way to recover and inrich a Nation next to Labour and Industry like frugality and Parsimony Labour and Industry must be the way to bring it in and Frugality and Parsimony the only way to keep and retain it Therefore if we design to be rich we must alter our Course of Living Oeconomy and disposition of affairs at home that industry may be promoted and extravagancies prevented that we may increase our good Trades and lessen our Expences and then we shall soon find that the Ballance will be brought to stand in our favour but to get little and spend much will be sure to have the quite contrary effect Our Landed Men should reform their depraved appetites and be content to be served with their own products instead of costly varieties from abroad which hath of late Years Swoln the Expences of many beyond their due proportions this they would soon find as their Ancestors did to be their true Interest though the Consumption of costly Foreign Commodities hath too much also advanced the Annual expences of the Trading People yet they may make themselves some amends at the end of the Year by what may have got by the increase of their Traffick in such Luxurious Commodities But the Landed Men cau have no such prospect nor of any good return they do not only impair their Estates by such Expences without hopes of advantage but are thereby the chief incouragers of such Trades as abate the Value of their Rents and Products which could not be carryed on so much to their prejudice and impoverishing of the Nation without their help in the Consumption of such Commodities As we have good Provisions for the supply of Nature so good Silks Cloths and Stuffs of our own make for all uses which ought to be esteemed and not rejected and despised because do not come from France or some Foreign Country and we had better keep our old Fashions if we cannot Invent better then imitate those of Foreign Nations to our destruction Such alterations as these in our Course of Living would soon alter the Course of Trade for the better for when Traders may not find it so easie to get Mony out of our own people by what bring from abroad and Sell here at home will then be under a necessity to imploy their thoguhts how to get Mony from Foreigners and to apply themselves to Store their Shops and Ware-Houses with such Commodities as may have that effect The chief end designed by Trade was to make us Rich not Extravagant by diminishing the expence of those Commodities By which we Lose we shall increase the Making of those by which we get all which may be done without abating much of our State and Grandeur But in opinion as the Ballance of England lyes in Land so the Ballancing of Trade lyes in the Landed Men a power very fit for them at this time to assume as well for the Publick as their Private Interest that may not longer submit the direction of their expences and so consequently their Estates to those that Serve them who under pretence of keeping them up to unintelligible niceties in points of Gallantry as to Modes and Fashions in a course of Years get their Lands for payments of Bills so Contracted which hath proved the ruin of many antient Families though by a turn in Fancy and Humour might have been prevented As have hitherto been too Fond of spending Goods that come from abroad if would now resolve to spend what are made at Home would cultivate an industrious Spirit in our People to improve their Art in the Making of them which Spur'd on by emulation and Interest would in a short time come to such perfection as that we might be in hopes to have the advantage hereafter of Furnishing those Nations with our Goods who have hitherto Furnished us It having been a great discouragement to our Manufacturers to ingage heartily in the Making of them hitherto to find them rejected and despised only because they were of our own Make though equal if not Superior in goodness to those from abroad The difficulties we are under and the Losses we now sustain only for want of a Currency to the Coyn we have may afford us a prospect in what a Condition we shall be if by our own folly and Extravagancies we should consume what we have now left and occasion a perpetual scarcity of it or at least for a long time it being a Commodity that may soon be spent but not easily recovered Certainly we had better Practice good Husbandry out of choice in order to preserve what we have then be forced to it out of necessity hereafter in hopes to regain it for if ever we should be reduced to such a want of Coyn we shall soon find our Selves under the difficulties represented by this Spanish Proverb * In a House where there are many People and little Bread all will be crying and all with a great deal of Reason Hen la Caza ahonde ay mucho gente y poco Pan todos Llorando y todos con mucho Razon and the Landed Men if that should happen would not be able to clear themselves of being most in Fault for the Trading People may alledge that it was agreeable to Reason and their Interest to Store themselves with such Goods as were most vendible which is more then can be said for the Landed Mens Buying and Consuming any Sort of Goods that were contrary to their own and the Publick Interest therefore more Reason to expect that the Landed Men should first begin to Retrench and Reform then the Trading People As we ought to make a Reformation in our Course of Living so such alterations in our Trades as before mentioned or such as may be proposed by those who have better Judgments We should Consider how long our Stock of Mony may hold out before we permit it to be Exported to Carry on Trades as hitherto The expence here at Home of Manufactured Goods and Toyes from India should be prohibited and that Trade reduced to its former Establishment as it was Carryed on Anno 1666 and Limited as formerly to export only 40 or 50000 l. per Annum in Bullion at most not to exceed 100000 l. which happily will be found upon an inquiry to be near as much as can be Rationally made out was ever brought back to us in Bullion by those Goods Transported to Foreign Parts for though a much greater value have been always Annnally Transported yet it may be a Question if we ever had more returned in Bullion or any great advantage thereby being some have hinder'd the Exportation as well as Consumption of our own Fabricks and others have always been Exchanged for other Commodities abroad to be spent here in Luxury As it cannot be denyed that the great quantities of Manufactured Goods brought here from India do hinder the Consumption of the like quantity of the Manufactured Goods of Europe So it may be made out
