Particular Merchants and other Interested Persons to Enact Laws so much to the Prejudice of Trade in General My Lord I shall be very free to Communicate the few Lights I have gather'd from Observation and Inquiry into these Matters and shall be very glad if my Endeavours can give Your Lordship any hints which I am certain will be improv'd by Your deep Judgment and Understanding First I am clearly convinc'd in General that the East-India Trade is greatly Beneficial to England Secondly I am of Opinion with Submission to better Judgments that the Bill now propos'd to Prohibit the wearing East-India and Persia Wrought Silks Bengals c. will be absolutely distructive to the Trade and very prejudicial to the Kingdom Which two Points shall be impartially handled in the Sequel of this Discourse As to the East-India Trade in General If all Europe by common Consent would agree to have no further dealings to those Parts This side of the World by such a Resolution would certainly save a great and Continual Expence of Treasure For Europe draws from thence nothing of Solid Use Materials to supply Luxury and onely perishable Commodities and sends thither Gold and Silver which is there bury'd and never returns I have good Grounds to think That the Silver and Gold brought from America the Gold Dust brought from Africk and the Silver produc'd from the European Mines in the Two Hundred Years last past has not amounted to less in the whole than Eight Hundred Millions There is no appearance of this immense Sum in any Country of Europe 'T is true indeed there is Yearly a great Consumption of these Metals By the wear of Gold and Silver Coin waste in Coinage waste in working Plate The wear of wrought Plate The wear of things made of Gold and Silver Thread and Wire a high Article Leaf and Shell Gold and Silver Liquid Gold and Silver There is also much lost in Casualties by Sea Fires and Inundations and by being privately bury'd and never found But having computed what may be allow'd for the Yearly Consumption of Gold and Silver on all the foregoing Heads and what quantity of those Metals may be now remaining in Europe I cannot find what is become of the Eight Hundred Millions dug out of the Earth unless a Hundred and Fifty Millions of it be carry'd away and Sunk in the East-Indies From whence I have reason to conclude That the European Nations in General had been Richer by a full Third than they now are if that Trade had never been discover'd and undertaken But since Europe has tasted of this Luxury Since the Custom of a Hundred Years has made their Spices necessary to the Constitutions of all Degrees of People Since their Silks are pleasing every where to the better Sort And since their Callicoes are a useful wear at Home and in our own Plantations and for the Spaniards in America It can never be adviseable for England to quit this Trade and leave it to any other Nation The Burthen which this Commerce lays upon the Collective Body of Europe does bear hard only upon those Countries which Consume the Indian Commodities without having any Share of the Traffick and therefore France did about Twelve Years ago very wisely prohibit the wearing Callicoes that were not of their own Importation The English and Dutch which together are not a Tenth part of Europe enjoy this Traffick almost without any Rivalship and if it be a Burthen it lyes not upon the one but on the other Nine parts So that if the East-India Trade carry out the Gold and Silver from this side of the World 't is truly and properly at the Cost and Expence of France Germany Spain and the Northern Kingdoms who have little or no Opportunities of Trading thither To imagine all Europe will come to an Agreement of Dealing no more to those Parts is an absurd and wild Notion Since therefore the Western Nations are contented to be deceiv'd and for a Hundred Years have been accustom'd to bear this deceit 't would be Egregious Folly in us to quit this Advantage and leave it intirely to the Hollanders By the best account I can have and from Impartial Hands England before the War for some time one Year with another has Exported for this Traffick either in Bullion or our Manufactures of which the Manufactures might be near an Eighth part about per Annum 400,000 l. Suppose we Consume at home the Returns of 200,000 But by the way I must take Notice here that the Company of late Years have carry'd out the value of 100,000 l. per Annum in our home Manufactures If the Company Export to other Nations the Returns of the other Two Hundred Thousand Pounds which I may safely affirm they did and will do in time of Peace England must certainly be a great Gainer by this Traffick For no one vers'd in Merchandize will deny but that the Returns from India of 200,000 l. when Exported to other Countries must Increase the first Sum at least Four-fold and produce 800,000 So that the Accompt of England with the Indies and the European Nations may be thus Ballanc'd The Returns Exported yeild per Annum 800,000 l. The Returns Consum'd at home are to the Nation 200,000 Total 1,000,000 Deduct for the prime Cost of Bullion or Manufactures Exported 400,000 England Net Gainer by this Traffick 600,000 Nothing can be a Clearer Gain to the Kingdom than the Returns of the 200,000 l. consum'd at home because treble that Sum would otherwise be carry'd out for Foreign Silks and Linnen which is hindred by the Importation of East-India Commodities The Inspection I have made upon other Occasions into the general State and Condition of this Kingdom has led me upon very good Grounds to think that the East-India Trade did annually add to the gross Stock of England at least 600,000 l. per Annum in times of Peace For I have many Cogent Reasons inducing Me to believe That from about Anno 1656. to Anno 1688. this Nation has every Year gradually increas'd in Riches By what degrees is needless here to incert but upon mature Consideration I may safely state that about Anno 1688. the Increase or Addition to the Wealth and General Stock of England arising from Foreign Trade and home Manufactures was at least Two Millions yearly And after much Thought and Study on this Subject and by consulting Others vers'd in Speculations of the like Nature I find that this Increase to the Nations General Stock did probably arise from the Three following Articles Viz. Â l. From Our Manufactures and Home Product sent to the Plantations and from the Returnes thereof Exported to Foreign Parts 900,000 From our Woollen Manufacture Lead Tin Leather and Our other Native Product sent to France Spain Italy Germany c. 500,000 From the Net Profit accruing by the East-India Trade 600,000 Total 2,000,000 If the East-India Trade did in Peaceful Times bring so great an Increase to the
