against all Invasions and would be a great enrichment to the whole Countrey because they might sell and put off their Commodities so near and to best advantage The French Kings which formerly never fished upon the British Seas but by special leave from the Kings of England and not otherwise and that with a set and limited number of Boats and that for their own Family and likewise to observe the Laws and Orders of his own Fishermen for breach whereof divers of their Subjects have forfeited their Vessels and their persons have been seized and imprisoned in Dover-Castle But of late the French are become so vexatious to us that they have given a disturbance to us not only upon the British Seas but at New-found-Land it 's the interest of this Nation to give an interruption to their fishing there and to prohibit them for the future for the fishing there is the Seminary and Nursery of their Sea-men which may for the future prove fatal to us By the fishing of the French and of other Foreigners upon the British Sea the Customs and Tolls which are undoubtedly due to his Majesty together with the increase of Trade and consequently of Customs thereby are unjustly usurped by them whereby this Kingdom loseth that which they gain which is increase of Trade of Ships and Mariners and thereby their Navigation is wonderfully strengthned their Mariners multiplied and their Trade increased The Fishery being set up Trade will flourish the King's Revenue augmented Lands and Rents improved Navigation increased and it will imploy some hundred thousands of men by Sea and Land it will ease the Publick of great charges in giving imployment to their poor Henry the Great of France caused all vagrants and idle persons to be sent to serve in his Gallies to oblige them per force to work for idle persons who take not care to imploy themselves seriously in some thing are unprofitable to themselves and pernicious to the Publick Therefore that State must necessarily be rich and prosperous which hath Argus eyes to foresee advantages and Briareus hands and those imployed But Sir because great Trades cannot be managed or things effected without multitude of people it would be prudence to invite Foreigners into this Nation and to live here under such qualifications as the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit A small Countrey well peopled will be able to effect things of more advantage and grandeur than a great Dominion ill stocked The ancient Romans finding nothing was more necessary for great and important Enterprizes than multitude of men imployed their care and study to increase their numbers by Marriages Colonies and such like helps making their conquered Armies free Denizens of their Common-wealth by which means the number of the Roman Citizens became so great that Rome could not be ruined in Hannibal's judgement by any force but her own and this did so much contribute to the agrandizing of her that that City only could arm six hundred and forty thousand men when Sparta could never exceed twenty thousand for that Lycurgus had inhibited the access of Strangers Theseus to engreaten and enrich the City of Athens invited as many as would come and dwell there assuring them to enjoy the self-same Liberties and Priviledges which the very Citizens themselves had And we see the Vnited Provinces of the Netherlands which are not bigger than Yorkeshire one County in England by their denizations and fair usage to Strangers have so enriched and be-peopled that Countrey that they have put to Sea more Ships and driven a greater merchantile Trade to all parts of the World than most of the Kings or Princes in Europe England cometh so short in number of people from Holland that whereas they are calculated to have six persons for one Acre of ground England I fear hath hardly one for ten Howsoever I cannot observe that it doth any ways comport with the interest of State to suffer such multitudes of people to pass out of his Majesties Kingdoms into other Princes Dominions or the Western Plantations thereby to disfurnish our selves of people the sad consequences and effects whereof are too visible in the misfortunes of Spain For since those Plantations by that King made in the East and West-Indies and all along the Coast of Africk and those great Garrisons maintained in Milan Naples Sicily the Low-Countreys consisting for the most part of natural Spaniards they have so exhausted them of men that John the first of Portugal who reigned before the several Plantations of that people was able to raise 40000 men for the War of Africk whereas Emanuel who lived after those undertakings had much ado to raise 20000 Foot and 3000 Horse on the same occasions and Sebastian after that found as great difficulty to raise an Army of 12000 men And whether this may not be our sad fate if not timely prevented it 's well becoming your great Judgement to consider And I can easily believe that 1000 years since this Nation had much a greater stock of people than now it hath for the Rome-scot or Peter-pence which was but one penny a Chimney granted by Offa and Ina Saxon Kings to the Pope did amount unto 50000 