such Duties on many of our Goods as hindered their Expence Therefore not strange the inequality should be so great or that vast quantities of our Bullion Coyn or Treasure was carried from us to adjust those Accompts The immente Quantities of Deales and Timber which have been Imported into this Kingdom Northern for the building Thirty or Forty Thousand Houses in and about London and many in other places since the great Fire added to the Cost of our Naval Stores from Denmark and Swedeland have for Thirty Years brought us Annually much in Debt to those Nations for those Countries take few of our Goods from us therefore most of what we take from them is paid in Money In One Year there hath been Exported for carrying on the East-India Trade India Trades about One Million in Bullion and every Year great Sums Whether the Goods they bring and Export to Foreign parts bring back the like Sums in Bullion may be worth an inquiry There may be other Trades that may have sometimes carried out our Coyn or Bullion but if no great Sums and by the alterations which often happen in Trade do at other times bring back the like Species cannot be so pernicious as these mentioned The Trades we drive to Spain Portugal and Italy Of Spanish Portugal Italy Trades are not suspected to occasion the carrying out of our Coyn though the Wines from the Canaries and Currants from Zant which cost great Sums Annually do abate much out of the Ballance of those Trades which would otherwise stand more in our favour But if great difficulties should appear to any method that can be proposed to prevent it better to be permitted than indanger any interruption in those Trades because upon casting up the total of our Exportation and Importation will probably appear beneficial The Turkey Trade consumes so great quantities of our Cloth Turkey Trade and other Commodities that it may be reckoned as one of our best But of late Years the sending of Silver thither though it be most from Spain or Italy to purchase Raw Silk or other Goods is too much increased may deserve an inquiry to be prevented if possible if not being most is for purchasing Raw Silk to be further Manufactured here or Exported if we cannot have it from any other places on better terms may be found advisable to permit it This Trade is carried on under a Regulated Company whether in all Points convenient or their Charter needs additional Powers or Alterations or the Power lodged in the Company by their Charter be duely executed without oppression or hinderance of Trade may be worth an inquiry Our Trade to our Plantations or West-India Collonies takes off great quantities of our Products and Manufactures Plantations as well as Provisions and Handicraft Wares and furnishes us with some Goods for a further Manufactury and others in great abundance to be Exported to Foreign Nations especially of Sugar and Tobacco And although some Objections may be made against the use and necessity of those Commodities yet being so introduced amongst us as it may be impossible to prevent our having them from other Countries and being a Trade which imployes vast numbers of Ships and Seamen ought to be incouraged for having lost so great a part of our Fishing Trades these Trades and that to Newcastle are now become the chief support of our Navigation and Nursery for Seamen And if all back doors could be shut that all the Products Exported from those Collonies might without diminution be brought to England that what are not spent here might be Re-exported from hence and those Collonies as the proprietors are English made to have their whole dependance on England the fruits of their labours to be as much for the advantage of England as of those that stay at Home then all incouragement by easie Laws Regulations and Protection should be given to them they having more opportunities and being under a greater necessity of gaining more Laborious People from whence Riches must arise to help to make great improvements than England or any other of the Dominions belonging to it And if it be considered what Porests and Deserts have been improved and Riches acquired in some of those Collonies in so short a time as the Age of a Man it must be agreed what hath been asserted That the Original of moveable Riches is from Labour and that it may arise from the Labour of Blacks and Vagrants if wed managed Holland being so near us Holland the Trade between us is like our Home Trade from one Town to another When they have any Commodity they can afford cheaper than we a small Consideration brings it here the like from us to them which amounts to a great quantity in a Year Because being a Trading People they furnish a great part of Germany and many of their Neighbouring Countries being as a Magazine for a General Trade supply what they want of their own by fetching Goods from the East-Indies and other parts by which and by being Frugal and Laborious and having great conveniencies in their Navigation by Building and Sailing cheap they have advanced themselves by Trade more than other Nations that have plenty of their own To adjust