AN ESSAY ON THE East-India-Trade BY THE AUTHOR OF The Essay upon Wayes and Means LONDON Printed Anno M DC XC VI. To the Most Honourable JOHN Lord Marquis of Normanby c. AN ESSAY ON THE East-India TRADE My LORD YOUR Lordship was pleased the other Day to intimate That You would willingly know my Opinion in General of the East-India Trade Whether it is Hurtful or Beneficial to this Nation And my Thoughts concerning the Bill for Prohibiting the Wearing all East-India and Persia Wrought Silks Bengalls and Dy'd Printed or Stain'd Callicoes What has occurr'd to my Observation in these Two Points I shall Offer with great Sincerity having no Interest or Engagement to sway me in the Questions one way or other But before I begin I must beg leave to say I am very glad to see Your Lordship bend Your Excellent Wit and Right Understanding to Inquiries of this Nature For nothing can be more Important to a Noble Man than A True Knowledge of the Manufactures Trade Wealth and Strength of his Country Nor can Your Eloquence be any way more Usefully employ'd than in Discoursing Skilfully upon this Subject in that Great Assembly of which You are so much an Ornament Richlieu has left behind Him an Evidence how much He made these Matters His Care and Study Which however Neglected by the Ministers of the Present Age are notwithstanding the only Foundation of a Solid and Lasting Greatness For who can give a Prince sound Advice and under Him steer the People Rightly and Well either in Peace or in War that is Ignorant of the Posture Condition and Interest of the Country where he lives Is there any thing in the World that should be more thought a Matter of State than Trade especially in an Island and should not that which is the Common Concern of All be the Principal Care of such as Govern Can a Nation be Safe without Strength And is Power to be Compass'd and Secur'd but by Riches And can a Country become Rich any way but by the Help of a well Managed and Extended Traffick What has enabled England to Support this Expensive War so long but the great Wealth which for Thirty Years has been flowing into us from Our Commerce Abroad The Soil of no Country is Rich enough to attain a great Mass of Wealth meerly by the Exchange and Exportation of its Own Natural Product The Staple Commodities that England Exports are the Woollen Manufactures Tin Lead Hides and sometimes Corn. But considering Our Luxury and our great Expence of Foreign Wares here at Home we could not have grown Rich without Other Dealings in the World For set our Own Exported Product in the Ballance with the Imported Product from France Spain Portugal Italy Germany and the two Northern Kingdoms At the Foot of the Accompt it will be found that but a fourth part of Our Riches arises from the vent of Our own Commodities Whoever looks Strictly and Nicely into Our Affairs will find that the Wealth England had once did arise chiefly from Two Articles First Our Plantation Trade Secondly Our East-India Traffick The Plantation Trade gives Employment to many Thousand Artificers here at home and takes off a great quantity of our Inferiour Manufactures The Returns of all which are made in Tobacco Cotton Ginger Sugars Indico c. by which we were not onely supply'd for Our Own Consumption but we had formerly wherewithal to send to France Flanders Hamborough the East-Countrey and Holland for 500,000 l. per Annum besides what we Ship'd for Spain and the Streights c. Since we were Supplanted in the Spice Trade by the Dutch and since great part of the Pepper Trade is gone by the Loss of Bantam Our Chief Investments or Importations from the East-Indies have been in Callicoes Wrought Silks Drugs Salt-Petre Raw Silk Cottons and Cotton Yarn Goats Wooll or Carmania Wooll and other Products of those Countries Part of which Commodities are for our own Use but a much greater part in times of Peace were bought up here for the Consumption of France Germany Holland Spain Italy and Our Plantations So that by the Means of our East and West-India Trade though we might lose by our dealings to some Parts yet We were Gainers by the whole and in the General Ballance The Woollen Manufacture Tin Lead c. are indeed the Basis of all Our Traffick and the first Spring of our dealings Abroad But if by Carelesness or False Measures we should come to be confin'd onely to deal in Our own Product we must think no longer to preserve the Dominion of the Sea As Bread is call'd the Staff of Life so the Woollen Manufacture is truly the Principal Nourishment of Our Body Politick And as a Man might possibly live onely upon Bread yet his Life would be ill Sustain'd Feeble and Unpleasant So though England could probably subsist barely upon the Exportation of its own Product yet to enjoy a more florid Health to be Rich Powerful and Strong we must have a more extended Traffick than Our Native Commodities can afford us The Woollen Manufacture is undoubtedly by Laws and all possible Care to be Encouraged but 't is its Exportation Abroad and not the Consumption of it at Home that must