l. yearly and the Hearth money which is two shillings the Hearth and one Chimney may have many Hearths doth not amount unto 300000 l. yearly whereas if the number of Chimneys charged with the Rome-scot had been two shillings a Chimney it would have amounted unto 1200000 l. yearly So that we may conclude there were then more Buildings and Chimneys and so by consequence more People But where a Kingdom hath a great stock of People in it it will be the test of Prudence in that State not to suffer any City or Town in it too much to agrandize it self or to attain to that magnitude thereby to impoverish the other parts of the Kingdom for certainly the over-growth of any one great City is of dangerous consequence not only in regard of Famine such multitudes of mouths being not easily to be fed but in respect of the great danger of Insurrections if once those multitudes sensible of their own strength oppressed with want or otherwise distempered with Famine faction or Discontent should gather to a head and break out into Action And therefore Augustus Caesar like a wise Prince made it his work to hinder the growth of Rome abrogating all Laws by which the Allies and Confederates of that State were made free Denizens of that City for that he conceived to be a way to draw the whole Empire into one City and by the prodigious increase of that to make poor the rest Naples by reason of its situation had advanced it self to an immense grandeur by Buildings if the King by his Edict had not forbidden it and this he did partly at the perswasion of his Nobles who feared if such a restraint was not had their Vassals would forsake the Countrey to inhabit there but principally upon jealousie and point
of State the better to prevent all revolts and mutinies which in most populous Cities are of greatest danger for as they are pronest unto Factions and Seditions so is the consequence fatal both in it self and the example Certainly Sir too great a City in a Nation is like a bad Spleen in the Body natural which swells so big as it makes all the other parts of the Body lean And to deal plainly with you a great City is the fittest Engine to turn an old Monarchy into a new Common-wealth Therefore some considerate persons have conceived that it would be more Prudence for a State to have three great Cities in it of equal power that in case one should rebel the other two might ballance and give Law to the third And I pray Sir let me tell you if you invite Strangers into this Nation if you do not give them encouragement I doubt whether they will come for the Spaniard to enrich the City of Antwerp and other Cities in the Low-Countreys by the access and traffick of this Nation with them freed us from divers Impositions which his own natural Subjects usually paid And indeed if the Customs even as to the English were somewhat abated it would much advance Trade I do not speak this to lessen his Majesties Revenue for I heartily wish it were more than it is yet I think his Majesty would be no loser thereby for a small Custom upon a great Trade would answer a great Custom upon a small Trade and it 's more prudence to take little out of much than much out of little Where the Customs upon Merchants Goods are small it easily draweth all Nations to trade with them but where great Impositions are laid the Traffick of that place will soon decay Two Ships laden at Bourdeaux of equal Burden viz. of 300 Tuns the one goeth for England the other for Holland that which cometh into England payeth for Custom Price-edge Butler-edge and other Charges thereon by Book of Rates 1200 l. and upwards before she be discharged and the other going for Holland is discharged for 60 l. sterling or thereabouts and after the Duties paid and Wine sold the buyer may transport them into any Countrey but in England they cannot be transported but the Merchant must be a great loser by them for the Hollander can still under-sell him and be a gainer thereby It would greatly advance the Interest of England if by Act of Parliament all persons of Honour and Quality only such persons as attend his Majesty and the Courts of Justice or such as should have his Majesties special Licence excepted to live upon their Estates in the Countrey and not to reside here constantly in Town for thereby all their Rents are drawn up hither where they are vainly spent to say no worse to the impoverishing of the Countrey decay of their Tenants and subversion of their Families Here they change their old Seats and Castles the illustrious monuments of their Honour into new Coaches and Trains some of them carry their Mills in their heads and their Retinue their Woods and Lands on their backs Sir I pray consult the Speech and Proclamation of the Solomon of his Age King James he was very earnest with the Nobility and Gentlemen to live in their Countrey-houses and not in London and would often say that Gentlemen in London are like Ships in the Sea which shew like nothing but in Countrey-Villages they are like Ships in the River which look like great things And by the Edict of Henry the Great of France made 1598. after the Peace of Vermin the Nobility and