two following in sixty-five and seventy-one blowing up the Feuds on both sides pretending to take part with each but not really purposing it with either Having the same Desine of weakning both Parties as the Brittains formerly had in throwing a Bone of Contention between the Picts and Scots that they might in the end be the better able to overcom both In the mean time the French King gain'd an opportunity of building Ships of War and training up Seamen of which he was before destitute so that had not these Quarrels and our late Civil Wars given him a pretence of increasing his Maritin Power we might stil even by threats of burning the Ships upon the Stocks or in the Harbors as did Queen Elizabeth have kept that People under and our selves from fear But since by unavoidable Accidents the Dice are so thrown as that the Fore is lost let 's use the best of our art and skill to retreive an After-Game There is no need to attempt the proof of what is as evident as the Sun at Noon-day That the French King has a Power great enuff considering the present Circumstances of Europe to make him hope and al others dread his effecting that old Define which has bin the end of al Actions of that Crown for many years past which before he coud put in Execution his great Obstacle and Rival the Spaniard was to be removed out of the way in order to which he judg'd necessary to fortify himself with some Allyes and engage others Newters But foreseeing it was the interest of England and Holland to oppose the one and assist the other and therfore despairing to prevail upon either he contriv'd to make both fall out not long after he took the advantage of unexpectedly invading the Spanish Netherlands even while his Agent then in Spain was perswading that Crown of his Masters good intentions to continue in intire Peace and Amity with them The consequence of which we wisely foreseeing occasion'd our setting on Foot the Tripple League in the year 1668. by which a stop was put to his further Progress And now perceiving himself disapointed he makes various Attempts in the Years 1669 and 1670 to invite England to break that Alliance But finding his fineness Vain he oblicly endeavors it by renewing the old and inventing new grounds of Quarrels by such Agents and Pensioners in the State of Holland as his wealth had purchas'd which at last made them commit such insolence against the Honor of this Crown and the Interest of the People in point of Trade as brought upon 'um the last fatal War into which he no sooner drew the Hollanders than he rush'd into the very Heart of their Country This sudden event made them confess their Error and our King the sooner to conclude a Peace The Parliament was then and since very desirous His Majesty shoud ingage with the Dutch and Spaniards against France and without doubt he knew it woud be his interest so to do but not at that time For tho the undoubted Prerogative of the Kings of England intitle them to make War and Peace he did not wave the former because the Parliament urged it as the malicious suggest but because he saw it not convenient 'T is tru the Kings of England have bin pleas'd to advise in such matters with their Parliaments But that was an Act of Grace and condescension and ought not now if at al to be insisted on so as to deny the King that liberty which as a Man he cannot want that of examining and approving or disapproving what his great Council shoud advise For no man in his Wits wil dream the Lords and Commons have a power of imposing what they please upon the King when without his Assent they have neither Power nor Right to make any Act. The King considered That Peace is the happiness of a Kingdom That War being a real evil is never to be undertaken but to avoid a greater That his Treasures were exhausted by the War just finisht That his People had not recover'd their losses by the Plague Fire and Wars and therfore were unable to bear the Burden of heavy Taxes which of necessity must have bin imposed to carry on a new one for which great preparations ought to be made both of Men Mony and Shipping the former were no less wanting than the last much impaired and diminish't He consider'd That the French King had not only bin amassing great Treasure for many but had also bin three years training up an Army in al the Disciplines of War That it was necessary before one King entred into a War to compare his own and the others strength whether with Ten he were able to meet him with Twenty Thousand That he ought to make Alliances and to have cautionary Towns before we declared our selves Enemies That so great a desine was not to be made public before things were Ripe least the Dutch and French might clap up a Peace and that potent King turn against us the fury of his Arms for whom certainly in those circumstances we shoud have bin a very unequal match I am perswaded That these with other much wiser considerations not obvious to every man convinced the King A War was on no score at that