AN ALARUM TO ENGLAND To prevent its Destruction By the Loss of Trade and Navigation Which at this Day is in great Danger Submitted to Consideration in time By W. C. LONDON Printed by K. Astwood for Mary Fabian at Mercers-Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE KING's MOST Excellent Majesty May it please Your Majesty AS the Multitude of your Subjects is an Honour to Your Majesty so the Employment of them is both Your Safety and Riches Great Sir These few Lines do therefore Humbly crave Your Majesties Perusal because they make it appear That the Trade and Manufacture of this Nation supports the Government and consequently the Revenue of the Crown in each Branch thereof which is Humbly submitted to Your Princely Consideration by Your Majesty's Most Obedient and Dutiful Subject and Servant W. C. THE PREFACE T IS certain that Trade in General is a Great Benefit to and a Main Support of any Nation and the Wollen Manufacture of this in particular Therefore 't is of Great Concernment to endeavour by all means possible to preserve and increase it But to our Sorrow we have our Ears fill'd with daily Complaints of the great Decay of it and the most effectual means to find out a Remedy is to enquire into the Cause I did in the Year 1669. express my Fears to King Charles II. of a great Decay of our Wollen Manufacture by what I Observ'd then and by woful Experience we have found it come to pass I have in the following Papers endeavoured to represent the Causes of it And the General Cause I have observ'd to be the Trading into those Parts whither but little of our own Manufacture is exported and the Returns of Forreign Commodities to us are made by purchase with our Money The Particulars of which I have instanc'd in our Trade with France which during the Two Last Reigns gave them the Advantage of near Four Millions per Annum of our Money while but little of our Manufactures was exchang'd for theirs The like is instanc'd in the East-India Trade which is mainly carried on by our Money and the Callicoes c. which are imported from thence not only hinder our own Manufactures at Home but lay a Foundation of the Loss of our Trade in the Wollen Manufacture both with Flanders and Germany This Mr. T. Smith has hinted in a Sheet he wrote the last Year concerning the East-India Trade shewing how prejudicial it was to our Silk and Wollen Manufactures which at present are well setled among us It tends to our Impoverishment by taking away the Employment of our Poor depopulates the Nation lessens the Value of Lands and Houses and exposes us thereby to the Contempt of our Neighbours An ALARUM c. IN the Preface of a Discourse Intituled Awake Sampson Printed in the Year 1696. I hinted that that was intended to be a Preparatory for a General Alarum Since we were told in the Year 1678. that there was then a Design to subvert the Frame of our English Government the Destruction of the Protestant Religion and to adulterate the Coin and had we took that caution given us timely we had prevented many of those Evils which we have so sensibly since felt And since the Designs of our Enemies have been variously exercised viz. to destroy Trade to invade Property to alter on Religion and to adulterate the Coin of the Nation which hath cost us so much lately to retrieve let it be a caution to us in other cases for the Future It may seem to some to be needless now to talk of an Alarum seeing we are at Peace yet the following Discourse will evidence that in the Subject I insist upon we have more need to be call'd upon now then in a Time of War The Reasons are many but in General we know in War Watches are set and People do never sleep secure from Noise but in a Time of Peace Persons are apt to be too secure I presume there is no just Occasion to make an Apology for waking a Person in danger of a Fire tho' he is forc'd to it against his Natural Disposition and that such a Person would not be offended if pull'd out of his Bed when the Flames are about him tho' he do not see it his Eyes being shut and he in a sound sleep It is the Condition of England at this time We have been oft in Danger and the Fire as oft quench'd and tho' generally speaking we have had very many and great awakening Providences sounded in our Ears Yet we have been like the deaf Addor that stoppeth her Ears and will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers tho' charming never so wisely and do not consider a Secret Train is laid to blow us up and tho' we have hitherto been preserv'd almost to a Miracle yet whether we have any grounds to expect it always I cannot tell my Faith is weak But on the contrary tho' we in this Age do not pretend to Prophetick Inspiration nor do I as little to Prognostication yet by Common Observations any Man may predict what Conclusions necessarily follow such and such Premisses or in a more familiar way of speaking we know if we keep a certain Road on Shore or steer our Course at Sea