how the Ballance of this Trade stands will be more difficult than any other because it varies very much every Year and at this time most difficult because of our Expences with our Army in Flanders but they do take from us great quantities of our Products and Manufactures and of Plantation Goods Which Nation hath the Advantage is uncertain but being very knowing and crafty in Trade a constant watchful Eye should be kept over them Ireland is a Fertile Country Ireland and well Seated for Trade but the People being about Four Fifths bigotred to the Roman Catholick Religion and impatient to be under the Government of England have often occasioned great effusion of English Blood by the many Rebellions which hath made that Kingdom chargable to us It is computed to contain about Twelve Millions of English Acres of Arable Meadow and Pasture and Two Millions of Rocky Boggy and Shrubby unprofitable Lands and about a Million of People therefore well worth improving But the insecurity that ariseth from so great a number of the People being of that Religion the many Lazy Priests that are amongst them and the averseness the Natural Irish have generally to Industry hath been a hinderance to the improvement of that Country and to the making it more advantageous to it self and England And unless some way can be found out to secure their intire dependance upon England grounded as well on Religion as Laws that England may be sure to reap a lasting advantage by the Labours of the People there and they can be brought to be more Industrious perpetual Obstructions will from such Objections arise against endeavours to increase Riches in that Kingdom by improving it to the uttermost which will be a continual
prejudice to the English Interest there The increase of the Woolllen Manufactury in that Kingdom may prove fatal to those of England if speedy care be not taken The Manufacturing of Linnen and the increase of Fishing Trades on the Coasts that are there convenient for it may happily upon an inquiry be found less dangerous Scotland not so Fertile nor so well Seated for Trade Scotland but their late attempts to increase and extend it so far as the East-Indies may give cause for making some defensive Laws that they may not be prejudicial to the Trade of England Great quantities of our Products are Exported Annually to Hamburgh Hamburgh and from thence many of them to other places to Germany by the River Elbe Weser and Eyder This Trade is great and beneficial and under the management of a Regulated Company the Settlement very Antient the Members of which Company reserving sending of Goods to Germany by those Rivers to themselves exclusive to all others hath occasioned many Complaints that it is a great hinderance to the Consumption of our Woolen Goods But whether the Complaints arise from the Interest of Foreigners who would get that Trade out of the English hands or from others that would weaken the Company should be well examined before any Alteration be made There have been also Complaints against their Regulations and By-Laws which may deserve an Inquiry The Greenland and Russia Trades are also Greenland Russia and New-found-land and have been for a long course of time under the Management of Companies and yet are in a manner totally lost our Newfoundland Trade much diminished and all our Northern Fishing Trades disused By which we have suffered two great inconveniencies The loss of the greatest Nurseries we had for Seamen and the use our Neighbours have made of it to increase theirs By the Northern Fishing the Dutch have made their greatest numbers of Seamen and by the Banks of Newfoundland the French and thereby make those Trades difficult to be retrieved for as long as we have not a number of Seamen over and above what may be imployed in our other Trades difficult to be found that they will go to the Fishing Trades in any great abundance because are attended with great labour and hardship As to the Northern Trades the Dutch have likewise another Advantage by Building Maning and Sailing cheaper and though it is probable wayes may be found out to recover that to the Newfoundland by the help of our Western Ports and our possession there yet the others more difficult However all endeavours should be used The Trade to Swedeland and Denmark having of late Years carried from us great Sums of Money Annually Swedeland and Denmark and the more because those Princes have by great Impositions discouraged the expence of our Manufactures and by their own Example incouraged some of their own though much meaner Whether any alteration can be made by any Treaty or by Building more great Ships of our own that we may have the Carriage of the Goods from those parts which is considerable or whether it be possible to improve the Trade to New-England which hath hitherto been of little use to us so as to have more Masts Pitch Tar Hemp and other Goods from thence in the room of those from the North parts notwithstanding its great distance for which the Imployment of our own Ships and Seamen will make us some amends or whether some Agreement might not be made with the Hanse-Towns or one of those Princes that might reduce the others to better terms than we stand on at present or whether some Alteration in the Act of Navigation might help may be worth an Inquiry The French Trade will deserve a more particular Inquiry French Trade because hath been for many Years carried on to our Loss and their great Advantage Though they were alwayes potent at Land yet could never make any figure at Sea till since the Year 1657 that their greatest Councils and Ministers of State begun to apply their Thoughts how to increase Trade and Navigation Then by making Laws or Edicts to incourage all Trades they thought would prove advantageous especially such as might incourage the increase of Seamen which they