Gentry were commanded to go and live every man upon his own Estate improve their Lands and take care for the well-government and peace of their Countrey But many persons living here in luxury they are become so effeminate and degenerated from the true English Gallantry and so little known to their Tenants but by their oppression and exacting of their Rents that if there should be any disturbance in their Countrey they are of no more use than a Sun-Dial in the Grave nay many of them are so unfit to serve their King and Countrey that if there should be any disquiet their presence there would prove but as Oyl to the Fire only to inflame it Sir There is one thing more which would restore the ancient Prudence of this Nation and add much Honour to you and that is to establish sumptuary Laws amongst us as to Apparel and superfluous Expences according to the several degrees and qualities of persons which would in a short time recover this Nation which is no other than a wise and laudable parsimony which the Romans and other well-governed States have used Augustus Caesar inforced the Romans to yield an account of their Lives a course full of health and wisdom in a State idleness being the root of all private vices and publick disorders I cannot but commend the laudable Practice of the Great Duke of Russia who doth constantly prescribe what Habit his People shall wear for matter and fashion suitable to their condition That wise Prince Edward the III. in the ninth and one and thirtieth year of his Reign caused sumptuary Laws to be ordained to prevent riot and excess the hectick Feaver of a State both for Apparel and Diet appointing every degree of Men from the meanest Subject to the Prince the Stuff and Habits they should wear prohibiting the adornments of Gold and Silver Silks and rich Furs to all excepting eminent Persons whereby foreign Superfluities were shut out and home Commodities only used By this means these spreading Evils which have since dif-fashioned and effeminated the English Nation were prohibited Yet with submission to your great Judgement I think the vanity of the excess of Apparel may be permitted under these restrictions First So as the expence doth not depend on such Commodities as have too much of the substance of Gold Silver or Silk whereby the publick Treasure is wasted Secondly That we impoverish not our selves to inrich Strangers by preferring foreign Commodities though worse before our own which are better Thirdly That the excess of the expence consist chiefly in the Art Manufacture and Workmanship of the Commodities made in our own Countrey whereby Ingenuity would be encouraged the People imployed and our Treasure kept at home so as the Prince would be nothing damnified by the excess for the ruine of one would raise as much another of his Subjects and Money would be more moving which would be a great satisfaction to the People and peradventure the conceit of the Spaniard may have some truth in it that the excess and luxury of the Nobility makes much for the Princes advantage and renders his State more secure because those which are given to rioting and luxury are never gatherers and hoarders up of vast sums of money which may prove the Instruments of Rebellion Then Sir all the Vanities Toys and Fripperies which Madam la Mode shall bring us
only arise Riches to the Subjects rendring a Nation considerable but also increase of Revenue and therein power and strength to the Soveraign and England having so potent a Neighbour it 's absolutely necessary for its preservation to advance it for every Nation is more or less considerable according to the proportion it hath of Trade and it 's more or less enriched by the ballance of its foreign Trade If France vent more of our Commodities than we consume of theirs in value the overplus returns to us in Treasure but if France consume less of ours than we of their Commodities England will be impoverished for that Treasure which is brought in by the ballance of our foreign Trade doth only enrich us How the balance of Trade stands between England and France it 's worthy of your grave Consideration The French King not long since having a design to prohibit all Trade with England the French Merchants not well resenting it petitioned his Majesty to the contrary and delivered a Certificate unto the most Christian King of all the Commodities by them exported and of all the English Manufactures and Commodities by them imported into France which was as followeth There is transported out of France into England great quantities of Velvets plain and wrought Sattins plain and wrought Cloth of gold and silver Armoysins and other Merchandises of Silk which are made at Lyons and are valued to be yearly worth one hundred and fifty thousand pounds In Silks Stuffs Taffaties Poadesoyes Armoysins Cloths of gold and silver Tabbies plain and wrought Silks Ribbons and other such like Stuffs as are made at Toures valued to be worth above three hundred thousand pounds by the year In silk Ribbonds Gellowns Laces and Buttons of silk which are made at Paris Rouen Chaimont St. Estienes in Forreâ—â—â— above a hundred and