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
matters of Law than for his strictness of Life in those of Religion From the Conquerors time downwards there have bin attempts of this kind almost in every Kings Reign But the Wars and Divisions and consequently Dissolutions that often happend between the Kings their Parliaments somtimes Lords somtimes Commons about the Liberty of the Subject or Prerogative of the Crown not without good reason concluded to have bin set on foot by the crafty Lawyers by this time grown considerable prevented bringing to pass the intended Reformation of the Law I wil not insist upon al the Kings Reigns where this was desin'd nor go farther back than Henry the Eight's time when ingenious Sir Thomas More was by him set on work to fram a Model But the succeeding accidents frustrated that attempt the Troubles and Revolutions that continued during the Reigns of Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth hindred this work which at wise Burleigh's advise was resolved on by the later Queen The learned King Iames determined to finish it and the knowing Sir Francis Bacon was pitched upon to fram a Schem of new Laws or model the old But the discontents about Religion with the greater artifice of the Lawyers then more numerous diverted that glorious Enterprize Some living were Actors others Spectators of the Troubles that have since happen'd which gave way not to a Reformation but Confusion of the Laws and yet the Long Parliament or rather Conventicle knowing their great and good Master purpos'd it resolv'd upon a new Method of Laws But the Idol themselves had set up as a just reward of their Treason prevented this by turning them out of doors with their beloved Magna Charta calling it in Contempt Magna f Too many in other Countries no less than this have wholly lost their Freedom by endeavoring to enlarge it beyond Law and Reason as it has also somtimes befallen ambitious Princes who striving to augment their Power and Dominions beyond the boundaries of Iustice have instead of new Acquists forfeited their antient and lawful possessions The Gardiners Ass in the Apologue desining to mend himself by changing Masters found at a dear-bought experience none so kind as the first The Observation of the Evil of those days has given us reason to believe That wisdom best which is learnt at the cost of others and to remember the Wise mans advice Meddle not with those who are given to change This I speak as to the Fundamental of the Government which can never be alter'd by the Wit of Man but for the worse But the Superstructures of Hay and Stubble are grown so cumbersom and rotten that they are fit for nothing but the Fire Though I am far from giving credit to any prediction or Prophecy but those of Holy Writ yet I can't but remember you of that old Latin one Rex albus c. on which you know our wishes taught us to fix a pleasing interpretation This hint wil bring to your mind what perhaps has not been there almost these thirty Years That both for his Innocence and the accidental Snow that fel on his Herse the late King Charles was that white King who for some time was to be the last in England That afterwards his Son shoud from beyond the Seas return to the possession of his Crown and that in his dayes Religion and Laws shoud be reform'd and setl'd upon the eternal Foundations of Truth and Iustice. The fulfilling of this Prophesie now wil seem as miraculous an Effect of Providence as that of our Soverain's Restauration and wil as much eternize the Wisdom of the Parliament as the other their Loyalty What remains of this undon we might hope to see finisht as old as we are if they woud be pleas'd to espouse it heartily and defend themselves against the noyse wranglings and opposition of the Lawyers and Clergy who are no more to be consulted in this Case than Merchants concerning Exchange c. because as the Wise Syracides observ'd their Interest woud byass them There is saith he that counselleth for himself beware therefore of a Counsellor and know before what need he hath for he wil counsel for himself There was Law before Lawyers there was a time when the Common Customs of the Land were sufficient to secure Meum and Tuum What has made it since so difficult nothing but the Comments of Lawyers confounding the Text and writhing the Laws like a Nose of Wax to what Figure best serves their purpose Thus the great Cook bribed perhaps by Interest or Ambition pronounced that in the Interpretation of Laws the Iudges are to be believed before the Parliament But others and with better Reason affirm That 't is one of the great Ends of the Parliaments Assembling To determin such causes as ordinary Courts of Iustice coud not decide The Laws of England are divided into Common and Sâ—â—ate Law the Common are antient Customes which by the unanimous and continued usage of this Kingdom have worn themselves into Law Statutes are the positive Laws of the Land founded on particular accidents and conveniences not provided for by the Common Law Civil and Canon Law are of no force but as they are incorporated into the body of one or other of these Laws if either may be call'd a body which has neither head nor foot For they lye scatter'd in som few books Bracton Littleton Glanvil Fleta Cook Plouden Dier Crook c. their Commentaries or Reports or rather