time seasonable And to this Opinion I am mov'd by my sense That the King coud not but reflect That when the French King had subjected al the rest of Europe he woud not fail to ad England to his Conquests in which our Kings losse must needs be greater than his Subjects For it is unreasonable to think that tru Policy woud let the French King suffer any of the Royal Family especially the King of England and France at whose Title and Arms-bearing he is not a little offended to outlive the loss of the Crown since he coud not but believe they woud be perpetually endeavouring the regaining their own Right For tho subjection be unequal to al 't is not so intolerable to any as to those us'd to govern And therfore t is an idle and and senseless inconsiderat fancy to imagin the King and Duke coud forget their own Interest or be Frenchifi'd upon any promise or bargain as is maliciously insinuated that they might be more absolute which can't possibly be in their thoughts or wishes Who know that between Kings or States Covenants are binding no longer than convenient that the French King has ever shewn that his Interest only or his Wil is the Rule of convenience That he that makes War for his Glory has more ambition to put his Chains upon Princes than on the People his thoughts are as large as any of the Roman Emperors and they esteemd it a greater Glory to lead one King in Triumph than many thousands Subjects of several Kingdoms And it is not to be suppos'd that the natural strength and situation of England can be a sufficient Defence against the Power of France when to that he has already is added that of
of England by which it s said if they are always so kept under as to be no more than hewers of Wood and drawers of Water they may in future Ages be incouraged to a defection and either set up a Power of their own or invite a forreiner which might prove of ill consequence to England For the harbours and situation of Ireland lying more convenient for Trade makes it that way or otherwise a ready inlet to the conquest of England The People there stomach the prejudice in point of Commerce desined tho not effected by the Acts against their Cattle Navigation and Plantation Trade by the first they are said to have gaind vastly by an increase in Woollen and Linnen Manufactures in Shipping and forrain Traffic to the great prejudice of England And I have bin credibly inform'd by a person who examin'd it that they have gaind Communibus annis forty thousand Pounds Sterling yearly by the Exported Commodities of Beef Tallow Hides Butter and Wool yeelding so much more after the passing that Act than they and the Cattle did before when transported together And if the Irish of which there are few pure Families left have som pretence to the Kings Favour as he is lineally descended from Fergutius second Son of the then Reigning King of Ireland and first of Scotland which was anciently peopled from thence The English there claim greater share in his Majesties Grace and say of Right they ought to be accounted but the younger Brothers of England I coud wish with all my heart the story were tru I had from an Irish Gentleman in France that his Countrey-men were so pleased that they were at last govern'd by a King descended from their own blood Royal that they had resolved to pay his Majesty and the Successors of his Line the Allegiance due from natural born Subjects not from a Conquer'd People which they now no more esteem themselves nor desire to be accounted by others How much of this may be tru you and I know not but this I think If all the Natives were oblig'd to speak English and all call'd by the Name of the English of Ireland and allow'd equal Privileges in Trade the same usages and customs begetting a Harmony in Humor that Rancor might in time be remov'd which from a sense of being Conquer'd renders them now troublesom and chargeable to this Kingdom This was design'd in part by Queen Elizabeth and King Iames and perhaps had bin effected for the whole but that the Irish coud not be said to have bin fully Conqer'd before the tenth year of his Reign which was after the making of those Statutes It woud be I confess an advantage to England to be freed from the Charge and necessity of keeping that Kingdom under by a constant Army and considering the inconveniences this Nation has suffer'd by their frequent Wars and Rebellions Their gain woud be more if they had never Conquer'd the Countrey in which the losses of the English coud perhaps be never better compensated than by sinking it if possible under water The accession of so much people unto England might make som Reparation for the greater number which to our own impoverishment we have sent thither I have dwelt the longer upon the considerations of Scotland and Ireland to shew the Frenchman may be mistaken who about ten or twelve Years since publisht a Book of Politics Chalking out the way for the French Kings gaining the Universal Monarchy in immitation of Campanella to Philip