fifty thousand pounds by the year A great quantity of Serges which are made as Chaâ—â—us Charles Estimines and Rhemes and good quantities of Serges made at Amiens Creveceour Blicourt and other Towns in Picardy above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year In Bever Demicasters and Felt-Hats made in the City and Suburbs of Paris besides many other made at Rouen Lyons and other places above one hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year In Feathers Belts Girdles Hat-bands Fans Hoods Masks gilt and wrought looking-Glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Bracelets and other like mercenary War above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year In Pins Needles Box-Combs Tortois-shell-Combs and such like above twenty thousand pounds a year In Papers of all sorts which are made at Auvergane Poictou Limosin Champaigne and Normany about one hundred thousand pounds a year In Perfume and trimmed Gloves which are made at Paris Rouen Vendosm Chremont and other places about ten thousand pounds a year In all sorts of Iron-mongers Wares that are made in Forrests Annergine and other places about forty thousand pounds a year In linnen Cloth that 's made in Britany and Normandy as well course as fine there 's transported into England above four hundred thousand pounds a year In Houshold-stuff consisting of Beds Matresses Coverlets Hangings Fringes of silk and other Furnitures above one hundred thousand pounds a year In Wines from Gaseoigne Nantois and other places on the River of Loyer and also from Bourdeaux Rochel Nants Rouen and other places are transported into England above six hundred thousand pounds a year In Aqua-vitae Sider Vinegar Verjuice and such like above one hundred thousand pounds a year In Saffron Castle-Soap Honey Almonds Olives Capers Prunes and such like above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year Besides five or six hundred Vessels of Salt laden at Marone Rochel Borage the Isle of Oloron and Isle of Rhee transported into England and Holland of a very great value So that by this it doth appear that the yearly value of such Commodities as are transported from France into England amount unto above six and twenty hundred thousand pounds And the Commodities exported out of England into France consisting chiefly of woollen Cloaths Serges knit Stockings Lead Pewter Allum Coals and other Commodities which do not amount unto above ten hundred thousand pounds a year By which it appears that our Trade with France is at least sixteen hundred thousand pounds per annum clear loss to this Kingdom The French King hereupon laid aside his Design So that in few years if some timely Expedient be not applied all the money of this Nation will be drawn into France there being not above eight millions if so much of pounds in this Kingdom which will be the impoverishing of England but greatly to the enriching of France and they melting down the Coyn of England by their allay gain near one third France by our sloth flourish by our foâ—ly grow wise by our excess wax proud by our money rich by the valour of England made potent and enabled to fight against us As the middle Region of the Air is wont to frame its Thunder-bolts Hail and dreadful Thunder against the Earth out of the Exhalations it draws from the Earth it self so France out of the Riches and Substance which it gathereth from Europe and the Kingdoms and Dominions thereof doth raise formidable Armies and potent Fleets against them New Maxims must be framed and Measures taken for the retrenchment of the Power of France or else I can foretell without the help of an Augur what will be the Fate of England Enfeeble the Trade of France and money will fail and by consequence its potency will become impotent for Trade is the fountain from whence its Riches spring and Money is the basis of its greatness and strength The Parliament with great wisdom and judgement hath prohibited England all Trade or Commerce with France and France cannot take it ill when the most Christian King had the same design upon England but that he observed it would turn to loss It 's no prudence to admit those Manufactures and Commodities into England wherewith we now abound or may have better than from France And no reason of Commerce requireth that we should be injurious to our selves to be serviceable to the advantages of others the Emperor by Edict doth exclude the Hungarian Wines and many other things of the growth of that Kingdom out of Austria that they of Austria may consume and dispose of their own And as for Wines England may have them from Hungary Austria Tirol Franconia Rhene Mosel Portugal and elsewhere at better rates and cheaper than out of France and the Princes of those Countries will take off the Manufactures and native Commodities of England for them and by that means we may settle Trade upon a solid Basis with them How far these generous Wines do exceed those of France Augustus the Emperor if he were alive would tell you who when he possessed Italy Spain Creta Greece Egypt and the richest parts of Africa Asia and Europe he would drink no other Wines