also multiplyed by obliging the Commanders of all Ships to carry and breed up a proportion of Young Men every Voyage for which the Government make an allowance as also by making good Docks Arsnals conveniencies for all sorts of Stores by incouraging good Artists for the Building of Ships and by Prohibitions or otherwayes discouraging all Trades they thought pernicious By such Methods as these in about Ten Years it was observed that their Ships Seamen and Trade was increased from One to Ten and from having their Power confined to Land are now become also so Formidable at Sea as in some measure to contest with both Englands and Hollands United Strength In Times of Peace we did Import from that Country Annually vast Quantities of Silks Linnens and other Goods perfectly Manufactured 30 or 40000 Tuns of Wines and Brandies great Quantities of Paper Prunes Salt Rozin Glass Cork Oakum Soap c. besides Points Laces Gloves Imbroidered Vestments Beds Toyes and Nicknacks to a very great Value Though it be hard to define what Commodities we ever had from that Nation that were Profitable for us or absolutely Necessary unless the Salt fit for any Improvement or further Manufactury yet we permitted that Trade to go on though at the same time that we took such vast Quantities of Unprofitable Commodities from them they totally prohibited the expence of all East-India Goods from us and laid such Impositions on our Woollen Goods as was tant amont to a Prohibition thereby bringing us indebted to them for great Sums every Year which they took from us in Coyn Bullion or Treasure as before-mentioned They also had another great Advantage at that time by our Nobility and Gentry being so sond of Travelling or Living in France It hath been computed that by this Article only they might get near 200000 l. a Year from us in Money The Ambition Conduct Strength and Riches of that Nation having lately appeared so terrible to all Europe and particularly to this Kingdom by their endeavours to get the possession of Flanders and so consequently Newport and Ostend and thereby to have had the Vnited Provinces by Compact or Conquest intirely in their Interest and to out-match us by Sea which would have brought us into an irrecoverable condition as it gave just cause for the present Confederacy against them for the carrying on of the War so it concerns all the Confederates that it should ever be continued in point of Trade that if possible they may not hereafter reap any such Advantages as formerly by it from us or any other Nation for it is that which hath chiefly enabled them to carry on these Designs especially by Sea And as all Europe are concerned to reduce them to their Old Limits
and whatsoever you shall do or cause to be done in the Premises conformable to the several Clauses of His Majesties said Royal Charters before-recited in this our Commission or according to any further Instruction you shall receive from us or any Thirteen or more of the Committees of the said East-India Company whereof the Governour or Deputy for the time being to be one we shall always indempnify and save harmless you and all imployed by or under you therein In Witness whereof we have hereunto caused our Common Seal to be put this 25th day of February 1684 5. The East-India Company in Holland are said to be a little Monarchy under a Common-wealth ours would have Powers equal with them as they then pretended for which Reason happily these Commissions were granted which must be agreed were a high flight and near approach to Soveraign Powers but that the King could delegate such Powers as mentioned in the aforesaid Commission not agreed By Vertue of these Commissions and Directions amongst others the Ships Adventure and Bristol whose Cargoes cost in England about 60000 l. were siezed or destroyed But some others that went escaped from being siezed as Pyrates in the Indies coming Home in safety were for some time permitted to sell their Goods without any great interruption but about the Year 1686. Resolutions were taken to make such Pyrates also As for Instance The Ship Andulazia who arriving at Portsmouth from the Indies with a Rich Cargoe an Order was obrained and sent to the Admiralty for apprehending the Men and siezing the said Ship the Men were brought Prisoners to London no Bail being admitted and some days after an Order was sent to the Admiralty in these words WHereas we have received certain Information that the Master supra Cargoe Purser and several other Persons belonging to the Ship Andulazia now lying under Arrest at Portsmouth by Process out of Our Court of Admiralty are gone down under pretence of attending the Inspection and Appraisment of the Goods on board the said Ship lately decreed by Commission out of Our said Court which persons at this present are accused for Acts of Pyracy as well as Interloping and are to be tryed for the Pyracy And whereas We are likewise informed that they or some of them have been actually on board the said Ship and have begun to rummage there pretending to remove the Goods in order to their Inspection and Appraisment by means whereof we cannot but suspect their ill intent and design to imbezil the Goods to Our Prejudice in case of Forfeiture To the intent therefore that there be no Imbezilment or Damage caused by them or any other person whatsoever but that the Goods be kept entire and safe for the benefit of Vs and Our Just Rights in case of Forfeiture or of others who may have a right to the same Our Will and Pleasure is that you forthwith issue out an Order to Our Marshal and Deputies of Our said Court to unlade the said Goods and put them in some secure Warehouses in Our Town of Portsmouth to the end that they may be preserved as aforesaid and for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 17th day of March 1686 7. The persons that were