Friends that are so truly upon the score of Vertue and Honesty These will always be ready to make a stand in the House of Commons in case hereafter the Ministers should have any designs to make Kings Independant on Parliaments But in the present posture of Affairs and in a long prospect of the future it is not probable any thing will be Enterprised upon Liberty For there are those on the other side the Water that would sufficiently improve to their advantage any false steps that should be made of that nature and while our fears of France and Popery continue the side that is for keeping the Government within its ancient limits will have always sufficient strength and credit in the Nation No King with Despotick Power and an Army could Levy a third part of that Money in this Country which is now paid in a quiet and legal manner If our Kingdom had been under Arbitrary Power when we broke with France in all probability the Conquest of us had not been the Work of two Campagnes For nothing but Liberty our Interest in the Laws and Property could have made us willing to endure such a heavy War and able to bear its Expence The Rights and Liberties of a Free People are chiefly what we have to oppose against the Numbers Wealth Oeconomy and Military Skill of France So that there seems the less reason to fear any breach upon our Constitution because it is as much the Interest of the Prince as our own to preserve it Nor can a great Tax of any kind be laid which will fall so easie upon the People as that the entire Body of the Nation will not find it self concern'd to throw it off in Parliament as soon as that Necessity ceases which first brought it on All Taxes whatsoever are in their last resort a Charge upon Land and though Excises will affect Land in no degree like Taxes that Charge it directly yet Excises will always lye so heavily upon the Landed Men as to make them concern'd in Parliament to continue such Duties no longer than the Necessity of the War continues Besides when 't is said Excises are easie 't is in respect of other Taxes and in regard they Charge every individual Man more equally than other Impositions For all Ways and Means whatsoever that raise great Sums and drein the Country of Money are and ever will be thought burthensome to the whole And though the Dangers which threaten from Abroad have made us willing to raise such great Sums as for these late Years have been Levied in England yet all Men know that in Times of Peace they are far above the Value Wealth and Power of this Country and cannot be continued nor under any head whatsoever paid a long space without depriving the People of that Stock which should carry on their Labour Trade and Manufacture and consequently introducing Universal Poverty So that there seems little reason to fear the Gentlemen in Parliament can ever be prevail'd upon to make Excises a standing Revenue There are other Taxes that probably in their consequence may prove more dangerous to Liberty than Excises The Rights of the People are safe so long as we preserve Parliaments and while that Post is secure and well guarded we are out of danger our felicity being such That we cannot be undone but by our selves and by our own consent Those Kings who have design'd the subverting of our Laws by force and open War as King John Harry the Third Edward and Richard the 2d could never prevail on the contrary their attempts did end in procuring to the Nation more ample Charters of Freedom But those Princes have been more likely and nearer to compass their ends who have had the Art to undermine our Priviledges by corrupting Parliaments And nothing can sooner dispose the Gentry to that Corruption and put them more in the power of the Court than such heavy Taxes as will make them uneasie in their Fortunes And the Subversion of most free Governments that we read of has happen'd when the Gentry has been Ambitious and overwhelm'd with Debts and press'd with too great Necessities If these hight Land-Taxes are long continued in a Country so little given to Thrift as ours the Landed Men must inevitably be driven into the Hands of Scriveners Citizens and Usurers except some few of the most wary Families And in such a case the Country Gentlemen would still preserve the Interest of being chosen into the Parliament for a time because they would hold their Estates till they are evicted out of them by Law or forc'd to sell to their Creditors who indeed are the true Owners Now can there in the World be a circumstance more dangerous to the Liberty of a Nation than to have the real Right Interest and Property of Land in one Hand and the Power of being chosen into Parliament in another To preserve the Rights of this Nation we should be Represented by such as have the greatest share in Property And yet if these high Land-Taxes should last any considerable time the real Property of Land will belong to the Bankers and Usurers and we shall be in a great measure Represented by such as have only the name and show of Estates And 't is left to the Consideration of any Impartial Man whither such a Parliament would not be entirely in the Power and at the Devotion