the second on the same subject wherein after several insufferable slights and indignities intolerable base false and malicious Characters thrown and fixt upon the English he tells it will be an easy task to overcome them but in the last place by sowing divisions among the King of Englands Subjects especially those of Scotland and Ireland By false insinuations jealousies and fears of Popery and Arbitrary Government c. the prevention wherof wil be his Majestyes particular Care and the Parliaments to inable him to carry on this great Work of our common safety against the common Enemy the disturber of the Peace of Christendom by finding out an easy and sufficient fond which naturally brings me to the Consideration of Taxes allow'd by all understanding Men as absolutly necessary for the support of the Body politic as Meat and Drink for the natural But what kinds are best has been much disputed Before I descend to particulars it is not amiss to observe in general That no Taxes can be just or safe which are not equal All Subjects as wel the meanest as the greatest are alike concern'd in the common Safety and therefore shoud according to their respective Interests of Riches or Enjoyments bear the Charge in equal Proportions The contrary Practice must of necessity beget Murmurings and Discontents which seldom ending in Words proceed higher to Blows dividing the Oppressed against the others which wil certainly disquiet and disturb and may probably ruin both That all Taxes shoud be proportion'd to the necessities of State That in computing these the Error if any must be is safer on the right hand than in defect because the Overplus may be order'd to other good Public Uses That when Taxes are made equal to the People and proportionat to the Charges of the Public 'T is much more for the Subjects ease and the common Safety That they be made Perpetual than Temporary For if the Means of securing our selves against all the Dangers to which we are expos'd be not sufficient we must undoubtedly yield our selves up to the Mercy of our Enemies or suffer much Vexation in parting with further Supplies from time to time out of that Substance which Nature or our own almost equally binding Customes have made but just enuff for the support of our Selves and Families either of which is very grievous and because the Event is uncertain 't is hard to determin which of the two is most Destructive to the Pleasures of Life for he that says The Choice is easy in that your Enemies may take away your Life the other Course does but render it Miserable is in my opinion much mistaken it being more eligible to have no Sense at all than to have it only to endure Pain For Life is in it self a thing indifferent neither good nor bad but as it is the Subject of pleasing or unpleasing Perceptions and is then better or worse as it has more or less of the one or the other So that the proper Question is not Whether it be better to live or not to live but Whether Misery be preferable to no Misery To which not only Reason but Sense is able to give a satisfactory Answer You see then that if the Taxes fal short of their end we are expos'd to great Miseries and therfore to exceed is fafer especially when things may be so order'd that after the occasions are supply'd the surplusage may be refunded or imploy'd in the way of a Banc or Lombard or public
were kept out of their Rights he must have contracted vast debts for the support of himself his Army and his followers That the great Revenu of the Crown was in a manner gon That other Kings had squees'd vast sums from their Subjects by Loanes Monopolies c. of which no mention was made in the computation That the building of ships and above four years of such War at Sea consum'd more than any one hundred years War at Land since the Conquest That the consideration of the vast Charge Dunkirk put the Crown to at least three times more than it yeilded occasiond the Advise of its Sale That Tangier has stood the King in very great sums That til of late the supporting the Charge of Irelana helped to drein the Exchequer of England That the intrinsic Valu of one Million formerly was equal to that of three Millions now and in real use to thirty millions For the tru intrinsic Valu or worth of Mony is no otherwise to be computed than according to what it wil purchase for our present Consumptions which I have reckond to exceed those of old but by ten tho I have heard others say much more But that which has made these Complaints so loud has not bin only inconsideration or perhaps malice but the inequallity of imposeing the Taxes Those great inconveniencies may be easily obviated for the future by makiâ—g and applying to particular Uses such sufficient and equal Fonds as are necessary to be setled I wil only instance in one That of the Customes which seems originally to have had its Rise for that End therefore ought to be appropriated to the Use of the Navy I wish it were great enuff for such as our safety requires