named in the Warrants for the execution of these Orders were most or all Servants to the Company After Imprisonment great Losses and Charges this Affair ended in an Agreement as it was called made in these words WHereas the Ship Andulazia Captain John Jacobs Commander now Riding in the Harbour of Portsmouth hath Traded in India contrary to His Late Majesties Proclamation and the East-India Companies Charters without leave from the said Company and is suspected to have committed some Acts of Hostility in India which in strict construction of Law might be counted Piracy although it may be Reasonably hoped that the fact committed in the Indies was only to promote that Private Trade in which they were unfortunately ingaged And whereas the said Ship Commander Officers and Seamen and also the Cargoe aboard her is now under Arrest of His Majesties Court of Admiralty for Piracy and Interloping and there have been some Proceedings in the Admiralty Court in order to an Adjudication of the said Ship and Goods as forfeited by the East-India Companies Charters one half to His Majesty and the other half to the said Company Now for as much as the Interessed in the said Ship and Goods do apply themselves to the said Company and intreat they will favour them with their earnest Endeavours and Petitions to his Sacred Majesty in their behalf that His Majesty will be graciously pleased to grant His Royal Pardon to all persons concerned in the said Ships and of all Forfeitures incurred by the facts aforesaid the said East-India Company and Proprietors of the said Ship and Goods do mutually agree to the Conditions following viz. That the said Commander and Owners and all Persons concerned as Desendants in the said Court of Admiralty or otherwise shall in the said Court as most true it is confess the fact of Interloping and submit to the determination of that Court without further Appeal or moving for any Prohibition or bringing any Actions or Action of Trover or causing any further littigation or trouble in any of the Courts of Law or Equity concerning the Ship or Goods or any of the Persons aforesaid That the said Persons Defendants or their Assignes shall bring the said Ship about at their own Charge into the River of Thames without any imbezilments with the Kings and Companies Officers aboard and shall at her arrival in the River of Thames the danger of the Seas excepted deliver up all the said Goods into the Companies Warehouses the Company being to defray the Customs and incident Charges in landing upon the following terms viz. That the Goods be sold by the Companies Candle and the said Custom incident Charges in Landing and Housing with discompt be deducted from the whole sale of the said Goods or Net amount of them That 10000 l. immediately after the Sale out of the first Money received thereon be paid to for the Ships Freight Damage Commons and other Charges for the said Commander Owners and others concerned That after the foregoing deductions the remaining Nett proceed of all the said Goods shall be paid viz. The One Fifth part to the Honourable East-India Company and the Four Fifths to for the use of the respective Proprietors That the time of the Sale shall be within One Month after the Goods are landed or as shall be thought convenient for advance of the Cargoe That when all is sold and paid mutual Releases shall be given and interchanged between the Company and the concerned For performance of the Premises we give this under our Hands this 23th day of March 1686 7. On the behalf of the E.I. Company if His Most Excellent Majesty approve thereof According to this Agreement 3161 l. 00 s. 02 d. was
is not only the Members of the Company that were at the Time of the Corporation but those that after should be Members and their Sons their Apprentices Factors and Servants that are licensed by this Patent If licensing to trade with Infidels be a Trust and Prerogative in the King to be given to such Persons in whom the King can have Confidence that they will not be conversing with Infidels change or prejudice This can't be granted to a Body Politick and their Successors which may have Continuance for ever or to their Sons Factors Apprentices and Servants Persons altogether unknown not born nor in rerum natura when the Patent was made Suppose such a Licence to you to trade with Enemies I say 3. Supposing it to be in the King's Prerogative in Preservation of Religion to licence yet he can't grant this Prerogative to you that you shall have Power to grant Licence to whom you will Yet all this is done by your Patent for you have not only thereby Power granted you for your Apprentices Factors and Servants which are Persons that you your selves nominate and appoint at your Discretions and undoubtedly very religious But by your Patent it is expresly granted that the Company for any Consideration or Benefit to themselves may grant Licences to any Merchant Stranger or other to trade to or from the Indies And that the King will not without the Consent of the Company licence any other to trade Can this be a good Grant Can the King grant from himself his Kingly Care and Trust for Preservation of Religion to you that you shall manage it and that the King will not use such his Power without your Consent So that supposing that there is by the Law such a Trust reposed in the King for Preservation of Religion as you would have it yet the Grant to you is void in it self and then you have no more Right than we and consequently can maintain no Action against us 2. To consider the Books that you have cited to maintain this religious Point 1. Brownlow's Reports a Book printed in the late Times not licensed by any Judge or Person whatsoever The Roll is Michelburn against Bathurst Mich. 7 Jac. B. C. Rot. 3107. setting forth that the King had granted the Plaintiff his Commission to go