of the Court And whither Liberty would not be thereby more endanger'd than by making Excises a Fond of Revenue for this War When the People grow once so degenerate as to surrender the Rights of the Nation there is no ward against such Corruption and a Parliament that would consent to continue Excises beyond the necessities of the War would give up Magna Charta or settle the present Land-Taxes into a perpetuity upon the Crown But 't is hoped there are not hands enow in this Country to help a few Flatterers in the pulling down the Fences of our Liberties and to promote a design that would as well ruin the King as his People If an Honorable and Safe Peace be so much in our Power as some Men imagine there will be no occasion of new Ways and Means of supplying the Government But if we are so jealous of our Trade and Maratime Interest as to desire the War may be continued till the Naval Power of France be a little humbled and broken then it vvill import us to think on the Ways and Means proper for the carrying on a business of difficulty and length Upon the whole matter it would be much for the Honour and Safety of England if we could bring it about to answer the Years Expence with the Revenue that shall arise within the Year and not to live upon Anticipations which eat us out with Interest-Money and run the Nation into a long Debt All reasonable Men must grant that if the Government could be otherways supplied it were expedient to let Land breath a little in order to give the Country Gentlemen opportunity to repair the breaches which are lately made in their Fortunes And in all likelihood Excises might maintain the whole War if they can be so settled as the giving of them may not hazard the Constitution But if Excises are thought dangerous to Liberty there seems good reason to believe that an Aid of 〈…〉 ound upon Land and Money join'd with a Quarterly Poll and all justly and fairly Levied through the whole Kingdom would near supply the present Necessities If Aristides Cimon and Themistocles or any of the Ancient Worthies could rise from the Dead they would be astonish'd at our proceedings and wonder to see a Nation that fights for the Cause of Liberty Tax themselves partially and not with due proportion 'T was not by such Measures in their Public Assemblies that the Grecians so long withstood the Persian Monarchy but by observing among themselves mutual Justice and Equality each Man submitting his private Interest and Concerns to the Common Good of his Country which 't is evident they did in the whole course of their Affairs FINIS
London By this Laws not being put in Execution Consumption does not encrease as Plenty encreases neither the Farmer nor the Common People are the better for abundance And the benefit of Plenty in a manner wholly accrues to Bakers Corn-Chandlers and Corn-Brokers who make immoderate Gains by not raising and lowering their Prices truly according to the common Rate of the Market which by Law they are bound to do As for Example if an Excise were laid upon Wheat and Rye and at the same time the Laws of Assize were revived and inforced with higher Penalties the Excise would not be so much felt by the Farmer because he would find Consumption increase nor by the common People because they would have more Bread for the same Money so that in effect the Excise would be answered to the King out of the Immoderate and Unlawful Gain made by the Baker Corn-Chandler and Corn-Broker So if an Excise were laid upon Oats Pease and Beans and an Assize of the said Commodities were made to force the Inn-keepers and Corn-Chandlers to regulate their Prices in a reasonable manner by the Market Price the Consumption would be greater and the Farmer thereby recompenced and the King's Duty in effect would be paid out of the immoderate Gain made by the Inn-keeper and Corn-Chandler So if an Excise were laid upon Flesh Candles and Leather and at the same time Provision were made by Law to regulate the Market of Smithfield and other Markets all Cattle would sell so much better that the Farmer would not so much feel the Excise which would in effect be paid out of the excessive Profits made by the Butcher in retailing his Flesh and selling his Tallow and Hides 'T is strange Oeconomy in our Government that Plenty should make things a greater Drug to the first Seller and very little cheaper to the Buyer but so it is in Fact and this proceeds from the want of a good Law of Assize and from the Fraud and Corruption of those who retail these Commodities such as Bakers Inkeepers and Butchers And since there is a necessity of Money can any Tax be more reasonable than such a one as would intercept and bring to the King some part of that excessive Gain which these People make upon the Publick And this will hold in almost all Commodities that are the proper Subjects of an Excise Therefore if ever new Excises are thought upon it will be necessary at the same time to renew the Laws of Assize now in force and to prepare a new Bill of Assize with higher Penalties and better accommodated to present use in which the Justices of Peace may be strictly injoyned to settle the Assize every