And if this Course be taken in apportioning the Revenu the Public and Privat Expences are to be generously computed the doing so wil remove Iealousies and Distrusts on all sides the King wil be under no necessity of straining his Prerogative by hearkning to the devices of Projectors the People wil be quiet and at ease and then every Man may safely sit under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree and enjoy with pleasure the Fruits of his Labor If you look into the Histories of past Ages you wil find the Disputes of the Prerogative on one hand and of Liberty on the other were alwayes founded on the want of Mony and he that considers the Evils that have ensued wil soon believe it very necessary to prevent the like for the future by applying to every use of the Crown or State I do not say to the Person of the King whose greatest Share is the Trouble while the Subjects is Security and Ease a sufficient and perpetual Revenu This Act wil beget an intire Confidence and Love and so unite us to one another as wil make it impossible for any Storms without or Commotions within to shake this Kingdom so founded on a Rock against which all who make any attempts must needs split themselves and Fortunes I have according to my wonted Freedom given you my Thoughts why I think it more convenient both for Public and Privat That the Revenu were sufficient and perpetual against which I never met but with one Objection to wit That if that were don the King woud not so frequently if at all call his Parliament As if there were no use for this great Council but raising of Mony The altering or repealing the old and making new Laws the reforming of Errors and Abuses in Inferior Courts of Iustice the deciding the Controversies those Courts coud not and many other things woud make their Meeting necessary The King woud see 't were his Advantage to cal them often since besides that there is safety in the multitude of Counsellors all that happens to be severe and harsh woud light on them and yet none coud be offended because the Act of the whole Nor coud His Majesty but be sensible that all Innovations are dangerous in a State for it is like a Watch out of which any one peece lost woud disorder the whole That the Parliament is the great Spring or Heart without which the Body of the Common-wealth coud enjoy neither Health nor Vigor Life nor Motion That while they mind their Duty in proposeing and advising what is best for King and People without privat Respect leaving him the undoubted Prerogative of Kings of Nature and Reason of Assenting or Dissenting as he is convinc'd in his Conscience is best for the Common Good which is to be his measure in all Actions as the Laws are to be the Subjects Rule I see not why it shoud not be his interest to cal them frequently That none can be suppos'd to advise the contrary unless som few great Men to avoid not so much perhaps the Iustice as the Passion Envy and Prejudice of som in that Iudicature to whom they may think themselves obnoxious But granting this 't is unreasonable to think so wise and so good a Prince wil prefer the Privat Interest of any single Man tho never so Great before the general Good and Satisfaction of his People I shoud rather think He wil in the Words of his Royal Father in a Speech to his Parliament give in this a ful Assurance I must conclude that I seek my Peoples Happiness for their slourishing is my greatest Glory and their Affection my greatest Strength His Majesty wel knows with what tenderness and Love his Subjects are to be treated that 't is more safe more pleasing and more easy to erect his Throne over their Hearts than their Heads to be obey'd for Love rather than Fear the Dominion founded on the later often meets the same Fate with a House built upon the Sands while that establish'd on the former continues firm and immovable as a Rock He is not ignorant That as the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world so does the Being and Wel-Being of the English Nation consist in the frequent Counsels Deliberations and Acts of King and Parliament in which Providence has so blended the King and People's Interests that like Husband and wife they can never be sunder'd without mutual inconvenience and unhappiness The sense and observation of this makes our King's Reign prosperous and gives Him a more Glorious Title than that of King viz. The Father of the Country and the great God-like Preserver of his Children's Rights and Liberties who out of a deep sense of Duty and Gratitude must own and remember who tels them That a wise King is the upholding of his People and therefore cannot but pay him even for their own Interest all imaginable Loyalty Deference and Respect giving up their Lives and Fortunes for His or which is all one their own Safety who studies nothing so much as their Good and wel-fare Besides the King has already past an Act that a Parliament shal sit at least once in three Years and in several Speeches he has declar'd himself ready to do