with his Ship Tiger to the East-Indies to spoil and suppress the Infidels and to take from them what he could That there were Articles betwixt the Parties for Account and Shares of what should be got and upon those Articles a Suit in the Admiralty And what is it that is in the Case Nothing to the purpose but the Book mentions only what my Lord Coke said upon the Motion for the Prohibition Only a sudden occasional Saying not upon any Argument or Debate nor to the then Case So that a Man must be very willing that will much rely upon such a Saying I can't call it an Authority 2. For Calvin's Case That an Infidel is perpetuus Inimicus and can maintain no Action or have any thing and that we are in perpetual Hostility and no Peace can be made with them It is true that this is said in Calvin's Case but there was nothing there in Judgment that gave Occasion for it so that I can't think that it was much considered before it was spoken The Books there cited to prove it are Reg. 282. And all that I can find therein is that in a Writ of Protection granted to the Hospitallers of the Hospital of St. John's of Jerusalem it is said that the Hospital was founded in Defence of Holy Church against the Enemies of Christ and Christians But doth this prove that Infidels are perpetui Inimici with whom no Peace can be made that can maintain no Action The other Book cited is 12 H. 8.4 a Trespass brought for taking away a Dog and in the debating whether this Action did lye or not it is said That if the Lord beat his Villain an Husband his Wife or a Man outlawed or a Traitor or a Pagan they shall have no Action because they are not able to sue an Action So that this also is but Discourse and sudden Thoughts and Sayings where the thing was not in Question And what Authority is there in such Sayings It is true that Christian Religion and Pagaism are so contrary one to the other as impossible to be reconciled no more than Contradictions can be reconciled But because they can't be reconciled that therefore there should be perpetual War betwixt them and us perhaps is an irreligious Doctrine and destroys all Means of convincing Infidels to the Faith And besides these extrajudicial and occasional Sayings in these Books cited are of little Authority For I can't find any Book or Case much less Judgment or Authority for such Opinions in so great a Point as this is But on the other side if a Man considers the general Course and Practice Trade and Commerce and legal Proceedings a Man would think That my Lord Coke could not be in earnest in what he hath said about Infidels For let a Man consider what a great Part of the World we have Commerce with that are Infidels as Turks Persians the Inhabitants of Barbary and other Countries Spain and Portugal were also possessed by the Moors who were Infidels till about the Year 1474. about 200 Years since they were driven out for till then for near the Space of 700 Years the Moors possessed both Spain and Portugal Have we not Leagues and Treaties with the Princes and Inhabitants of the Infidel Countries receiving Embassadors from them and sending Embassadors to them and Ministers always residing with them Have we not from Time to Time Peace or War with them in like manner as with Christian Kings and Countries If Infidels be perpetui Inimici if in perpetual Enmity then we may justifie the killing of them as those that we are in Hostility with wheresoever we meet with them 17 E. 4.13 b. 2 H. 7.15 Adjudged that any Man may seize and take to his own Use the Goods of an alien Enemy 'T is the Price of his Adventure and Victory over his Enemy If an Infidel be any Enemy any Man may then take away the Goods of an Infidel and have them to his own Use And this would be a good Trade if this be so Mr. Sollicitor in his Argument was pleased to cite many ancient Rolls out of H. 3. and E. 1. and about those Times concerning those Princes handling the Jews In Mr. Pryn's Book that he calls The second Part of a short Demurrer to the Jews long discontinued Remitter into England printed in 1656. In which Book I believe an hundred Records and Histories are cited to shew how they were about those times handled The Time that they did exact and much enrich themselves by Usury to the great Impoverishment of the People And that the Princes of those Times polled them taxed them and took it from them again at Pleasure
alledged prout ei bene licuit To this the Plaintiff hath demurr'd Before I come to state the Points and Questions upon which this Question truly depends I desire to shew what are not the Points or Questions in this Case 1. It is not the Question whether the King by Law can restrain any of his Subjects to go out of the Kingdom For the King may so do and this without Distinction of Christian or Infidel Country pro hic nunc as Occasion may be 2. It is not the Question whether the King can restrain all his Subjects to such a Country or City It may be done upon particular Occasions as of War or Plague But from hence to argue that the King can grant you and your Successors for ever a sole Trade to such a Country or Place excluding all other his Subjects except with your Leave or Licence Because he can restrain this or that Subject therefore he can grant a sole Trade to the Plaintiff and exclude all others but you and such as you licence for ever Because he can upon particular Occasions as of War or Plague restrain or prohibit his Subjects to go or trade to such a City or Country That when there is neither Plague nor War the King should grant a sole Trade to any particular Person whether Body Politick or Natural and restrain all others for ever Can this be by the Law done If this Foundation will warrant it though in this Case this be with Infidels and upon that ground some difference imagined betwixt an Infidel and a Christian Country Yet remember your Reason