Month in their respective Divisions at their Monthly Meetings The same Law may regulate the Markets of Smithfield in which it is said there are Practices very hurtful to the Landed Men of England 'T is complained the Butchers of London keep great quantities of rich feeding Ground in their Hands near the Town and are all Engrossers of Cattle and when Beasts are brought hither for Sale they drive theirs up to glut the Market and by this Combination command the Price and set it at their own pleasure and so make Flesh dear in the Retail when Cattle sell for nothing in the Market The Remedy for this Evil can be best found out and apply'd by the Country Gentlemen that sit in Parliment The same Law may also regulate Weights and Measures in which 't is said there are great Coruptions throughout the whole Kingdom It should be the Care of all Governments to save and protect the Poor as much as possible from the Frauds and Combinations of the Richer sort and if this were sufficiently provided for by good and wholesome Laws well executed all the Necessaries of Life would be thereby render'd so much cheaper to the Poor that they might pay Excises and yet enjoy more Ease and Plenty than they do at present The proper Commodities to lay Excises upon are those which serve meerly to Luxury because that way the Poor would be least affected But things of that nature are of little bulk easily hid vended by a number of different Traders and require many Officers to inspect the Making Selling and Retailing of them In Holland they easily gather the Duty upon things of Luxury where the People are shut up within a narrow compass and where the Execution of the Laws is strict and steady but it would be otherwise in England where the People are dispersed about in a large Country and where they have been long used to a slack and unsteady Execution of the Laws Besides in Holland the Laws that secure such Excises to the Government are more strict and penal than our Constitution will bear And yet a Duty upon all the Vanities and Luxuries of this Kingdom may be collected by a far less number of Officers and with less Difficulty than is commonly imagined The Commodities with us proper to charge Excises upon are such as are Bulky and not easily hid or convey'd away and where as few Traders as possible may be pester'd and vex'd with the Search and Inspection on of the Officers and where the revenue may be sufficiently secured to the King by mild and gentle Laws Excises may be so contrived and laid as to answer a Sum perhaps large enough for the Wants of the Government without subjecting any private Families which are not Dealers to the Officers Search and Inspection or without charging any private Person for such Commodities as are of his own Growth or Making There may a Sum large enough arise only from a Duty upon such things as are sold made or retailed in Market Towns and great Cities to be paid only by the Seller Maker or Retailer And the Duties will be with much less Clamor gathered where the Business lyes only between Officers and publick Dealers than where it is between the King's Officers and private Persons 'T is true that a Duty upon Malt cannot be conveniently laid or would yield little without subjecting private Persons to the Inspection of the Officer but in regard Malt-houses are in Out Yards the Inconvenience and Trouble would be the less And such a Sum as is wanted may be levy'd and the things of Luxury reach'd for the yearly Charge of about 100,000 l. and by about Fourteen hundred Officers casting England into Eight hundred Districts as it is laid out for inspecting the Victuallers in the Duty upon Beer and Ale the remaining Six hundred are sufficient to take an account of such Goods as are made sold and retail'd in great Towns and Cities And this is undeniably apparent to any one that is skill'd in the Manner of Collecting Excises and vers'd in the Nature of such Revenues Nor is this a number of Officers that can be reasonably thought dangerous to our Liberties or able to influence Elections in the Country especially as they may be restrain'd by Law from intermedling in such
perfection in the Public Revenue and both he and Louvoy were mighty Encouragers of the Trade and Manufactures of the Kingdom Thus France for a long tract of time has had great Princes on the Throne or which is as good able Men in the Ministry and all the while they have been enlarging their Dominions Spain formerly their Rival Kingdom they have reduc'd to a low condition Arts and Sciences Trade and Manufactures are much improv'd among them The Art of War they have brought to a height and perfection never known in Greece or among the Romans Long Action has form'd them many fit Generals Experienc'd Officers and a number of good Troops They are Skilful in Encampments they order a Battel well and no People contrive better for the Subsistance of an Army Their Discipline is good and severe and all Nations must yield to them in the knowledge of Attacking and Defending places And by Art and Industry they seem to have overcome Nature and Situation in making themselves so powerful at Sea with but few convenient