whither at length it will bring us How we have taken our Course these Forty Years is too Notorious and for which the Land mourns I would be glad to be deceiv'd if my Fears are groundless that it may vomit out many of its Inhabitants at least some of us fall short of our Expectations And had I not made some Observations of the wonderful Goodness of God to this Nation as before hinted I should have despair'd of any hopes of being saved from an utter Destruction for the Dangers we are now in are so great that tho' we are at present Blessed be God at peace yet when I consider the many thousands that have lived comfortably in the Trade of our Wollen Manufacture and which have contributed to the Support of the Government and Maintenance of the Poor are now and like to be more reduced to want themselves having no Employment by reason that many of those Countries that we have formerly supplied with those Goods do make not only for their own Use with our Wool but sup 〈…〉 other Forreign Countries also and not only so but that we have cut off as it were and disobliged both Ireland and Scotland in some late Acts I am not without my Fears what the Effects may be besides our Domestick Consumption of Forreign Manufacturies and hindring our own c. But if it be said by some as it is that if we loose our Woollen Manufacture we may employ our poor in a Linnen Manufacture c. I must answer as I did on a like Occasion about the Year 1669. in a Tract Entituled England's Interest by the Benefit of the Woollen Manufacture viz. I am the more large in the Demonstration of this Affair not only because this
hath cost me many Years Labour and Study to consult all sorts of concern'd Persons besides my own Experience about it but also because it is so hard to convince People of the meanest Capacity and some of the wiser sort how to cure this dismal Malady which some despairing of have rather thought of setting up some other Manufacture in lieu of endeavouring to prevent the Exportation of Wool and manufacturing that at Home as that of Linnen c. which is in my Judgment a great Mistake for other Countries have the Advantage of England in that but not in this of Cloathing and it will be found that all or most Trades in England wholly distinct from this of Cloathing bring not the Tythe of Advantage that this doth And to confirm my Sentiments herein tho' so long ago writ I crave leave to add the Opinion of a late Author who sayâ— Divine Providence that appoints to every Nation and Country a particular Portion seems to allot to England which was the first Acceptable Sacrifice to his Omnipotence that of the Flock the Produce of which is the most Vniversal Covering of all Civilized Countries of the World Our Wollen Manufacture is a Talent which no Nation hath to that perfection as we have this hath been for many Ages the Support of the Nation imploying the Poore at home and our Men and Ships at Sea Now to decline this and set up another Manufactory looks like an Extravagant Mechanick who by his Improvidence hath lost his own Art and thinks to retrieve his Misfortune by taking up that of another Mans This is condemn'd in particular Persons and therefore much more to be so in a Community But it will be said There is not Imployment for the Hands of the Nation in the Wollen Manufactory and since Linnen carries away so much of our Money it seems the Interest of the Nation to imploy idle Hands in that which will keep Money in the Kingdom Now tho' both these Assertions have too much Truth in them yet neither of them have weight enough to enforce the Conclusion That the Linnen Manufactory is the only Remedy If we search into the Bottom of our Distemper we shall find another cause of our Disease It is not because there is less Wollen Manufactory used in the World than formerly that our Trade declines nor yet because we make more than formerly Nor is it altogether to be assigned to the late War For that our Trade decay'd in the latter part of King Charles the Second and all the Reign of the Late King The Reasons then for our Decay in the Wollen Manufactory seem to be these 1. The Growth of Course Wollen Manufactory in Germany with which the Venetians Trade to Turkey 2. The Prohibition of our Wollen Manufactory in France 3. The Increase of the Wollen Manufactory by our Neighbours with the help of our Wool so that in some things they out-do us in the Price they can sell at 4. By the great Wearing of East-India and other Silks and the Vse of Calicoes which was formerly supply'd by our Tammies and Says 5. The Want of the Consumption of Ireland c. Now if there be any thing in all I have said it seems reasonable to consider well before the Nation gives up its Staple and long-continued Trade for a Shadow as I take the Linnen Manufactory to be For although I believe it can never come to effect yet so far it may go as to injure that of the Wollen by diverting some that are now in it and so raiseth price of Spinning than