of Forrein Goods than we sel of our own this I am convinc'd we do in our French Trade 't is wel if we do not likewise play the Fool in others By the way you may observe That if we woud but moderate our Expences we might very wel bear our Taxes tho they were near thirty times greater than in that Kings Reign even with Allowance for the Alteration of Coyn. That the Exportation of Mony in specie is so far from being a Loss to the Kingdom that it may be gainful as it is to Legorn and other places That tho we did not export any Coyn yet we shoud not be the Richer since the over-ballance woud stil lye as a Debt upon our Trade which it must somtime or other pay in that or another Commodity or otherwise Break. And that the Council or Committee of Trade may find out the Wealth of the Kingdom which woud serve to many good Purposes by making a yearly Account of the Goods imported and exported best known by the Customs and has been Calculated by a Friend of mine in another Country These ought at least every seven Years to be reviewd supposing the Life of Commodities not longer than that of Man And according to their Alterations of usefulness or necessity to our selves or others the Impositions to be chang'd And here I must take leave to assert That all imported Commodities are better restrain'd by the height of Imposition than by an absolute Prohibition if sufficient Care be taken to oblige the Importers to a ful and strict Payment for this woud be a kind of Sumptuary Law putting a necessity upon the Consumer by Labor to enlarge his Purse or by Thrist to lessen his Expence And I am the more induc'd to this by my observation that notwithstanding the several Acts prohibiting the Importation of many forrein Commodities yet nothing is more worn or us'd especially the French in which Trade if the over-ballance which is said to be above 1600000 Pound were loaded with the Charge of eight Shillings in the Pound it woud make the Consumption of those Commodities 640000 pound dearer and if that woud not restrain our Folly it woud help to ease us in the public Taxes whereas now they are all imported without any other Charge than what is paid for Smuckling to tye up the Seamen's Tongues and shut Officers Eyes To prevent this it were fit that Men were undeceiv'd of the Notion they have taken up That the Law do's allow 'um their Choice either to pay the Duty or the Penalty if taken which sure cannot be the End of any Law which designes Obedience and active Compliance with what it injoins not a Disobedience or breaking what it positively commands If Penal Statutes be only conditional then the Traitor the Murderer or the Thief when he suffers the Punishment of Disobedience may be cal'd an honest Man and in another Signification than that of the Scotch Phrase A justify'd Person But the idle and unwarrantable Distinction of Active and Passive Obedience has don England greater Mischiefs The Revenu Acts give not the same Liberty that those Acts do which oblige the People to go to Church or to Watch and Ward under pecuniary Mulcts In these a Power of Choosing was designedly left which by many Circumstances appears otherwise intended by the other And indeed the Practice is not only unjust but abusive to the whole Body of the People who pay as dear for what they buy as if the Duty had bin paid to the King not put up in a few privat Mens Pockets It may likewise hinder Trade for if the Smuckler please he may undersel his Neighbor who honestly thinks 't is a Cheat and a Sin not to give Caesar his Du Therefore a Seal or som privat Mark shoud be contriv'd for all sorts of Commodities and Power given to seize them when and where-ever met in Merchants Retailers or Consumptioners Hands And to prevent the passing forrein Commodities as if made at Home for which lest any of these last shoud pass they shoud in the Town where they are made or expos'd to Sale be first mark'd or seal'd in an Office purposely erected without any Delay or Charge to the People That that part of the Act of Navigation be repeal'd which appoints three fourths of the Mariners to be English why not Scots Irish or any of the Kings Subjects or even Forreiners so the Ships do really belong to owners resident in England We want People therefore ought to invite more not restrain any This Act is a Copy of that made by the Long Parliament and their General the Usurper who being in War with Scotland and Ireland in rebellion thought fit to deny them equal privileges in commerce But this Loyal Parliament wil I hope consider that the three Kingdoms are not to be thus divided in Interests while under one Monarch That his Naval Power their joint strength is increas'd by the growth of shipping in any of ' um If the sence of this wil not prevail upon them to allow 'um the same freedoms yet sure I am they must from thence perceive England wil have a great advantage by suffering all the Kings subjects of Ireland and Scotland to enjoy the benefit of this Act. That there