Ports and but little Trade in proportion to their Neighbours Their present King is undoubtedly a Person of great Abilities Wisdom and Conduct he is well serv'd in every part of his Government his Revenue is skillfully brought in and frugally laid out no Prince has so quick and certain Intelligence and he has wrought into his Interests a considerable Party in every State and Kingdom in Europe We all know too well what large footing he has of late years got round about him towards Spain in Italy near the Swiss Cantons and in Germany of both sides the Rhine and in the Low Countries Whoever carefully weighs these things and duly considers the Strength and Policy of that Kingdom will hardly think the Confederates for the present in a condition to give the Law or able as yet to drive France to such a Peace as may be now Honourable and Safe hereafter They who believe a Peace so probable and near ground their Opinion upon the Poverty this long War must have brought upon France And no doubt the Subjects there are reduc'd to excessive want by the Universal stop that is upon Trade by the Dearth two unseasonable years has occasion'd and by maintaining for six years a great Fleet and such numerous Land Forces But the French seem to pay themselves for all their Home Miseries with their Fame abroad the Majesty of their Empire Splendor of their Court Greatness of their Monarch and the noise of his Victories like a Beast that goes merrily with a heavy Burthen pleas'd with his fine Furniture and the Bells that jingle about him For those vain appearances are to that People in the stead of Ease Plenty and all the other Goods of Life tho' they truly tend but to make their Slavery more lasting Therefore while their King is thus Successful in his Arms we have small reason to think the Wants and Cries of his Country will constrain him to end the War But suppose him in such streights as that he willingly will listen to a Peace can we modestly believe him in so low a condition as that the Confederates may at present have such a one as will be secure and lasting Is he yet so distressed by the War as to be contented things may be put upon such a foot of Equality that hereafter he may be compell'd to observe his Articles for without this any Peace we can make will be but unsound and precarious Perhaps he may submit to give up Lorrain Philipsburg and Strasburg and his late Conquests in Savoy Catalonia and Flanders The Pope Venetians and the two Northern Crowns shall be Mediators and afterwards Warrantees of the Treaty The Confederacy shall still subsist and upon stricter terms of Union But when we have bound Sampson with these new Ropes may he not when he pleases break them from off his Arms like a Thread Indeed we might promise our selves that a Peace would be good and durable if we were enough Superior in the War to make him Surrender those strong places with which on every side he seems to Bridle this part of the World Or if he were so distress'd as for a Peace to deprive himself of his Fleet to which the Romans compell'd Carthage and afterwards King Antiochus then we in England might promise our selves future Safety But while his Naval strength is unbroken while he has that Chain of Fortified Towns upon the Rhine and that formidable Barrier in Flanders while on the side of Spain Italy and Switzerland he is left in such a condition to Invade and so fortified against Invasion we may make a Peace that shall give us present ease and put off the Evil day for a time but we cannot pretend to have secur'd our Liberties or defeated his designs of Universal Monarchy Whoever carefully examines those general Treaties of Peace the French of late years have concluded with the House of Austria and their other Opposites from that of Vervin's to that of Nimmeghen will find they have had no effect but to give France a legal Title to what it possest before by Conquest or to affort it time to repair the Calamities of War and to gather Strength for new and greater Undertakings We took this War in hand to assert the Liberties of Europe and to encourage us to carry it on we have Examples ancient and modern of Nations that have resisted great Monarchies and who have at last worked out their Freedom by Patience Wisdom and Courage In Defence of their Laws and Religion the Low-Countreys maintained a War with Spain from 1566 to 1648 which ended in the Peace of Munster and in that Struggle they fixed their Government Great Monarchies do easily over-run and swallow up the lesser Tirannies and Principalities that are round about them but they find much harder Work and another sort of Opposition when they come to invade Common-wealths or mix'd Governments where the People have an Interest in the Laws Under Tirannies where the Subjects only contend for the Choice of a Master the Dispute is seldom real and haerty but in free Countreys where the People fight for themselves and their own proper Wealth and Security they are in earnest and defend themselves accordingly The Persians very easily subdued the neighbouring Monarchies that made up their large Empire but when they came to invade the Grecians a free People we see how their numerous Armies and great Navies were at last defeated That War was carried on by Confederates of which the chief were the Lacedemonians and the Athenians one a Kingly Government limited by Laws the other a Common-wealth it lasted two and twenty years reckoning from the Battel of Marathon to that Victory gain'd by Cimon which forced the Persians to sue for Peace And it may not be amiss to take notice how the Athenians laid the whole stress of this War upon their Naval force pursuant to the Oracle which told them they should be safe within their