which nothing can be more prejudicial for as I mention'd before nothing can retrieve our lost Trade abroad but underselling our Competitors So then we must labour to make ours as Cheap as we can and not set up another Manufactory To bid who gives most for Spinners is a ready way to ruin the Cloathing Trade of England but not to set up the Linnen Let us consider besides what hath been said before of injuring the Wollen Manufactory How it will affect the Kingdom in the two Pillars that support it That of the Rents of Land and the Imploying our Ships and Men at Sea which are thought the Walls of the Nation For the Rents of the Land they must certainly fall for that one Acre of Flax will employ as many Hands the Year round as the Wool of Sheep that graze twenty Acres of Ground The Linnen Manufactory imploys few Men the Wollen most Weaving Combing Dressing Shearing Dying c. These eat and drink more than Women and Children and so as the Land that the sheep graze on raiseth the Rent so will the Arable and Pasture that bears Corn and breeds Cattel for their Subsistance Then for the Employment of our Shipping it will never be pretended that we can arrive to Exportation of Linnen there are others and too many before us in that And the Truth is he that cannot thrive at his own Trade will hardly do it in that of anothers If we are beat out of our Inheritance the Wollen Manufactory by Forreigners over whom we have such Advantages in our Wool Fullers-Earth and long Continuance in the Trade it can be nothing less than a Miracle for us to take from them their Linnen Manufactory in which they have so much the Ascendant over us I shall end this part of my Discourse with the Answer of a West Country Man to his Neighbour that ask'd what Voyage he had made in a Fishing at New-found-land that proved not good I have made said he a brave Voyage as you may guess for I have sold my Bible and bought a Tobacco-Box Would it not be so to this Nation if we should change the Noblest Manufactory in the World for the poorest and most despicable So are those People in all parts of the World that are imployed in the Linnen Manufactory which only thrives where the Country is crowded with Poor and Bread not to be had at the Charge of the Parish where the Tenant is but a Vassal to his Lord and there is no power in any to relieve but in the Lord who is strange to the Practice It is a Mistake in them that believe the Linnen Manufactory in Holland to be the Product of their own Country It is only the easier part that of Weaving and Whiting most of the Thread comes from Saxony Thus much for this Author from whence we may Conclude That if the Riches and Strength of England were first of all begun from our Wollen Manufacture by King Ed. 3d. and brought to a greater Perfection in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth we also ought to take the same care in its preservation Otherwise we may be reduced to that mean Condition England was in when Land and other Commodities was of no Value till about the Time of that Famous Princess Queen Elizabeth whose Long and Prosperous Reign had raised this Nation to that Riches and Strength as elsewhere is enlarged and Sir Walter
This in my Judgment being impartial viz. not concern'd in Interest must in reason be the main Occasion at least a Foundation for Germany and Flanders to encourage the Wollen Manufactury in those parts And it 's well Observ'd by the Author of a little Tract Intituled The Interest of England consider'd Printed in the Year 1694. viz. The fine Linnens of Flanders and Germany have come in competition these many Years with the Calicoes and Muslings of the East-Indies and the fine Dowlace and Gauses of France one the Effect of our Manufactory the other of our Bullion and yet you will find upon the Book of Rates if I mistake not all the Linnen of Flanders charged with about three pence an Ell Custome and the fine Dowlace of France not at one half penny and the Callicoes of the East-Indies but at two pence a piece Now as that unequal Trade was carried on all the time almost of the two Late Reigns so the Necessity in the late War in doubling the Duties upon Flanders Linnen which is almost half the Value of much of their said Linnen and the unseasonable timing of the Lace Act which did as was lately affirm'd in a Committee c. occasion a Flanders Merchant then in London dealing much in Lace to go over to Flanders and put the States upon the prohibiting our Wollen Manufacture And tho' this occasion'd the said Prohibition yet considering the Little Quantity of Lace at least visibly brought into England in comparison of the Linnen imported formerly from Flanders cannot be the Original tho' it may be the Instrumental Cause as before hinted Hereby it may appear how we have lost our Trade and how insensibly our Treasure was exhausted and our Nation beggar'd whilst we neglected our own Interest and Strangers such as proved our great Enemies were