be two Free Ports appointed one in the South another in the North with convenient rules and limitations That the duty impos'd upon any of our exportations whether of our own growth or manufacture of forrein materials be not so high as may either wholy restrain those abroad from buying or enable others to furnish them cheaper That education of Children in forrein parts in Colleges or Academies be prohibited and Provision found or made at home for Teaching Languages and the exercises of Rideing Fencing c. That Banks and Lombards be speedily Erected this in a little time woud make a Hundred pound to be as useful to the Public as two Hundred real Cash is now But in order thereunto let there be a voluntary Registry of Land c. which in a few years wil raise their valu considerably By this way no man indebted or whose estate is incumbred is obliged to make discoveries Yet if he has but half free the Registring of that wil the better enable him to discharge the other part If a Registry must not be obtain'd that at least the selling or morgaging over and over secret conveyances Deeds of trust or any other Trics by which the Lender or Purchaser is defrauded and abus'd be made Felony without benefit of Clergy and the cheating person oblig'd to pay the sufferer treble Dammage and as much more to the Public This which certainly all honest men judg as reasonable as what is practis'd for far smaller evils or offences wil without any innovation in the Laws or other alleg'd inconveniences to the People secure us in our Rights and perhaps answer al the ends of a Registry of which tho very convenient I am not so fond as to
A DISCOURSE OF THE RISE POWER OF Parliaments OF Law 's of Courts of Iudicature of Liberty Property and Religion of the Interest of England in reference to the Desines of France of Taxes and of Trade In a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country to a Member â—n Parliament Salus Populi Suprema lex esto Printed in the Year 1677. The following PREFACE newly writ by the Book-seller's Friend WHoever buyes this Tract will do a small Kindness to the Bookseller but he that reads it will do a greater to himself The Title alone is a temptation to invite one to look into it in this time of Disorder But if Wit and Learning Reason and Piety the knowlege of Men and deep consideration of Goverment signifie any thing the Discourse is a perfect snare to captivate the Reader And it hath one advantage peculiar to it self to detain him That he will meet with many things there which no man ever writ or perhaps thought on before The Novelty alone will gratifie the men of Pleasure and Curiosity And as for the Grave and the Wise that Chain of Reason and good Nature which runs through it will make them scratch and think twice before they condemn it It was written to a Member of the last Parliament about Christmas last was Twelve-month and since that time has crept abroad into the World and is now made more Publick as well for the General as the Book-seller's particular good But a great Chang of Affairs happning in this Interval 't is fit to acquaint you That the Author never dream't of the Horrid Plot which has bin lately discover'd when he pleaded for Toleration to honest and peaceable Dissenters He measur'd other persons by his own Candid Temper and did not think there cou'd be found a Sect of men who wou'd endevor the advancement of their Religion by shedding the Blood of their Prince in an Age when Rebellious Principles and their Abettors have receiv'd such Confutations as they have in this both by God and Man But Truth doth not vary with Time how much soever some persons may abuse it I cannot persuade my self but that Liberty of Conscience is a Natural Right which all men bring with them into the World For we must all give an account of our selves to God and stand or fall by our own Faith and Practice and not by the Religion of the State or Countrey where we happen to be dropt 'T is impossible for men to believe what they list or what others wou'd have them tho it shou'd be beaten into their heads with Beetles Persecution makes some men obstinate and some men Hypocrites but Evidence only governs our Under standings and that has the prerogative to govern our Actions The design of Christianity is to make men happy in the other World and in order thereunto it teaches them to regulate their Passions and behave themselves with all sobriety righteousness and piety in this The Doctrines whereby this is enforc'd are so few and so plainly deliver'd that they are at this day acknowledg'd by all the several sorts of Christians that make a number or are fit to be consider'd under a name in the World For how many are there who do not profess the Apostles Creed which was the Old Rule and Measure of Christian Faith unalterable unreformable from which nothing ought to be taken to which nothing need to be added as Irenoeus and Tertullian declare And if men wou'd be persuaded to preserve these Ancient Boundaries