in the arbitrary Opinion of the Iudges or som celebrated Lawyers For nothing is in this Trade certain or regular what one gives under his hand for Law another gives the direct contrary Iudgments and Decrees reverst as if that coud be just one day that is unjust another and why in England must Law and Equity be two things Since Reason Conscience in all other parts of the World are one and the same and why cannot Laws be so plainly worded as that men of common sence may without an interpreter discover the meaning if they be not so order'd speedy and exact justice wil at best be retarded But you 'l tel me there woud be no need to complain if men woud follow Christ's advice If any man wil sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also the Reason was so plain that it was needless to express it viz. least the Lawyer shoud com between and strip you naked even of your shirt This you see is prudence as wel as Religion as indeed al Christs precepts are in the very affairs of this World Whatsoever was true of the Iewish Lawyers the present practise of some of ours renders them Obnoxious to the censures of the sober the curses of the passionate most men agreeing that to go to Law is like a Lottery or playing at Dice where if the game be obstinatly pursu'd the Box-keeper is commonly the greatest Winner But since som men wil be fools or knaves why shoud not the
few honest be as much secured as possible When the Parliament have setled the Laws I wish they woud think of som more fitting restraint of Offences than what the penal Statutes direct almost for every crime The Loss of Life If we examin the severity of this practice we shall find it contrary to the Law of nature the positive Law of God Thou shalt not Kil and ineffective of the intent of Laws Amendment Self preservation is the chief design of Nature To better which and not to destroy it was the ground and end of Goverment and Laws which makes it contrary to Reason That any Means shoud be made or declared such which were destructive of the end for which they were made If then the loss of life as it most certainly do's puts an end to al earthly happiness 't is evident that it never was nor ever coud be judg'd an Instrument productive of that end perhaps it may be said that this may be true of every single man as such and yet may be false when consider'd with respect to the whole as a Member of the Society I answer It can't be true in the later if false in the former Because we must believe that at first every man consider'd what was absolutely best for himself without any respect to another on whom he cannot be suppos'd otherwise to look then as he was or might be subservient to his own particular and immediate happiness And since the whole is made up but of several individuals it must be granted that every of them had the same considerations and since it was not in the power of any to transfer that right to another which nature had deny'd to himself we may then safely conclude it is against the Law of nature i. e. against reason to believe that the power of Life or Death ' by consent of al without which there was no law coud at first be vested in any supreme power and that the useing of it does naturally put us into a state of war the Evil because directly destructive of Happiness design'd to be avoided This is a truth imply'd in the Law of England not only by binding the Criminals to restrain their Warring but also by the punishment inflicted on Felo's de se which supposes no man to have power over his own life as certainly he must have had if he coud have given it to another Nor wil the difficulty be remov'd whether we derive goverment either of the other two ways Paternal right or the immediat gift of God for Parents had no such Power by nature in the state whereof we are al equal We are little more oblig'd to them for our being than to the influence of the Sun both as to us are involuntary causes that which binds children to an indispensable duty of gratitude is the parents care in providing for their wel-being when they are unable to shift for themselves and their giving them virtuous education that which is of al the truest obligation than which nothing is among us more neglected which has made som at the gallows not without cause take up the advice of Iobs Wife against God first curse their parents and then dye Children may indeed be ungrateful which is the worst or the Al of crimes but parents cannot revenge this by death without being unjust because there ought to be a proportion between the crime and the Punishment and a warrantable Authority in him that inflicts it which in this case are al wanting for Ingratitude Theft Rapin and what ever else is practis'd by the wicked are in themselves repairable and the sufferer may in an equal measure be compensated for his loss for bona fortunae or the goods of Fortune are exterior to us and consequently accidental and when we are despoil'd of them by any we have ful satisfaction by a restitution in specie or in value this cours is the measure and square of al Civil contracts for if I detain wrongfuly the mony you lent me I am compellable but to repay you Why then shoud it be Capital to take your Horse without consent when either restitution or a punishment more commensurate to the Offence may be had As for the authority of the punisher