bring Profit to the Kingdom Some of Our Gentry have been for many Years of Opinion That the Intire Welfare of England depends upon the High Price of Wooll as thinking thereby to Advance their Rents but this proceeds from the Narrow Mind and Short View of such who have all along more regarded the Private Interest of Land than the Concerns of Trade which are full as Important and without which Land will soon be of little Value Men in their Private Capacities may be allowed to prefer their Single Profit but should Consult only the General Good in Public Councils In a Trading Nation the Bent of all the Laws should tend to the Encouragement of Commerce and all Measures should be there taken with a due regard to its Interest and Advancement Instead of this in many Particulars our former Laws bring Incumbrance and Difficulties to it and some seem Calculated for its utter Ruine so little has it been of late Years the Common Care And yet 't will be found at last when all Things come to be Rightly Consider'd that no Plenty at Home Victory Abroad Affection of the People nor no Conduct or Wisdom in other things can give the Public effectual help till we can mend the Condition and Posture of Trade In Our Great Assemblies it has never been sufficiently thought a Matter of State but Managed rather as a Conveniency or an Accidental Ornament than the chief Strength and Support of the Kingdom And as it has never been greatly the Care of Our Ministers of State so it has not been enough the Study of Our Nobility and Gentry Who give me leave to say for want of a Right Knowledge in the General Notions of it have been frequently Imposed upon by
Annual Income of the Kingdom and I think the contrary is capable of no clear Demonstration the Legislative Power ought to proceed with much Caution in any matter relating to it Whatever Country can be in the full and undisputed Possession of it will give Law to all the Commercial World Should we quit the Hold we have in India and abandon the Traffick Our Neighbours the Dutch will undoubtedly engross the whole And if to their Naval Strength in Europe such a Foreign Strength and Wealth be added England must hereafter be contented to Trade by their Protection and under their Banners As War does vary all the Circumstances of Trade alter its Channel give it to one People and take it from another So in seasons of War 't is by no means proper nor adviseable to embrace New Councils in relation to it Nor can we then take any True Measures or make any Right and Sound Judgment about it The Scarcity of Money in a long War makes any Exportation of Bullion thought a great Grâ—evance of which in Quiet Times we should not be sensible In the same manner the Interruption of any Manufacture though never so Prejudicial to the Kingdom is grievous in a Time of War when Business is scarce and Trading dull But in a Time of Peace and full Employment these Hands can shift from one Work to another without any great Prejudice to themselves or the Public There having been for Three Years last past a great want of East-India Goods and there happening of late a great Call for the Woollen Manufactures and indeed for all the Product of England some unthinking Persons grew presently to imagine that the want of East-India Goods and no other Reason had brought the Woollen Manufacture into Request and increased its Consumption from whence very many have began to argue and infer That the East-India Trade is and alwayes was prejudicial to the Kingdom But the sudden Call which was then for all kind of English Commodities as well as the Woollen Manufacture viz. Lead Tin Leather Butter Cheese Tallow c. did not proceed from the want of East-India Goods but indeed from the Posture of the Exchange Abroad the Ill Condition of our Silver Coyn and the High Price Guineas were brought to For we plainly see this great Demand both Abroad and at Home for our Goods does cease now Guineas are lower'd and the Coyn is alter'd My Lord It has been too often the Fault of English Councils to determine Rashly of the most Important Matters And with Submission to better Judgments I doubt it may be of very dangerous Consequence at this Time to meddle with or give any Disturbance to a Settled Traffick The Concern of Wooll is without doubt to be taken care of but not so as upon that account to slight all our Foreign Interest The East-India Company has been for a long time look'd upon with an Evil Eye by some People because there has formerly been Ill Management in their Affairs and for that some of their Goods were thought to hinder the Consumption of our own Manufactures and because it was seen what Silver they really carried out and not enough Consider'd what Bullion their Effects brought hither in Return Some Persons without Doors either Bribed by the Dutch or to flatter that Interest profess themselves Open Enemies to the Traffick in General Others through Inadvertency and for want of Examining the bottom of Things give into their Notions and others joyn with them out of Immoderate Zeal to promote the Woollen Manufacture So that any discerning Man may see that the utter Ruin of this Trade and its intire Loss to England will be compassed unless the King assisted by the Legislative Power out of His Fatherly Love to His People interpose with His Wisdom in the matter One of the principal Dangers now of taking New Councils about it is That in a time of War if by any false Steps and Measures we should lose Ground in India neither our Condition nor the Nature of our Present Alliance with the Dutch will permit us to assert our Right in those Parts by Force of Arms. And if we should come so to lose our Hold in India as not to Trade thither at all or but weakly and precariously I will venture to affirm and I hope Your Lordship will remember hereafter this Prediction of mine that England will thereby lose half its Foreign Business For all