or Foundation doth not distinguish or make a Difference For if because the King hath Power to restrain or prohibit Subjects to go out of the Realm Or by Occasion of War or Plague all his Subjects from trading to such a City or Country since this Power you must agree extends as well to Christian as Infidel City or Country The granting of sole Trade to one Subject or Body Politick and restraining all others is the same whether it be to Christian or Infidel City or Country And when you cite the of Statute 3 Jacc. 6. which enacts That the King's Subjects shall freely trade to Spain and Portugal notwithstanding the Charters of Incorporation granted to some Merchants and the Prohibitions in those Charters And from thence argue that because there were Prohibitions or Restraints by Charters as to those Countries which were Christian therefore such a sole Trade to an Infidel Country is well granted You must have it admitted that such a Grant to those Countries is good and legal or else you argue from that which you grant not to be lawful to prove another like Grant to be lawful Or at least by the same Arguments and Reasons maintain such a Grant of sole Trade to be good whether made to Christian or Infidel Country If then it not being the Point or Question in this Case Whether the King can restrain his Subjects from going beyond the Seas Nor Whether the King can lawfully restrain his Subjects to trade to a particular Country or Place whether Christian or Infidel Then the Questions plainly and shortly are 1. Whether this Grant of sole Trade to the Plaintiffs be a good Grant or not 2. Supposing that it should be then whether this Action be maintainable or not 1. By the Common Law Trade is free and open for the King's Subjects And this I shall endeavour to shew from Authorities Commercium jure Gentium commune esse debet non in Monopolium privatum paululorum questum convertendum 3 Inst 381. Iniquum est aliis permittere aliis inhibebere Mercaturam The Taylers of Ipswich's Case That no Trade Mechanick nor Merchant 1 Rols Rep. 4. can be hindered by the Patent of the King a Patent that only 100 Persons shall use such a Trade is void Note F.N.B. 85. that by the common Law every Man may go out of the Realm for Merchandize or travel without demanding Leave of the King Stat. 5R 2. c. 2. Prohibited all but Great Men and Merchants to pass out of the Realm without the King's Licence But this Statute is repealed by 14 Jac. c. 1. That every one may at his Will go with his Goods Dyer 165. and cites F. N. B. for it 2. And in the next place That appropriating Merchandize and Trade to a particular Person or Persons or a Body Politick excluding others is an ingrossing such Trade And that all ingrossing Trade is against the common Law 3 Inst 196. That ingrossing any sort of Merchandize is an Offence at common Law In this Court lately Dom ' Rex vers Crisp al. an Agreement betwixt divers Coprice Makers and Coprice Merchants for the buying of all Coprice that the Coprice Makers should for three Years make at so much a Tun and restraining them from selling to any others Adjudged an ingrossing upon an Information in this Court And if a Company of Merchants should buy up in like manner all the Merchandize of Spain or Portugal or the Canaries or other Town or Place for three Years to come This I think would be an ingrossing and the Contract against Law For the Consequence of it must be that they would sell at their own Price and thereby exact upon the King's Subjects And your Patent for the sole Trade to the East-Indies invests you in all the Merchandizes of those Countries and ingrosseth them all into your Hands And if a Patent grant to any the ingrossing of Merchandizes this Patent is against Law and void Ingrossing is in Truth but a Species or another Name for monopolizing for all the Difference between them is that ingrossing is commonly by Agreements and Contracts made betwixt Subjects one with another without the King 's Grant but Monopolies are Ingrossings by Colour of the King's Grants The Case there of John Peachy 3 Inst 181. who 50. E. 3. was severely punished for a Grant under the Great Seal for the sole selling of sweet Wines in London This was ingrossing by Colour of the King's Grant Case of Monop. 11 Rep. 84. Moor. 673. and in Noy and a Monopoly Darcey had the sole importing from beyond Seas and selling of Cards granted him by Patent for 21 Years under a Rent prohibiting all others to sell and this Trin. 44. Eliz. adjudged a void Grant And the Statute 21 Jac. c. 3. declares all Monopolies to be against the common Law So that this being so If this Grant be a Grant to you to ingross or monopolize then by the common Law this Grant is void 3. That that this Grant of sole Trade is against Magna Charta and divers other the ancient Statutes 9 H. 3. Mag. Ch. c. 30. All Merchants if they were not openly prohibited before shall have their safe and sure Conduct to depart out of England and to come into England to buy and sell without any manner of evil Tolls by the old and