which must be warrantable it is plain the Father has no such over the Children who in the state of Nature are equal with him for since he gave not the Being he cannot legally take it away and for the Act destroy the Agent punishment being design'd not only for the terror of others but for the amendment of the Offender To destroy then the last that such as are guiltless may continue so is to my apprehension a piece of the highest Injustice Besides no Prince claims a right over the Subjects Life what ever he does to his Crown otherwise than by the positive Laws of the Land which suppose the man himself to have given that power by his consent which is already prov'd impossible Therefore we may conclude the inflicting of Death is against the positive Law of God who has reserv'd this to himself as a peculier Prerogative and altho he has allow'd the Rulers of the Earth to share in his Titles yet least they shoud intrench on his Honor of which he is very jealous by exceeding the bounds of Reason he immediatly subjoyns but ye shal dy like men to put them in mind that they were to act as such It cannot then be suppos'd that human constitution can make that just which the Almighty declares unlawful He that does so sets himself up above al that is called God destroys moral good and evil makes Vertue and Vice but only names which if allow'd we may bid farwel to the People and Princes security for this roots up the very Foundations of Peace on Earth as wel as joy in Heaven Nor will it serve to say This was practised in the Iewish Common-wealth That was God's own peculiar Province and He that was sole Author of Life might dispose on 't at his pleasure and tho every part of that Oeconomy be not accountable yet 't is not without good Grounds suppos'd because the Iews Happiness or Misery seems to have consisted in the enjoyment or want of Temporal Blessings that the taking away Life here was in lieu of that punishment which Sinners under the Gospel are to receive in another Life And unless Human Laws might as immediatly be call'd His and that every Magistrat were a Moses I coud not believe it lawful for them to follow that Example especially considering that they do not write after this Copy in the punishment of al Crimes I will not make Comparison in many yet I can't but take notice that Idolaters and Inciters to it were there punisht with Death while among us Atheism and Irreligion do not only go free but the Professors of those admirable good Qualities pass for Wits and Virtuoso's Drunkenness and Gluttony are esteem'd as Marks of good Breeding computing the Abilities of
but on extraordinary occasions That al Causes be determin'd at farthest in six months And that such as thro difficulty or other accidents can't be determin'd within that time the Parliament at next Sessions shoud decide them To oblige the Iudges to proceed exactly according to the strict Rules of the Law made by Parliaments For notwithstanding what the Lord Coke says 'T is their duty only Legem Dicere not Legem dare And therfore where ever any thing comes to be disputed of the meaning of the Statutes or that any Cause happens for which there is not exact and sufficient provision made they are to have recourse to the Parliament whose Power is not only Legem dare but dicere For it appears That in antient times when Iustice was more speedy and Statutes fewer or rather none at al the great business of the Parliament was to give Sentence in al difficult Causes and to correct the miscarriages or sinister Practise of al inferior Courts and Officers and therfore was commonly known by the name of Curia Magna Before the Conquerors time there was no such thing as Courts at Westminster-Hal The manner then of distributing Iustice was both speedy and cheap the County being divided into several Portions there was in every Manner a Court where al the Causes arriving within that Precinct were determined by the Thane and his assistants but if too hard they were removed by Appeal to the higher Court of the Hundred where al the chief and Wise Men within that Territory with the Hundreder or Aldermannus gave Iudgment And if any Cause proved too difficult for this Court then they appeal'd to the County Court where al the several Thanes and Hundreders with the chief of the County call'd Comes and somtimes Vicecomes judged it But such Causes as were too intricat for them were remov'd to the great Court or Parliament then known by several other Names Which jurisdiction was exercized some Ages after the Conquest Whence Sir Edward Coke may be wel suspected a greater Lawyer than an Antiquary or els the liberty they took was the occasion of his exalting the Iudges Power in expounding Statutes above that of the Parliament Having now made it plain That the Parliament has this Power and always had it were to be wished they woud make use of it in strictly regulating the Disorders of al inferior Courts as wel Ecclesiastical as Civil Which perhaps can never be better don than after the manner of the famous Venetian Commonwealth by erecting a new Magistracy or Court of Inspection public Censors men of great Candor and Integrity whose Power shoud extend to the Cognizance of al manner of Actions in Courts great and smal Of the demeanor of al Officers of the State of what degree or quality soever who taking care thus of the