Trades have a Mutual Dependance one upon the other and one begets another and the loss of one frequently loses half the rest By carrying to other Places the Commodities brought from India We every where inlarg'd our Commerce and brought Home a great over-ballance either in Foreign Goods or in Bullion In Holland we Exchanged our Wrought Silks Callicoes c. for their Spices By Indian Goods we could Purchase at a better Rate in Germany the Linnens of Silesia Saxony and Bohemia In times of Peace we did and may again Traffick with France for our India Goods against the things of Luxury which will alwayes be brought from thence and thereby we may bring the Ballance more of our side between us and that Kingdom And My Lord there being a Peace now in agitation between Us and France the Wisdom of the State perhaps may think fit to insist as an Article that the Prohibition of our East-India Goods may be taken off in France and if that can be obtain'd it will put the Trade of England with that Kingdom upon much a more equal Foot As to Spain and the Streights and Parts within the Streights c. 't is apparent that a large Share of the Bullion return'd hither from thence did proceed from the Sale there of Callicoes Pepper and other East-India Goods consum'd in those Parts and also bought up by the Spaniards for their own and the Consumption of their Plantations in America 'T is hop'd My Lord the foregoing Arguments have sufficiently prov'd That this Traffick in General is beneficial to the Nation I shall now proceed to deliver my Opinion concerning the Bill for Prohibiting the Wearing all East-India and Persia Wrought Silks Bengals and Dyed Printed or Stained Callicoes which was the Second Point I propos'd to handle They who promote this Bill do it as is presum'd upon the following Grounds and Reasons First They believe such a Prohibition will advance the Consumption of Wooll and the Woollen Manufactures Secondly They think it will advance the Silk and Linnen Manufactures of England Thirdly They Imagin such a Prohibition may be made by Act of Parliament without Ruin to the Traffick in General These Three Points My Lord I shall Endeavour to Examine and State fairly before Your Lordship And I shall discourse of the East-India Trade First as it has Relation to the Woollen Manufacture Secondly as it has Relation to the Silk and Linnen Manufactures And Thirdly I shall show how this Prohibition will affect the East-India Trade in General And First as to the Woollen
Manufacture TRade is the General Concern of this Nation but every distinct Trade has a distinct Interest The Wisdom of the Legislative Power consists in keeping an even hand to promote all and chiefly to Encourage such Trades as increase the Publick Stock and add to the Kingdoms Wealth consider d as a Collective Body Trade is in its Nature Free finds its own Channel and best directeth its own Course and all Laws to give it Rules and Directions and to Limit and Circumscribe it may serve the Particular Ends of Private Men but are seldom Advantagious to the Publick Governments in Relation to it are to take a Providential Care of the Whole but generally to let Second Causes work their own way And considering all the Links and Chains by which they hang together peradventure it may be affirm'd That in the Main all Trafficks whatsoever are beneficial to a Country They say few Laws in a State are an Indication of Wisdom in a People but it may be more truly said that few Laws relating to Trade are the Mark of a Nation that thrives by Traffick Laws to Compel the Consumption of some Commodities and prohibit the use of others may do well enough where Trade is forc'd and onely Artificial as in France But in Countries inclin'd by Genius and adapted to it by Situation such Laws are needless unnatural and can have no Effect conducive to the Publick Good I have often wonder'd upon what Grounds the Parliament proceeded in the Act for Burying in Woollen It Occasions indeed a Consumption of Wooll but such a Consumption as produces no advantage to the Kingdom For were it not plainly better that this Wooll made into Cloth were Exported paid for and worn by the Living abroad than laid in the Earth here at home And were it not better That the Common People who make up the Bulk and are the great Consumers should be bury'd in an Old Sheet fit for nothing else as formerly than in so much New Wooll which is thereby utterly lost The Natural Way of promoting the Woollen Manufacture is not to force its Consumption at home but by wholsome Laws to contrive That it may be wrought cheaply in England which consequently will enable us to command the Markets abroad The onely Beneficial way to England of making Wooll yield a good Price is to have it Manufactur'd cheaply No Country in Europe Manufactures all kind of Goods so dearly as this Kingdom And the Dutch at this very day buy up Our Cloaths here which they carry home and Nap and Dye so Cheaply that by this means they are able to under-sell us in our own Native Commodity The Act for maintenance of the Poor is the true Bane and Destruction to all the English Manufactures in General For it apparently Encourages Sloth and Beggery Whereas if the Legislative Power would make some good Provision that Work-Houses might in every Parish be Erected and the Poor such as are Able compell'd to Work So many new Hands might thereby be brought in as would indeed make the English Manufactures Flourish I have reason to think that the People receiving Alms in this Kingdom are Twelve Hundred Thousand if but half could be brought to Work besides their own Nourishment their Labour one with another might produce to the Publick at 20 s. per Head at least per Annum 600,000 l. If this could be compass'd the Woollen Manufacture would advance without any Unnatural Driving or Compulsion For we want Hands not Manufactures in England and Laws to Compel the Poor