distant that is not in some degree better'd by the Growth Trade and Riches of that City Perhaps if all the Wealth and Substance of London could be truly Rated in a Tax of four Millions that City would pay a fourth part without any Hardship to it But probably there is nothing but Excises that will truly and equally Rate all sort of Wealth and Substance and bring in all sort of Persons chiefly those in great Cities to contribute in the Public Burthens We have now gone through the chief VVays and Means hitherto made use of for carrying on the present War in which an Impartial Land-Tax is chiefly recommended as most agreeable to the Ancient Constitution of this Kingdom If it shall be thought expedient to go by the way of a Monthly Assessment the Aportionment of 1660 seems a more equal distribution of the Common Burthen than has been as yet made use of According to which the Home Counties would pay as they do now London Westminster and Middlesex may be Rated at the Sum they have paid in the Aid of Four Shillings in the Pound And the Assessment would run thus Northern and Western Counties l. 1,234,400 The Eleven Home Counties l. 626,000 London Westminster and Middlesex l. 307,14085 1 4 Total l. 2,167,54085 ¾ A far larger Sum might indeed be produced by a Pound Rate equally and impartially Levied through the whole Kingdom But some will object That to Levy a Pound Rate strictly by Commissioners of the King 's Naming may occasion Oppression and Discontents in the Country And that such a Method of raising Taxes may create so many Officers among the best of the Gentry dependant upon the Court as may be dangerous to Liberty Besides the Northern and Western Counties especially such as lye most distant will affirm That out of the same value in Estates they are not able to pay the same Pound Rate because their Rents are not so well Paid their Returns and Markets are not so quick and they taste not that benefit of the Trade and greatness of London in the same degree as the Home Counties It may be likewise objected That Land-Taxes in general and chiefly if strictly Levied must be very ruinous to the Gentry if the War should continue for any long time And since to a Wise and Vertuous Prince no Sum of Money can be desirable that is Levied with the Oppression and Discontent of his People it may not be amiss to enquire what other Ways there are of Supplying the War which may be more casie to the Nation Excises have had an ill repute with such as have not throughly weighed and compared them with other Taxes but however it may not be improper to examine a little into the nature of such a Fond of Revenue to what degree it would supply the War and how far it may be consistent with the safety of our Constitution Of Excises EXcises seem the most proper Ways and Means to support the Government in a long War because they would lye equally upon the whole and produce great Sums proportionable to the great Wants of the Public It appears from the Books of Hearth-Money that the Families in England are about Thirteen hundred Thousand so that allowing six to a Family the People of England may be computed at above seven Millions Sir William Petty reckons the Common Mass of Mankind to spend in their Nourishment and living of all sorts one with another about seven Pound a Year a-piece by which computation there seems Yearly to be spent in England about Forty nine Millions of which Land and Rents in London according to what they pay in the present Aids appear not to be above Ten Millions and Trade may be now esteem'd at six Millions The other Thirty three Millions are spent from Sciences Arts Labour Industry Manufacture Retailing of Foreign Goods and Buying and Selling our Home Commodities Now in Taxing the people we have hitherto gone chiefly upon Land and Foreign Trade which are about one third part of the strength of England and the other two thirds of its strength we let escape So that Usurers Lawyers Tradesmen and Retailers with all that Troop that maintain themselves by our Vice and Luxury and who make the easiest and most certain gain and profit in the Common-wealth contribute little to its support all which by Excises would be brought to bear their proportion of the Common Burthen Of the Thirteen hundred thousand Houses that are in England it appears from the Books of Hearth-Money that Five hundred thousand are Cottages of one Chimney Suppose most of these to be poor Families and that they contribute little to any Tax yet if the other Eight hundred thousand Families paid in several Excises but six pound a Year one with another