Execution of the Laws shoud be oblig'd from time to time to give a ful and impartial Information to the Parliament in whose Power alone it shoud be upon Conviction of the Criminal to Suspend Degrade or otherwise Punish according to the Provisions they themselves make in such cases That it may be lawful for all Persons to address themselves immediately to these Censors whose Information shall by them be fully Examined and neither their Informers nor themselves lyable to any Actions or Sutes upon account of their Proceedings to be accountable to the grand and supreme Court of Iudicature That their Number be such as may serve to go Circuits round the Kingdom These as the other Iudges to be altered every 3 Years And because nothing does more conduce to the good of man-kind next to wholsom Laws and the practice of piety than the Knowledge of things past not any thing being truer then that What is has bin and there 's nothing new under the Sun a perfect relation of which begets a great Understanding and deep Iudgment the sence whereof made a Wise King say None were so faithful Counsellors as the Dead That therefore the Parliament woud appoint two of the most learned of those Censors acquainted with al the most secret affairs of state which if not as Counsellors yet as Hearers under the same obligation of secrecy as Secretaries or Clarks of the Counsel they may understand to write especially the matters of fact of al affairs and occurrences The Annals not to be made public til the Writers and al concern'd were gon off the Stage The fear of Offending and the advantage of Flattery being remov'd future ages woud in the truth of History find that great Rule of Iudgment and Prudence the World has hitherto been deprived of There being a man may safely say no tru profane History in the World save that of the Wise Chineses who have observ'd this practice for several Thousands of Years keeping the Records as an Arcanum for their Princes who by these means have gain'd a steddy judgment in their own state-affairs which is the reason given for the long and prosperous continuance of that great Monarchy When the Laws and Execution of them are thus established every Man will be sufficiently secur'd in the Enjoyment of his Liberty and Property which tho commonly taken for two are in reality one and the same thing I understand by the first that Power Man has reserv'd to himself when he enter'd into Society that is a Liberty of doing any thing except what the Law forbids or of living conformably to the Laws not of speaking contemptuously of the Rulers of the People nor of doing what he please tho the Law restrain it By Property I conceive meant the right of Enjoying peaceably privat Possessions as bounded by Law Liberty then respects the Person and Property the Estate These two I perceive you have joyn'd with Religion as the three great Abstracts of Human Concerns For I presume you consider Religion as it is part of that Policy by which the State is govern'd and as such I shal chiefly take notice of it leaving it as it refers to the Soul and a future Life to Divines whose proper Office it is Taking it then for granted That every wise Man will study that which neerest concerns him and That the Interest of the Soul and eternal Life do's far exceed the valu of this our transitory Being That all Human Laws are therefore binding because agreeable to Nature or Reason that is to the Signatures of the Divine Will That true Religion was the Law of God and its end the Happiness of Man in this Life as well as in that which is to Come That it was divided into two Parts Duty to God and to One another which later to the thinking Man resolves into Love of himself who must find that his Happiness consisting in the Enjoyment of himself cannot be without the mutual Offices and Endearments of Love which obliges him in spite of all his Passions when he fully considers things To do to all Men as he would be don unto This then being Human Happiness and the
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
think or believe it wil so suddenly or to that height as is said raise the Rents and Valu of Lands To this it can contribute but by accident as it invites Strangers into the Kingdom for I have already told you that the greater or smaller number of People is the only tru cause of the dearness or cheapness of Land and of Labor or Trade yet even this it cannot do without abolishing the Law disabling Aliens to purchase and hold before Naturalization necessary without dispute to be immediatly taken away Nor woud it a little contribute to the general good that all Merchants and Tradesmen breaking shoud be made guilty of Felony their goods to the Creditors if they did not plainly make appear by their true Books their losses and discover what ever they have left and without the unjust and cunning Artifices of composition give way for an equal Divident among the Creditors And that the many abuses of the Kings Bench Prison be reform'd which as now manag'd is made a Santuary and place of Refuge and Privilege for all Knaves that desine their own privat Interest to the ruin of others whose confinement is no narrower than from the East to the West Indies That all Bonds and Bills obligatory statute Merchants and of the staple Recognisances Iudgments c. be enacted transferable and by Indorsement to pass