to Work not Work wherewithal to give them Employment To make England a true Gainer by the Woollen Manufacture we should be able to work the Commodity so Cheap as to under-sell all Comers to the Markets abroad I shall My Lord advance Two Propositions which may sound very strangely and yet perhaps will be thought very right and true upon a Mature Examination First That 't is not the Benefit nor Interest of England in General that Wooll should bear a high Price in Our Markets at home Secondly That by a great Consumption of the VVoollen Manufactures within this Kingdom the Publick will not reap such an advantage as some imagine Fine broad Cloth was the Antient Drapery of England and which first recommended this Manufacture to the Use of Foreign Countries This is the Natural Issue and Product of the Kingdom inimitable abroad and it must be very great Carelessness and want of Conduct that can make us lose this Trade so Beneficial to the Nation But tho' the VVooll of Other Places is not so fit for workmanship as Ours yet the Commodity is abounding almost in all Countries of Europe and if the Cloth of England be brought any way to bear too high a Price it may put some of Our Neighbours either upon the Industry of Manufacturing their own better Or upon the Frugality to content themselves with what they can make at home And it may reduce other Parts to set up new Manufactures in their own Countries which will be very detrimental to the Vent especially of Our Narrow and Courser Cloaths Nothing can make this Commodity Beneficial so as to Enrich England but to have the VVoollen Manufacture so Cheap as that great quantities of our Cloath may be Exported and at such a Rate as that we may be able to under-sell all Nations and discourage all People from setting it up But this can never be if by Arts and Inventions we endeavour to give VVooll an Unnatural Price here at Home Upon which Score I have advanc'd the Second Proposition That England reaps no such Advantage by a large Consumption of the Woollen Manufacture within this Kingdom For it is the Interest of all Trading Nations whatsoever that their Home Consumption should be little of a Cheap and Foreign Growth and that their own Manufactures should be Sold at the highest Markets and spent Abroad Since by what is Consum'd at Home one loseth only what another gets and the Nation in General is not at all the Richer But all Foreign Consumption is a Clear and Certain Profit So that in the Woollen Manufacture England does not get by what is Spent here by the People but by what is Sold Abroad in other Countries If the People of England are willing and pleased to Wear Indian Silks and Stuffs of which the Prime Cost in India is not above a Fourth part of what their own Commodities would stand them in here and if they are thereby thus enabled to Export so much of their own Product whatever is so sav'd is clear Gain to the Kingdom in general But to set this Matter in a clearer Light Suppose 200,000 l. per Annum of the Prime Sum sent to India is return'd in Commodities for our own Consumption And Suppose half this Sum viz. 100,000 l. to be Return'd in such Goods as are Worn here in the stead and room of the Woollen Manufactures  l. From 100,000 l. Prime Cost to India there may
Reasonably be expected Goods that sell here for 400,000 So that by sending to India 100,000 We Gain for our own Consumption clear 300,000 Now this must be Clear Profit to the Kingdom Because this Sum would be otherwayes laid out and Consum'd in our own Product which Product we are by this Means enabled to Export For when we come to Examine into the True Reason of the Great Wealth of Holland we shall find it chiefly to arise from this Frugality of Consuming at Home what is Cheap or comes Cheaply and carrying Abroad what is Rich and will yield most Money 'T is granted That Bengals and Stain'd Callicoes and other East-India Goods do hinder the Consumption of Norwich Stuffs Crapes English Ratines Shaloons Sayes Perpetuanas and Antherines But the same Objection will lye against the Use of any thing that is of Foreign Growth For the Importation of Wine undoubtedly hinders the Consumption of Barly and England could subsist and the Poor perhaps would have fuller Employment if Foreign Trade were quite laid aside But this would ill Consist with our being Great at Sea upon which under the Present Posture of Affairs in Europe all our Safety does certainly depend That the East-India Goods do something interfere with the Woollen Manufacture must undoubtedly be granted but the Principal Matter to be Consider'd is Which way the Nation in General is more Cheaply supply'd If 100,000 l. Prime Cost to India brings Home so many Goods as stand in the stead and supply the room of 400,000 l. of our own Manufactures It must certainly be Adviseable not to Prohibit such a Trade but rather to divert the Wooll used in these our Home Manufactures and the Craft Labour and Industry employ'd about 'em to the Making Fine Broad Cloth Course and Narrow Cloths Stuffs and other Commodities fit for Sale in Foreign Markets Since 't is an undoubted Truth that 400,000 l. worth of our Native Goods Sold Abroad does add more to the Nations General Stock and Wealth than Four Millions worth of our Home Product Consum'd within the Kingdom But besides suppose the Wearing East-India Wrought Silks c. in England were Prohibited and that their whole Importation were Interdicted I do not see how such Prohibitions would at all Advance the Vent of our Home Product For in one Case If they hinder the Consumption of the Woollen Manufacture at Home will they not when Exported hinder its Consumption and the Sale of Cloaths in Foreign Parts And in the other Case If the English were forbid to bring Indian Goods into Europe will not the Dutch Import them and thereby in the same manner hurt Abroad the Vent and Consumption of our English Cloths Upon the