Lands and cause better payment of Rents especially if it be considered That not only will the Consumption be increased by those that travel the Roads but ten-times more would be spent by those who would be imployed in the making those things that Travellers must have when they ride who if they have work and can earn Money will Eat and Drink of the best as formerly they did when several Handicraft Tradesmen in London kept 20 30 or 40 Journeymen at work spent a quarter of Beef and a Carcass of Mutton in a week in their Houses who since these Coaches set up have fallen to a couple of Apprentices and though as eminent of their Trade as any about London yet can hardly earn Bread to put into their heads If it be so then that Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans are so injurious to the Publick destructive to Trade and the occasion of the fall of Rents it would be worth time to consider what is in them worthy of their being countenanced and desired And whether the Inconveniencies be not much greater than the Conveniencies men receive by them If this way of travelling were the way that of all wayes appeared most beneficial least expensive conducing to Health advantagious to men in their business absolutely necessary to some useful to others and imposed upon none There were some reason for mens being in love with them but if the contrary be apparent then what madness possesseth men to court their Inconveniencies and Mischiefs Let us examine these things Men receive not the greatest benefit by travelling in these Coaches For can that way be beneficial to any that hinders and destroyes Trade prevents the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom and thereby lowers the Rents of Landlords For First Can a Gentleman receive benefit or advantage by saving 5 l. per Ann. in a journey when by his manner of travelling he lowers his own Rents three times as much in a year as he saves by his Journeys by countenancing that kind of conveyance that hinders the Consumption of the products of his own Estate and thereby makes his Tenants unable to pay their Rents 2ly Is it to be believed That a Tradesman arrives at any profit by these Coaches though he should save a little Money when he rides in them that he must necessarily expend if he
Labour ought to be countenanced and encouraged and Magistrates and Gentry would do well to give Examples thereof to those amongst whom they live If all the Poor now maintained in their Idleness were set at work and paid out of the Money raised as aforesaid those that now have two Shillings or three Shillings a Week might by their Work earn so much or suppose they could earn but one Shilling sixpence a week and nevertheless receive three Shillings it is half in half saved so that a Moyety of what now is collected from the people might be spared to them and yet the Poor be as well or better maintained than now But if Men Women and Children were set at work few Families that now receive two or three Shillings a week but in all probability would and might earn four or five Shill a week help to Manufacture the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom at cheap Rates and thereby bring down the Wages of Handicrafts-men which now are grown so high that we have lost the Trade of Foreign Consumption because abroad Wool and Leather and the Manufactures thereof are sold at lower Rates than we can afford ours at This Mischief of high Wages to Handicrafts-men is occasioned by reason of the Idleness of so vast a number of people in England as there are so that those that are Industrious and will work make men pay what they please for their Wages but set the Poor at Work and then these men will be forced to lower their Rates whereby we shall quickly come to sell as cheap as Foreigners do and consequently engross the Trade to our selves There are many ways to set the Poor at work both old and young Women and Children by Spinning of Linnen Woollen and Woolsted Carding Combing Knitting Working Plain-Work or Points Making Bone-Lace or Thred-or Silk-Laces Brede and divers other things The Linnen-Trade if well regulated would employ some hundred thousands of People and if brought to perfection might save vast Sums of Money within the Kingdom which now are sent out for the same The Woollen and Leathern-Manufactories would employ Multitudes of Men and young youths and vast quantities of Wooll might be manufactured and consumed in England more than now is if all the Tapestry we now use were made here which is now imported from beyond the Seas Also if the Act for Burying in Flannel as ridiculous as men make it were put in Execution seeing Flannel would be as good for that use as Linnen abundance of our Poor would be employed in making these things And the Money now paid for these Foreign Manufactures would be kept in England and defray the Charge of the Manufacturing of them at home It is not to be imagined how many thousands of Men Women and Children the Fishing-Trade which is that I principally aim at would keep in employment The making of the Nets Sayls Cordage and other Materials for that use the Building of Fishing-Vessels and the Catching and Curing of the Fish when catch'd would find work for above two hundred thousand People and would encrease the number of Sea-men Ship-wrights and many Handicrafts-men A great Revenue if well managed would thereby arise to the Publick and the Fish taken would be as good to us as so much Ready-Money and be taken off beyond Seas in Exchange for such Goods as we necessarily want and have from Foreign Parts and now pay Ready Money for To conclude Were the things Proposed as aforesaid done as desired Trade would be encouraged and encreased the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom be in far greater quantities consumed both at home and abroad the Price of Lands would be raised Tenants be enabled to pay their Rents the Kingdom would be greatly enriched and in a few years the Publick Debts of the Kingdom might be discharged without Imposing any considerable Tax upon the People FINIS