as current as Bills of Exchange and made recoverable by a shorter course of of Law than now practis'd That is to say that upon actual proof of the perfecting and last assigning of the Deed Iudgment and Execution be obtaind This wou'd wonderfully enliven trade make a new species of Coyn lower interest secure in a great measure dealers from breaking and find mony to carry on the trades of Fishing Linnen Woollen c. That til the propos'd regulation of the Laws can be effected to avoid the trouble and charge of Iuries in many cases and other unjust vexations the meets and bounds of the denominations of all Lands Mannors Parishes Commons Hundreds and Countyes all prescriptions usages and customs and the Iurisdictions of all inferiour Courts be fully inquir'd into and truely registred in one Book or Books copies to be Printed and the Original to be and remain of Record as the Doomsday book in the Exchequer By which all disputes concerning the premises may be speedily and cheaply decided There are but two Objections against this public good and were they unanswerable yet since they are but particular and selfish considerations they ought not to take place The first is That the useful and laudable Calling of the Lawyers wil be prejudic'd The next that the many who now live upon Credit wil be undon As to the first by this work the present Lawyers wil be so far from suffering that for ten years to com rather than lessen it wil increase their business which according to the ordinary computation of mens Lives or their hopes of being promoted wil be a greater advantage to them than if things continu'd as they are and for those who propose to themselves this way of living there wil be stil grounds enuff for the Practtise of som and many new imployments for others So that if these Gentlemens present great Practise woud give them leave to look forwards they woud find they are more Scar'd than hurt As to the second sort who likewise believe they may be damnifi'd that fancy wil also vanish if it be consider'd That it wil enlarge rather than destroy Credit For we wil suppose that a young Merchant or Tradesman who has 500. pound stock does not trade for less than 2000. pound the Merchant that sells him the Commoditys upon the belief of his being honest industrions prudent and sober gives him Credit and takes his Bond payable at a certain day this Person that he may be able duly to discharge his obligation in like manner trusts another whom he supposes able and honest for all receive credit as they really are or appear such as soon as his bond becomes du he takes up his own and gives that he receav'd to his creditor who perhaps gives it to another to whom he is indebted At last the mony is call'd for from the Country Gentleman the Country Gentleman gives him an assignment on his tenant who either is or is not indebted if the tenant owes the Mony he payes it in specie or assignes him upon som Merchant for the valu of commodities sold him the fond enabling him to pay his Land-lords Rent and thus perhaps by a Circulation of traffic for all Men from the highest to the lowest are one way or other Merchants or Traders the first man is pay'd with his own paper If the tenant does not ow the Land-lord the Mony and therefore wil not pay the Land-lord is immediately necessitated to sel or Morgage som part of his estate which if he refuse the Law forces him and the Credits of the rest are secur'd The Consequences are plainly these That Men must be careful with whom they deal That they must be punctual thrifty lest they first lose their Credit and afterwards becom Beggars For he that rightly considers wil be convinc'd That every Man in a Society or Common-wealth even from the King to the Pesant is a Merchant and therefore under a necessity of taking care of his Reputation not seldom a better Patrimony than what descends to us from our Parent 's Care That by this Practice the Kingdom wil gain an inexhaustible Treasure and tho there were not a hundredth part of the Mony be able to drive ten times a greater Trade than now it does A Man thus enabl'd to Live and Trade without Mony wil be in no need of running-out his principal in Interest by which too many for want of Consideration are insensibly undon involving many more in their Ruin Without these or som other new Courses you may be assur'd That our Trade consequently our Power wil every Day decay and in a few Years com to nothing But som imagin that we need not trouble our selves in this Matter it wil shortly fal in of Course to our Country for that as Learning took its Circuit thro several parts of the World beginning at the East so must Trade too but who-ever believes this wil com to pass without Human Means Labor and Art entertains wrong Notions of Providence I do believe the great Wheel is always in Motion and tho there be a constant Circumgyration of things yet 't is idle to fancy that any thing but Troubles or War Oppression or Injustice Wit or Industry makes Trade or Learning shift their Places in the same Country or alter their abode from that to any other If we look into Histories we shal find these have bin the Causes of their Migration and that Trade and Learning usually go hand in hand together Having already asserted that Trade and Commerce are to be improv'd and carry'd on the more vigorously by how much the more