whole Matter My Lord it is my Opinion which I submit to better Judgments That the Importation of East-India and Persia Wrought Silks Stain'd Callicoes c. though it may somewhat interfere with the Manufactures of Norwich Bristol and other particular Places yet that such Importation adds to the Kingdoms main Stock and Wealth and is not prejudicial to the General Woollen Manufacture of England And Secondly as to the Silk and Linnen Manufactures WIsdom is most commonly in the Wrong when it pretends to direct Nature The various Products of different Soiles and Countries is an Indication that Providence intended they should be helpful to each other and mutually supply the Necessities of one another And as it is great Folly to Compel a Youth to that sort of Study to which he is not adapted by Genius and Inclination So it can never be Wise to endeavour the introducing into a Country either the Growth of any Commodity or any Manufacture for which nor the Soil nor the General Bent of the People is proper And as forc'd Fruits though they may look fair to the Eye are notwithstanding Tastless and Unwholsome So a Trade forc'd in this manner brings no National Profit but is Prejudicial to the Publick We have such Advantages by Situation and in several Commodities and Materials Natural and almost peculiar to us that if the Improvement of them were sufficiently look'd after and encourag'd by the State we might increase in Wealth Greatness and Power peradventure beyond all Nations in Europe It is our Fault if we do not enjoy the Woollen Manufacture without any Rivalship but undoubtedly it might be very much advanced If Work-Houses were set up If the Laws did Provide and the Magistracy in the Execution did take Care to set the Poor to work Such an Increase of Hands would likewise produce more Tin and Lead and enable us to afford Leather Cheaper And it is a large Exportation and being able to undersell all others in Foreign Markets that brings National Profit More Hands would quicken Industry and improve waste Ground which would enable us to carry out Corn at a Cheap Rate And generally speaking all Laws restraining Idleness and that will invite People hither must better the Manufactures and make 'em more gainful to the Nation There is no Trade so Advantageous especially to an Island as that of Buying Goods in one Country to sell them in another and it is the Original and chief Article of the Great Wealth in Holland There is Gain by the Freight It occasions Consumption of our Home Product It breeds Seamen Increases Shipping and improves Navigation And any Home Manufacture that hinders this kind of Traffick or that indeed interferes with it is pernicious and ought in Wisdom and by all Rules of Policy to be discouraged by the Publick This kind of Commerce England was formerly in a large possession of and it may be retriev'd and in the best of Times was capable of great Improvement Our Plantations if we take Care to preserve them from Foreign Insults and Invasions as they Increase in People will Consume more of our Home Manufactures than we have Hands to make They produce Commodities indispensably necessary to this part of the World and not to be produced elsewhere and with Industry and Conduct may be made an inexhaustible Mine of Treasure to their Mother Kingdom If there be such a Multitude of Hands that want VVork in England the Herring Fishery would employ many Thousands of Men and one Million of Money and the Advantages our Situation gives us for it consider'd we might at least come in for a Share with the Dutch in that Trade which brings them so immense a Profit Some of the foregoing Materials are Peculiar Gifts and Blessings to this Soil Our Inclinations to the Sea fit us as well as the Dutch for the Traffick of carrying Goods from one Countrey to another the most certain Gain a Nation can make Our Ports are safer and fitter than theirs for this Purpose Our Plantation Trade to carry it on to its Height would require a greater Stock than we are Masters of at present and would Consume more of Our Manufactures and home Product than we can make and furnish at Reasonable Rates As to the Fishery if we are
not intirely in Possession of it and if other Nations have been suffer'd to make such a Profit upon Our Coast it has proceeded from want of Industry in the English People and through the Negligence of former Governments In the foremention'd Particulars an unforc'd and a Natural Improvement may be made in our VVealth and Substance and 't is here the Legislative Power may to good effect interpose with its Care and VVisdom Most Countries have a certain Number of their People who addict themselves to Trade and Manufactures and most Nations have limited Stock to be employ'd in those Uses which they cannot well exceed And 't is the Prudence of a State to see that this Industry and Stock be not diverted from things profitable to the whole and turn'd upon Objects unprofitable and perhaps dangerous to the Publick The Stock England formerly had running in Trade and Manufactures was very considerable and I am sorry upon a carefull Inquiry to find it so much decreas'd What remains and more than can be gather'd in many Years of Peace will be sufficiently employ'd in that Business where the Nation is a certain and known Gainer and therefore should not be diverted upon uncertain Objects and turn'd upon new Inventions in which it cannot be determin'd in many Years whither we get or loose and how the Ballance stands And of this nature and kind are the Silk and Linnen Manufactures in England Silk is a Manufacture of a Foreign Extract and not the Genuine Product of this Country It Employs indeed the Poor but is not compos'd from a Material of our own Growth Whatever Encouragement it meets with it cannot thrive with us being not Calculated for our Meridian 'T is fit onely for frugal Nations where Parsimony renders Craft and