the whole amount would be 4,800,000 l. per Annum which shows what great Sums Excises are capable of producing But the disproportion between what the Rich and what the Poor consume would make this fall easily upon the Poor and not very heavily upon the Richer sort The Duties upon Beer and Ale are an Instance of the value of Excises which at 2 s. 6 d. per Barrel upon Strong and 6 d. per Barrel upon Small-Beer and 16 d. per Gallon upon Brandy produced in the Year ending 24 June 1689 clear of all Charges 738,696 l. And if one Branch of our Consumption would yield such a Sum what would an Excise produce laid upon several other Commodities and Manufactures Charging the things of Luxury high and the Necessaries of Life but at a low rate That kind of Revenue must needs be very great where so large a part of the people are every Minute paying something towards it and very easie where every one in a manner Taxes himself making Consumption according to his will or ability Venice and Holland two Jealous Common-wealths have not thought Excises dangerous to Liberty They are the strength and support of our Neighbouring Monarchies especially France And if we are to contend with that King the Combat will be with very unequal Weapons if we must make use only of Land-Taxes and Customs against his Excises and all his other ways of raising Money But it may be objected That no Excise can be laid but the Price of the Commodity will rise which will hurt our Manufactures hinder Consumption and so prejudice the Landlords and Farmers of England But that objection would be quite remov'd by a good Law of Assize without which any new Excises may indeed be of evil consequence The Laws of Assize were made to increase Consumption and give the Common people the benefit of Plenty As the price of Corn falls the weight of Bread should encrease and if this were strictly look'd after it would much augment Consumption among the Common people who are the great Consumers of our Home Commodities and who would consume more if they might have more for the same Money But this is no where regarded but a little within the City of
Power upon such as are Vicious and Idle The real and true Objects of Charity would cost the Nation but little to maintain and 't is to be doubted they have the least Share in the publick Reliefs The Wisdom of a Parliament may in time find out a way to make such Persons useful and profitable to the Nation who at present are a heavy Burthen upon it If all the Hands in this Kingdom that are able were employ'd in useful Labour our Manufactures would so increase that the Common-wealth would be thereby greatly inriched and the Poor instead of being a Charge would be a Benefit to the Kingdom If the Poor were always certain of Work and Pay for it they would be glad to quit that Nastiness which attends a begging and lazy Life And if the Poor were encouraged and where there is occasion compell'd to maintain themselves the Pound Rate would be much less in every County and if the Nation were a little eas'd of that Burthen we should be in some degree abler to support the Expence of the War and Land would be eas'd upon which the Poor-Rate is a certain Charge Nothing would better enable us to pay Excises and all other Taxes than a publick Registry a General Liberty of Conscience and indeed all Laws that would effectually invite People over to us and increase our Numbers People are the real Strength and Riches of a Country we see how Impotent Spain is for want of Inhabitants with their Mines of Gold and Silver and the best Ports and Soil in the World and we see how powerful their Numbers make the Vnited Provinces with bad Harbors and the worst Climate upon Earth 'T is perhaps better that a People should want Country than that a Country should want People Where there are but few Inhabitants and a large Territory there is nothing but Sloath and Poverty but when great Numbers are confin'd to a narrow Compass of Ground Necessity puts them upon Invention Frugality and Industry which in a Nation are always recompenced with Power and and Riches And this happened to the Phoenicians who were the old Inhabitants of Canaan and elbowed out by the Hebrews and driven into a small Slip of Land on the Sea Coast who to nourish their great Multitudes were forced upon Trade and so became the first Navigators and Merchants in the World that we read of and in time grew a most wealthy and powerful Nation Spain resisted the Romans near 200 Years meerly by their Country being then so populous for Cicero reckoning the Strength of several Nations says that of Spain consisted in its Numbers No Country can be truly accounted great and powerful by the Extent of its Territory or Fertility of its Climate but by the Multitude of its Inhabitants and rich Soils not well peopled have been ever a Prey to all Invaders Where Countries are thinly Inhabited the People always grow Proud Poor Lazy and Effeminate Qualities which never fail to prepare a Nation for Foreign Subjection All Men who have made any Computations of that kind seem convinc'd England would naturally bear and nourish a full third part more of Inhabitants so that