rightful Customs except in Time of War My Lord Cook saith 2 Inst 57. That the Words in this Act nisi publice prohibeantur are intended a Prohibition by the publick Council of the Kingdom by Act of Parliament This Act then being general all Merchants to have safe Conduct to go out and come into England if not prohibited by Act of Parliament is probably a Declaration of the common Law Stat. 2 E. 3 c. That all Merchants Strangers and Privy may go and come with their Merchandizes into England according to the Form of the Grand Charter Stat. 9 E. 3 c. 1. That all Merchants Strangers and Denizens and all other and every of them of what Estate soever they be shall sell their Merchandizes from whencesoever they come freely without Interruption Except the King's Enemies And that this Act shall be observed and performed notwithstanding any Charters to the contrary And that Charters to the contrary are of no force but are to the King's Damage and to the Oppression of the Commons But your Charter gives you the sole Merchandizing to and from the East-Indies Stat. 14 E. 3. c. 2. Recites Magna Charta and enacts That all Merchants Aliens and Denizens may without Let safely come with their Merchandizes safely carry and safely return Stat. 25 E. 3. c. 2. Confirms the former Statute of 9 E. 3. and enacts That if any Letters Patents Proclamation or Commandment be made to the contrary it shall be void Stat. 2 R. 2. c. 1. and 11. c. 7. Both confirm the two former Statutes and enact That all Letters Patents and Commands to the contrary shall be void By these four Statutes the Freedom of Trade and Traffick is amply establish'd and all Letters Patents Grants Proclamations and commands to the contrary made void if they had not been so at common Law And my Lord Cook 2 Inst 63. upon Consideration of Magna Charta and these Statutes after Examination of several Grants of Tolls and Duties to be paid upon Merchandize saith That upon this Charter this Conclusion is necessarily gathered that all Monopolies concerning Trade and Traffick are against the Liberty and Freedom declared and granted by this Great Charter and divers other Acts of Parliament which are good Commentaries upon this Charter And then cites the other Statute that I have before cited Object But say they tho we have the sole Trade yet we are no Monopoly Resp To prove it to be a Monopoly 3 Inst 181. let us see how a Monopoly is described My Lord Cook in his Chapter of Monopolies describes it An Institution or Allowance by the King 's Grant to any Person or Persons Bodies Politick or Corporate of or for the sole buying or selling or using of any thing whereby any Person or Persons are to be restrained of any Freedom or Liberty that they had before or are hindred in their lawful Trade This Description I think exactly suits with your Patent For 1. By your Patent you have the sole Trade granted to you Sole Trade is sole buying and sole selling for Merchandizing consists in buying and selling The sole using any thing is another general Part of this Description Is not sole Trade sole using or merchandizing And for the latter Part of it whereby any Person is restrained or hindred in his Liberty 2. Your Patent grants to you to seize the Ships and Goods of any that come thither And your bringing this Action shews you are sufficiently a Hinderer of the Liberty of others to trade So that I think you can't deny but that you are comprehended under this Description But for further Evidence of its being a Monopoly let us see what the Evils and Mischiefs are that were in Monopolies which the Law speaks so hard of The Evils and Mischiefs are First That the Price of the Commodity they sell shall be kept and risen higher than otherwise it would be For he that hath the sole Trade will keep up the Price as he pleaseth And this is one of the Evils mentioned in the Case of Monopolies 11 Rep. 86. b. The Truth hereof I think is evident enough and no Man in Reason thinks but he that hath the sole Trade trades for his Advantage And the highest and dearest Rates he can sell at and the cheapest he can buy at are his Advantage Secondly A second Mischief or Evil is that Monopolies or sole Trade is pro privato paululorum quaestu So it is said to be in the Margent of the Book before cited 3 Inst 181. No Man will doubt hereof that considers the present State or Condition of this Company Thirdly Another Evil or Mischief of Monopolies or sole Trade is the Impoverishment and Oppression of the King's Subjects Trade is not in its own Nature fix'd and stable but varying and altering sometimes better sometimes worse Sometimes one Trade beneficial another not according as Wares Sicknesses Scarsity of this or that sort of Commodity or Merchandize in this or that Country Modes Fashions Customs and Habits of Men do occasion And the Merchants by their Education and Observation manage and govern this Trade for the Maintenance of themselves and their Families and the general Good of Men. And direct and imploy their Estates and traffick into this or that Part of the World as Time and Occasion shall give them best Encouragement But sole Trade into this or that Part of the World granted to one Company and of another to another sets up the particular Men that head the Companies but destroys all other Merchants and inferior People Such Patents must undo all other Parts of this Kingdom besides London For the Companies can't drive these great Trades but must manage them in London and consequently the other Parts of the Kingdom must be excluded All shipping must be subjected to the Rates and Prizes these Appropriators of Trade will give them or else lye still and be destroyed And so must all Masters of Ships Mariners all Artificers Labourers Factors and Servants whose Employments depend upon these Trades must all be subjected to their Wills And of how great Consequence that may be deserves Consideration The Instances of your Oppressions and Dealings with your Factors Captains Servants and Seamen that got any thing in their Service are well known So that if the Evils and Mischiefs which the Common Law forbids and endeavours to prevent by judging all Monopolies Ingrossings and sole Trade unlawful be to be avoided The Evils and Mischiefs attending your Patent and sole Trade are perhaps the greatest because your sole Trade is the greatest that ever England knew That every Grant of the King hath this Condition implied in it F. N. Br 222. viz. Quod Patria per talem donationem magis solito non oneretur seu gravetur Grant le Roy al charge ou prejudice del Subject est void 13 H. 4. â—â— And if the Evils and Mischiefs of this Grant be as I have stated them 'T is a Grant to the