Workmanship not dear upon which score the French Italians and Dutch will always be able to under-sell us in that Commodity and hinder any Success we can propose And as an Example of this Did not the Hollanders lately bring hither French Lustring under their Seal which they could afford so Cheap as to under-sell the Projectors of it here tho' they were at the Charge of Freight and Custom The Stock and Industry laid out on the Silk Manufacture would be more usefully employ'd in such as are made from Materials of Our own Growth If the Luxury of wearing Silk could be quite Abolish'd such a Reformation would undoubtedly be beneficial to the Kingdom but since this is not easily to be Compass'd a wise State must consider which Way the Folly of their People can be supply'd at the cheapest rate For Frugality of this Nature as certainly enriches the whole as it does any private Person There are brought from India Two sorts of Silks The one is of such a sort as is not made in England and consequently onely hinders the Importation of the like kind at a dearer Rate from Holland Italy France Turkey and other Places The other is of the like sort with those made here notwithstanding which it must certainly be prejudicial to the Interest of England to forbid their Importation from India unless those and all other kinds of Silk applicable to the same Uses could be Prohibited to be brought from Foreign Countries since by such Prohibition unless the vanity it self can be cured we onely enrich the Neighbouring Nations at Our Expence The East-India Goods since they were in use have apparently lower'd the Price of Silks from France Spain and Italy at least 25 per Cent and if their Importation should be prohibited will it not follow Naturally that the European Countries will again advance upon us And the French Italians and Dutch who upon several Accounts are able to underwork us will undoubtedly fall to making and sending hither such Commodities as may stand in the Room here of Indian Goods and at the low Rates they can afford 'em they will quickly ruin Our Silk Manufactures And when the Fabrick is distroy'd and the Stock and Hands employ'd in it are diverted to other Uses they may put what Fine they please upon our Vanity The Dutch have such a Silk Manufacture in their Country that by Computation there is Imported hither from thence more of that Commodity one Year with another than we bring from India Most of the Velvets us'd here come from thence and are purchas'd by us at a dearer rate than could be afford'd from India or made here at home if we were skill'd in the Workmanship And notwithstanding the Dutch have so considerable a Silk Manufacture of their own instead of Prohibiting they encourage the Importation of all East-India Silks well knowing That 't is the Interest of every Nation to go to their own or Foreign Markets with Goods as cheap as they can thereby to beat out all others And that the Cheapness of any Commodity will force a way into those Countries where it is prohibited if any of the like sort and kind is indulg'd and permitted to be worn there Nothing being able to render the Prohibition of Goods intirely Effectual in any Nation but a Capacity in the Inhabitants of such Country to afford them at Cheaper Rates which can hardly be the Case of England As to the Linnen Manufacture it is no more the Genuine Offspring of this Kingdom than that of Silk 'T is true that some of the Materials for it may be had from our own Soil but not enough to supply our whole Consumption and we can never pretend to make the finer sort And if the now intended Prohibition should so Operate as utterly to lose us the East-India Trade which peradventure may be the Case the Dutch may put what rate they please upon their Callicoes And the Dutch and French and other Nations will Impose any Price upon their Fine Linnens which Our Callicoes for some Years have kept down So that Our necessary Consumption in this Commodity will stand us in above 40 per Cent. more than it does at present This Manufacture is proper onely for Countries where they can have Flax and Hemp Cheap and where the Common People work at very easie Rates But tho' with forcing Nature and by Art and Industry we could bring it to greater Perfection yet upon other Accounts 't is perhaps not adviseable nor for the Nations Interest to promote it First Our Soil and the Labour of the People may be employ'd about Materials more Advantageous and wherein we cannot be undersold by other Countries Secondly The growth of this Manufacture would obstruct Trade and other Business more Important to the Nation For 1. Our Noble Staple of Wooll is undoubtedly capable of a great Improvement to which the Increase of Wages that must happen upon an Increase in the Linnen Manufacture will be a considerable hindrance And one cannot rise but to the prejudice of the other Because we really want People and Hands to carry on both to their full perfection And 2. It is more the General Interest of England to Export Woollen Manufacture