if it â—ere fully Peopled the value of all Land and Rents would as certainly rise as Land and Rents set better near a Populous City than at a distance from it There are many Laws which would invite over to us that Complement of Inhabitants which our Country seems to want and tho' vve should get at first only the Poorer sort yet those Mouths vvould consume our Home Product and those Hands vvould help us in our Wars and in Peace by their Labour over-pay the Nation for their keeping But a Public Registry and a General Liberty of Conscience would bring among us from abroad the very Species of Money real and intrinsick Wealth Substantial Men and all sort of Manufactures Some People are afraid that Foreigners may take the Bread from the Common People whom Strangers by reason of their Industry and spare Living are able to under-work and under-sell And that Foreigners may have in time strength enough to awe the Natives And others believe That Tolerating all Religions may be hurtful to the Church But these Opinions proceed from a narrowness of Mind not becoming Religious and Wise Men. For God can Protect his own Cause in the middle of a thousand Errors and variety of Heresies will but give our Church-Men a more ample Field of shewing their Learning and Piety The same Protection and the same Laws will give Foreigners the same Interest with the Natives and in time probably the same Religion And the Industrious Frugality of Foreign Handycrafts-Men will be a good Correction to the Sloth and Luxury of our own Common People At a time when Tyranny is so much the fashion round about us if our Arms were open to receive all the afflicted and oppressed part of Mankind the Goodness of our Climate Mildness of our Laws and the Excellence of our Constitution would invite over to us such multitudes as would exceedingly add to our Power and Strength and make us more a Ballance to the greatness of France And with these Additions of Strength Excises would be less felt by any part of the Kingdom But there are many real Lovers of their Country and Jealous of its Liberties who object against Excises and say They will be so easie and little felt that the Ministers some time or other may be tempted if such a Revenue were once afoot to get it settled into a perpetuity or for a long term and so make Parliaments useless They say Land-Taxes Polls and Customs lye so heavy upon the Men of Interest and Figure in the Nation that by such kind of Impositions the Gentlemen of England will never enable a King to live without a Parliament But Excises being an easie way of Contributing insensibly paid and falling chiefly upon the common sort they apprehend our Representatives may some time or other by the Arts and Power of the Court be prevailed upon to let them pass into a lasting Supply to the Crown and they think so large a Revenue would make the Prince absolutely Independant of his People which would quite destroy our Constitution 'T is true some of our former Princes have had designs to Enslave this Country partly led into those Measures by the Gentries Flattery and Corruption of their Manners who have been all along willing enough to Traffick the peoples Rights However the Nation was never yet so deprav'd but there was a Party strong enough in the House of Commons to preserve the being of Parliaments which would cease if they should make the Crown rich enough to subsist without them This Party will ever with jealous Eyes watch the motions of the Court some perhaps only to bring their Abilities and Repute with the People to the better Market others to wreak their Discontents and some out of meer Love to their Country though it may be feared the Public has but few
Matters and because the Officers made use of for the Collecting such Revenues are generally taken out from the Lees of the People and are Persons without Interest or Authority The Excise on Beer and Ale has given such Knowledge and Light into Revenues of that kind and has chalk'd out so plain a way of dividing the Kingdom equally among the Officers and instructed so many Persons how to survey the several Makers Sellers and Retailers and to obviate Frauds that Excises will now be sooner understood more easily collected and with fewer Officers than is commonly apprehended by such as have not thought maturely upon this Subject And the Books of Hearth-Money and the late Poles have likewise given us such an Insight into the number of the People and the Abilities of the respective Families that it would not be difficult to make some Computation what the Excise upon any Commodity would produce Political Arithmetick being a good Guide in these Matters though it gives not demonstrative Proofs So that the Parliament would not be quite in the Dark in laying any Impositions of that nature As for Example from the Excise of London a Computation may be made what a Duty of 3 d. per Bushel upon all the Malt of England would produce in this manner There was brew'd in London the Year ending the 24th of June 1689 1,212,550 Barrels of strong Beer and Ale and 827,544 Barrels of Small Beer so of both sorts of Drink there was brew'd 2,040,094 Barrels To the