of Christianity inviolate and suffer the Primitive Simplicity to be restor'd the great occasion of Squabble and Contention wou'd be cut off and they wou'd not dispute for ever about a lock of wooll or the knots of a bulrush but instead of being extremely learned in trisles and extremely zealous for Moonshine they wou'd grow kind and charitable and lay aside their unreasonable Censures of one another Aquinas and Bellarmine and the Synopsis purioris Theologiae wou'd not be studied so much but the Sermon on the Mount a great deal more and upon casting up the Account it wou'd be found that what we lost in subtilty thereby we shou'd gain in Religion St. Hilary the Famous Bishop of Poictiers has an Excellent saying to this purpose Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam quaestiones vocat nec multiplici eloquentis facundiae genere solicitat in absoluto nobis facili est aeternitas Iesum suscitanum à mortuis per Deum credere et ipsum esse Dominum confiteri God doth not call us to Heaven by understanding abstruse and difficult Questions nor invite us by the power of Eloquence and Rhetorical Discourses but the way to Eternal Happiness is plain easy and unintricate To believe that God rais'd up Iesus from the dead and to confess him to be the Lord of all The sense of this will soften the Minds of men and dispose them to mutual Compliances and Forbearances and then we shall not think it needful by severities and penalties to compel others to go to Heaven in our way with great uneasiness when we are resolv'd they may with safety and pleasure get thither in their own Upon these grounds the Wisest Emperors in Christendom have allow'd Liberty to Dissenters as Theodosius did to the Novatians who had separate Churches at Constantinople and Bishops of their own persuasion to Govern them and enjoy'd all the Priviledges of Catholic Christians And the Opinion of King Iames sent to Cardinal Perron in the words of Isaac Casaubon will be remembred to his honor whilst his name shall be known in the World as the best rosolution which was ever given of this Question Rex arbitratur rerum ad salutem necessariarum non magnum esse Numerum quare existimet ejus Mojestas nullam ad ineundam concordiam breviorem viam fore quà m si diligenter separentur necessaria à non necessariis ut de necessariis conveniat omnis opera insumatur in non necessariis libertati Christianae locus detur The King is persuaded that there is no great number of things necessary to salvation wherefore his Majesty believes there will not be met with a shorter way to peace than that distinction be carefully made between necessary things and those that are not so and that all pains be taken for agreement in necessaries but that allowance be granted for Christian Liberty in those things that are not necessary This is not a demand which has been only made of late since the Christian name has been so scandalously divided as it is at this day but 't is that which the Primitive Christians pleaded for as their right and due that they ought to be tolerated though they were mistaken so long as they were peaceable To this end Tertullian made an Address to Scapula the Governor of Africa and tells him humani juris naturalis est potestatis unicuique quod putaverit colere nec alii obest aut
already many Discourses publishtâ— som of them woud be worth their view and did they Sit constantly many would bring their Remarks and I my self shoud be able to give som Notions on this Subject which for want of time I cannot now give you The two great Principles of Riches are Land and Labor as the later increases the other grows dear which is no otherwise don than by a greater Confluence of industrious People For where many are coop'd into a narrow Spot of Ground they are under a necessity of Laboring because in such Circumstances they cannot live upon the Products of Nature and having so many Eyes upon them they are not suffer'd to steal Whatever they save of the Effects of their Labor over and above their Consumption is call'd Riches and the bartering or commuting those Products with others is call'd Trade Whence it follows that not only the greatness of Trade or Riches depends upon the Numbers of People but also the Deerness or Cheapness of Land upon their Labor and Thrift Now if Trade be driven so that the Imports exceed in valu the Exports the People must of necessity grow poor i. e. consume the Fundamental Stock viz. Land and Labor both falling in their price The contrary Course makes a Kingdom Rich. The Consequence is That to better the Trade of England the People which wil force Labor must be increas'd and Thrift incouraged For to hope for a vast Trade where People are wanting is not only to expect Bric can be made without Straw but without Hands The great Advantage a Country gains by being fully peopled you may find by the following Observation viz. That the valu of the Labor is more than the Rent of the Land and the Profit of all the Personal Estates of the