in Exchange Abroad for Linnen than to make it here at Home which Trade has been set afoot and prosper'd very much to the great Benefit of this Kingdom since the Prohibition of French Goods during this War But if we provide our selves at Home with Linnen sufficient for our Consumption and do not want that which is brought from Silesia Saxony Bohemia and Poland this Trade must cease For these Northern Countries have neither Money nor other Commodities and if we deal with them we must be contented in a manner to barter our Cloaths for their Linnen And 't is obvious enough to any Considering Man that by such a Traffick We are not Losers in the Ballance In Process of Time when England shall come to be more Peopled And when a long Peace shall have increased our Wealth and Stock perhaps we may be able not only to carry on our old Manufactures to their full height but to embrace new Ones Such as are that of Silk and Linnen but as our Case stands it seems sufficient to let them take their own Natural Course and not to drive them on For too many sorts of Businesses may be as well hurtful in the Publick as they are often to Private Persons If the Nation finds a General Profit from them their own Weight will bear them on but in the mean while it cannot be Adviseable in their Favour to exercise any extraordinary Act of Power and for their sake by Prohibitions to distress embroil and disturb any settled Trade by which beyond all Contradiction the Nation before the War was so great a Gainer My Lord After much Thought upon this Subject I am come to these Conclusions within my self which I submit to Your better Judgment First That our Silk and Linnen Manufactures obstruct Trades more Important and more profitable Secondly That tho' a Prohibition of East-India Goods may advance their present Interest who are engag'd in the Silk and Linnen Manufactures here yet That it will bring no future advantage to the Kingdom Thirdly That Luxury is so deeply rooted in this Nation that should this Prohibition pass it will onely carry us to European Markets where we shall pay perhaps 50 per Cent. dearer may be for the same or for Vanities of the like Nature So that UPON the whole Matter My Lord I am humbly of Opinion that the Importation of wrought Silks Bengals Stain'd Callicoes c. does not so interfere with Our Silk and Linnen Manufactures as to hurt the Publick and bring dammage to the Collective Body of England And Thirdly As to the Effect such a Prohibition will have upon the East-India Trade in General IN all Argumentations 't is requisite to settle and agree upon Principles for which Reason in the beginning of this Discourse I did endeavour to prove That in general the East-India Trade was Profitable to this Kingdom And I dwelt the longer upon that Head because some People are quite of a Contrary Opinion and believe it hurtful to England And I am satisfied that many without Doors promote the Bill in Question in hopes thereby utterly to destroy the Traffick And truly My Lord it seems plain to me that the intended Prohibitions must prove though not a sudden yet a certain destruction to it And that 't is a lopping from this Trade the Branches and taking away some of the Bark and part of the Root The Trunk indeed is left but so maim'd and injur'd that it can never spread and flourish If it can be made appear this Prohibition is no ways to be render'd effectual And if it can be shown that the said Prohibitions will utterly disable the Present East-India Company or any other to be hereafter Erected from Supporting and Carrying on the Trade to the Advantage of England Your Lordship will certainly think the Bill now a foot of dangerous Consequence and not fit to receive a Sanction in the House of Peers No Prohibitions of a Foreign or Domestick Commodity can have any Effect without Sumptuary Laws strictly penn'd and rigorously put in Execution For the Importation of French Wines and Linnen has been forbidden under high Penalties during this War yet the Consumption of those sort of Commodities is not much lessen'd and they are brought in upon us from other Countries at much a dearer Rate For these Three Years last past French Wines have been convey'd hither by the way of Spain and Portugal and the French Silks and Linnens have been all along secretly brought and smuggled upon our own Coast Perhaps if severe Sumptuary Laws had Impos'd a High Duty or Penalty upon the Consumers of French Wine Silks and Linnen the Prohibition might have had its designed Effect But how such Laws could have been made Practicable I shall not pretend to determine In the same manner if a severe Mulct or a High Duty can be laid on such as shall Wear or Use any India or Persia Wrought Silks Bengals c. and if this were superadded to the Prohibition peradventure it might be render'd Effectual But otherwise notwithstanding the Prohibition of Wearing such Goods and the Penalties upon the Retailers that shall vend them their Consumption will be little lessened in this Kingdom for they will be brought in upon us from other Countries Scotland and Holland more especially However though such a Method is peradventure the only way of keeping down this Luxury I am very far My Lord from thinking it Adviseable For the Laws of all Countries must be suited to the Bent and Inclinations of the People And which I am loath to say there is sometimes a Necessity they should be a little accommodated to their deprav'd Manners and Corruptions The People of England who have been long accustom'd to Mild Laws and a loose Administration can never indure that Severity which is needful to make such a Prohibition have Effect Nor can they suffer High Duties or Penalties to be imposed upon their Pleasures or bear a strict Inquisition into their Furniture and Apparel There is no Country without a multitude of Sumptuary Laws but hardly a Place can be instanc'd where they are Observ'd or produce any Publick Good They were somewhat regarded in the Infancy of the Roman Common-wealth before Riches and Pomp had banish'd Vertue and Obedience But their chiefest Strength was alwayes deriv'd from the Sanctity and Veneration in which was held the Office of Censor And in England they would be immediately contemn'd and derided and any Magistrate must become the Publick Scorn that should think to put them in Execution And yet without Strict Sumptuary Laws well Observ'd the Wisdom of the Parliament will find it self eluded when it endeavours to banish Foreign Vanities and Luxury in favour of our own Product and Manufactures For in all probability the Consequence of such a Prohibition will be That Goods of the same kind or Goods applicable to the like use instead of those Imported from India will be brought hither from Abroad and the Consumption will not be