Strong Beer and Ale there is allow'd three Bushels to the Barrel and to the Small one Bushel but much Small Beer being brew'd after the Strong it may be a reasonable Medium to allow to both Drinks one with another two Bushels to the Barrel at which Rate to reckon by round Numbers there is used in London 4,000,000 of Bushels of Malt. The People of England by the nearest Computations that can be made are reckon'd Seven Millions of which London is accounted a Tenth Part so that there may be in London 700,000 People divide the 4,000,000 by 700,000 and there will be found to each Man 5 Bushels 7 Tenths of Bushel But the Allowance of two Bushels to the Barrel being rather of the least we may reasonably allow to each Man's Consumption six Bushels of Malt in a Year which would be 4,200,000 Bushels that is about three Barrels a Year which to the Mass of the People blended together will be about a Quart a day So that if London which is a Tenth part of the Peopl consume 4,200,000 Bushels of Malt the whole Kingdom which are seven Millions may consume 42,000,000 Bushels which at 3 d. per Bushel would produce 525,000 l. per Annum Where the use of any Commodity is pernicious to the Interest of the Nation or prejudicial to the Health of the People such an Excise may be there laid as may amount to a Prohibition of the Commodity Particularly such Foreign Commodities may be highly charged the Importation of which hinders the setting our own Poor to work And here it may not be amiss to take notice that if the Duty upon Brandy and Spirits was so high as to amount to a Prohibition of them their Want in the King's Revenue would be recompenced to him in his Customs upon Wine and Excise upon other Liquors which undoubtedly they hinder How Brandy obtains among the common People may be collected from this That for a long while the Importation of it has every year increased considerably so that in the Year 1689 there was as much imported as the Excise of it at 16 d. per Gallon amounted to about 140,000 l. besides the Strong Waters made at Home And if as Physcians say it extinguishes natural Heat and Apetite it hinders the Consumption of Flesh and Corn in a degree 'T is a growing Vice among the common People and may in time prevail as much as Opium with the Turks to which many attribute the Scarcity of People in the East There is no way to suppress the use of it so certain as to lay such a high Duty as it may be worth no Man's while to make it but for Medicine Excises may be made the Engine to pull down or repress several Luxuries of which our Laws could yet never get the better And suppose these Duties should make many Commodities so much the dearer as to lessen their Consumption if thereby Luxury in general could be kept down and the Nation driven more to Thrift it would perhaps tend greatly to our publick Wealth and that Notion if truly examined will probably be found false that Riot and Expence in private Persons is advantagious to the Publick Unless the Nation does unanimously and freely give into Excises upon a full Conviction that they are the best Ways and Means of Supplying the Government it will not be the Interest of any King to desire such a Revenue For if they are carryed but by a small Majority against the Sense and Grain of a considerable part of the House of Commons they will come so crampt in the Act of Parliament and loaded with so many Difficulties that they will only occasion great Clamors in the Kingdom and not yield much Money Whenever Revenues of that Nature are set on foot all possible ways must be used that humane Wisdom can think of to give in other Matters Safety Ease Wealth and Prosperity to the Nation But as the Foundation of all it must be made apparent by every step that the Liberties of the People are the chiefest View and greatest Care of the Government for nothing else can encourage them to trust the Court in a Matter that appears so nice and new as a Home Excise All things must be done that may effectually increase the Value of Rents and Price of Land which will add true Strength to the Nation All Laws that would tend to the Relief of the Poor and setting them to work would make Excises and indeed all other Taxes easier to the Kingdom The Poor-Rate as has been said before in the latter end of King Charles the Second's Reign came to about 665,362 l. And we have reason to think 't is now much higher because of the great Decay in our Foreign Trade and Home Manufacture Besides which Sum there is yearly given a vast deal to their Relief in voluntary Charity and Contributions so that in time of Peace we pay near as much to the Poor as to the Maintenance of the Government and for our Protection But as this Money is managed in most Places instead of relieving such as are truly poor and Impotent which the Laws design it serves only to nourish and continue Vice and Sloath in the Nation If publick Work-houses were set up in every Town and County and if the Works and Manufactures proper for ever Place and Country were fixed and established in it the Poor would be encouraged and invited to Labor and Industry especially if the Magistrate made use of his coercive