diligent to make their Advantage by us but most of those Evils might have been prevented had we really assum'd our Ancestors regard to our Wealth and Grandeur But leaving Particulars let us be more general for tho' we are agreed that Trade is the main Spring from whence Riches flow yet we do as much differ in the Method of acquiring thereof and there is certainly as much need of Regulation in Trade as of Laws to secure one Man's Right from being invaded by another for it 's now become as necessary to preserve Government as it is useful to make Men rich And notwithstanding the great Influence that Trade now hath in the Support and Welfare of States and Kingdoms yet there is nothing more unknown or at least that Men differ more in their Sentiments than about the true Causes that raise and promote Trade The Merchant and other Traders who should understand the true Interest of Trade do either not understand it or else lest it might hinder their private Gain will not discover it Some Writers about Trade do in their Treatises better set forth the Rule to make an Accomplish'd Merchant than how it may be most profitable to the Nation And those Arguments every day met with from the Traders seem byassed with private Interest and run contrary to one anothers as their Interest are opposite And how fair and convincing soever their Premises may appear for the Enlarging and Advancement of Trade the Conclusions of their Arguments are directly opposite The Reasons why many Men have not a true Idea of Trade is Because they apply their Thoughts to particular Parts of Trade wherein they are chiefly concern'd in Interest and having found out the best Rules and Laws for forming that particular Part they govern their Thoughts by the same Notions in forming the great Body of Trade and not reflecting on the different Proportion betwixt the Body â—nd Parts have a very disagreeable Conception and like those who having learnt to draw well an Eye Ear Hand and other Parts of the Body being unskilful in the Laws of Symmetry when they join them together make a very deformed Body Therefore whoever will make a true Representation of Trade must draw a rough Scetch of the Body and Parts together which though it will not entertain with so much Pleasure as a well finish'd Peice yet the agreableness of the Parts may be as well discern'd and thereby such Measures taken as may best suit the Shape of the Body The Reason why I use this similitude is from the Experience we have of the miserable Effects we now and may more hereafter feel of this separate Trades that have been carried on in this Kingdom viz. that some few Persons gain great Estates when the Nation in general decays as in many Particulars may be instanc'd viz. the French Trade all the Time of the two late Kings that such Merchants who imported vast Quantities and some that run their Goods and paid no Customs of such Commodities that were purchased with Money and tended to debauch the Nation then the East-India by both those Countries this Nation hath lessen'd the Employment of near Five Hundred Thousand Persons for by such a Number of Persons out of Employ or double that Number but half Work it 's all one the Nation must be greatly impoverished thereby For before that time when People were fully imployed some Families could earn in the Cloathing Trade by spinning and weaving Twenty and some Thirty Shillings per Week tho' some less others more which was most spent by them and laid out with the Farmer and Grasier who was thereby better able to pay their Rents to the Nobility and Gentry by which means the Value of Lands were kept up but when such a Number of Persons beforementioned had no Employment it 's not probable the Commodities can be sold which necessarily sunk the Rents of Lands and this was the Occasion of the Irish Act as that before of Corn to prohibit the Importation of Cattle supposing that would be a means to support the Value of Lands in England But the Mistake is now so manifest that we have by it lost a great part of our Trade and laid a Foundation to loose all and it was well Observed by Mr. Tho. Manly a Justice of Peace in Kent shortly after that Act past upon another Occasion about the Exportation of Wool viz. If the Irish Wool enables the Forreigners to carry on that Manufacture hurtful to us we have small reason to assist them further least we imitate those good Men who break the Pot because their Wives break the Pitcher and ruin our selves because Ireland hurts us For if it be true as is by some affirm'd and by Demonstrations made good that England gain'd by the Trade with Ireland before and in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second Two Millions per Annum It is plain that Act laid the Foundation of our ruin for before that Act was in force the Irish contented themselves with Trading only with England by which Trade we received so great an Advantage but since the Irish have been necessitated to seek for a