Kingdom which thus appears Suppose the People of England to be six Millions their annual Expence at twenty Nobles or six Pound thirteen and four Pence a Head at a Medium for Rich and Poor Young and Old wil amount to forty Millions and if wel consider'd cannot be estimated much less The Land of England and Wales contain about twenty four Millions of Acres worth one with another about six and eight Pence per Acre or third part of a Pound consequently the Rent of the Land is eight Millions per annum The yearly Profit of all the Peoples personal Estate is not computed above eight Millions more both together make sixteen Millions per annum this taken out of the forty Millions yearly Expence there wil remain twenty-four Millions to be supply'd by the Labor of the People Whence follows that each Person Man Woman and Child must Earn four Pound a Year and an Adult laboring Person double that Sum because a third part or 2 Millions are Children and Earn nothing and a sixth part or one Million by reason of their Estates Qualities Callings or Idleness Earn little so that not above half the People working must gain one with another eight Pound per annum a peece and at twenty Years Purchase wil be worth Eighty Ponnd per Head For tho an Individuum of Mankind be recon'd but about eight Years Purchase the Species is as valuable as Land being in its own nature perhaps as durable and as improveable too if not more increasing stil faster by Generation than decaying by Death it being very evident that there are much more yearly Born than Dye Whence you may plainly perceive how much it is the Interest of the State and therefore ought to be their care and study to fil the Country with People the Profit woud not be greater in point of Riches than in Strength and Power for 't is too obvious to be insisted on that a City of one Miles circumference and ten Thousand Men is four times stronger and easier defended than one of four Miles with double the Number Now there are but two ordinary wayes of increasing the People that of Generation and that of drawing them from other Countries The first is a Work of Time and tho it wil not presently do our Business yet is not to be neglected I have shewn how it may be hasten'd by obliging to Marriage and more might be added by erecting Hospitals for Foundlings after the manner now used in other Countries and practised with great Advantage in Paris by the Name of L'hostel pour les enfants trouves where there are now reckon'd no less than Four Thousand This in all parts of England especially London woud prevent the many Murders and contrived Abortions now used not only to the prejudice of their Souls Health but that of their Bodies also and to the general Dammage of the Public This woud likewise be an Encouragment to the poorer sort to Marry who now abstain to prevent the Charge of Children Strangers are no otherwise to be invited than by allowing greater advantages than they have at home and this they may with more ease receive in England than in any part of Europe where natural Riches do much abound viz. Corn Flesh Fish Wool Mines c. and which Nature has bless'd with a temporature of heathful Air exceeding al Northern and not inferior to most Southern Countries has given it commodious Ports fair Rivers and safe Channels with possibilities of more for water carriage these with what follows woud soon make England the Richest and most powerful Country of the World Naturalization without Charge plain Laws and speedy Iustice Freedom in all Corporations Immunities from Taxes and Tols for seven Years and lastly Liberty of Conscience the Restraint of which has been the greatest Cause at first of unpeopling England and of it s not being since repeopled This drove Shoals away in Queen Maries King Iames and King Charles the First 's Dayes it has lost the Wealth of England many Millions and bin the occasion of spilling the Blood of many Thousands of its People 'T is a sad Consideration that Christians shoud be thus fool'd by obstinat Religionists in whom too much Stiffness on one side and Folly and Perversness on the other shoud have bin equally Condem'd being indeed the Effects of Pride Passion or privat Interest and altogether Forrein to the Bus'ness of Religion which as I have already told you consists not in a Belief of disputable things of which if either part be tru neither are to us necessary but in the plain Practice of Piety which is not incompatible with Errors in Iudgment I see not therefore why the Clergy shoud be wholly heark'nd to in this Affair since 't is really impertinent to the Truth of Religion and I dare appeal to all the sober understanding and considerative Men of the Church of England Whether the Opposition of this be not wholy founded upon Interest which being but of particular Men ought not nor wil not I hope weigh more with the Parliament than that of the Public which is so highly concern'd in this matter And tho it may be objected That as Affairs of Religion now stand