Wooll is the Chief Of Free Ports THere is nothing more talked of and yet in my Opinion less understood than the use of Free Ports The great Success that of Leghorn hath met with giving the Name a greater Reputation in the World than perhaps the thing in it self deserves for that it seems the Effect of a bad cause and though it is a good Expedient that hath neither Natural or Artificial Provision for Trade and Navigation yet it may be prejudicial to a Nation that hath both To make this Intelligible give me leave to say something of the first Establishing Leghorn a Free Port because I take that in all its Circumstances to be the first Compleat President in Europe The Grand Duke of Tuscany's Territories are not of Extent to produce Natural or Artificial Commodities for the Loading Ten Ships of Burthen a Year nor is his Countrey able to Consume except it be of Fish half the Loading of that Number and having not room for Trade of his own it was no doubt his Interest to Incourage that of Strangers which the Ignorance of all his Neighbours in Trade gave him opportunity to do So stupid was the Genoees as to believe because they had then the Money-Trade and Navigation of the Levant that therefore they could set Laws and Bounds to other Nations and make them pay Customs as they saw fit this Exaction on Trade had the same effect as oppression in Government and drove Merchants to seek out better Entertainment and the Duke had early provided for all that would come He was Despotick and wherever that is a general Excise raises the surest Revenue and Freedom of Importation advanceth it by the Expence of those that Commerce brings into the Country but these Reasons hold not in all places particularly in England And though perchance no part of the World in general speaking is thought better placed for Free Ports and no doubt it is so if the Consideration be had on Foreigners but I cannot think it so for either King or People I expect but few with me in this therefore must not pass it over without giving those Inducements that prevail with me to this belief I begin with that relating to the Crown Free Ports will give opportunity for running Goods nor is it possible to prevent the Arts of Merchants when they have such a handle as Free Ports will give them There is no one Kingdom not France it self that Consumes so much of Foreign Commodities as England the Duties on which are very considerable but if these Foreign Commodities were â—odg'd in Free Ports the Customs would sink and the Expence of them Increase which is a double Mischief the Loss of the Revenue on one hand wasting the Treasure of the Nation upon Foreign Commodities on the other There is another Prejudice which Free Ports would bring to the Nation in general and that is they would lessen and discourage our own Navigation which by all means we have reason to promote Now if there was Free Ports in England which lyes in the Center of the Trade of Europe all Nations would make our Harbours their Docks and Harbours for Wintering and Laying up their Ships and this they might do with Advantage by Selling part of their Cargoes which Variety and Choice will tempt so Luxurious and Expensive a People as we are to Consume and allowing that which perhaps will seldom be That they carry off our Commodities yet that is no Compensation for these Reasons First It is no Gain to the Nation to eat up their own Product as that would be if Foreign Commodities was spent in Return of our own Then Foreign Ships carrying of the Product of the Nation will Abate the Imployment of our own Ships and Men and Insensibly Introduce them into our Carriage which is the certain Profit of Trade And that which may not be less considerable than all before-mentioned Free Ports would make our Loss of the Northern and Sound Trade Irrecoverable by Transferring it unto the French and Portugueze as well as the Dutch for that out of our Free Ports they will be supply'd with sorts of Commodities besides their own which is the Advantage the Dutch now have over us in that Trade Upon the whole it appears to me That Free Ports would only be an Improvement for Foreigners in their Trade without the least Advantage to us not so much as the Increasing the Revenue as it doth where there is a General Excise which I think is an Inseparable Companion of Free Ports and they of Countreys that cannot of themselves make a Trade I presume none believes the Dutch to be properly Free Ports or if they were Can they be a President for us Greatest part of their Consumption being in Germany and Flanders c. which is within themselves and no other Nation can interfere with them I have done with Free Ports and shall come in the next Chapter to that which I think the Interest of the Nation to Establish in room of them Of Exports of Foreign Importations HAving said so much against Free Ports which is with good reason accounted to be the only way those Countreys have to make a Trade that want Funds Men and Ships of their own I now come to that which I conceive may supply the want of Free Ports in these Kingdoms and that is Liberty for Exports of such Commodities as have payd Customs Inwards That I call Liberty is to have all the Duty repay'd upon such Exports This at first sight may be thought making the whole Kingdom a Free Port after I have been declaiming against having any I confess that I shall here propose will do the Work of a Free Port for the benefit of our own Trade but not for those that have too much Advantage of us already That then I humbly offer in this matter is That whereas now there is by Law Repayments of part of Customs upon Exporting of Commodities that payd Inwards that for the future the whole Money payd Inwards be Repayd upon Exporting without any defaliation upon these Tearms following 1. That no Repayments shall be made but on such Goods as were Imported in English Ships and Men. 2. That no Repayments be made but on such Goods as shall be Exported by English Ships and Men. 3. That no Repayments be made but on such Goods that have been more than Twelve Moneths landed 4. That no Repayments be made on any Goods damnified or decayed With these Reservations I think it is the Interest of the Nation to admit any Foreigners the same Priviledge so that our own Ships have the Carriage in and out To this I foresee the Common Custom-House-Objections What will become of the Kings Customs Merchants will find wayes to make their Exports pay for most of their Imports To this I Answer No doubt there will be Arts used by some but it is as certain that ways may be laid down to prevent them and much easier on the Exports than was
much Incouragement as a Lottery but to the contrary should be suppressed And I know a great Minister who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll and that it was a burthen to the Nation It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute which I the rather do that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France it was brought him in Writing and demonstrated That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal The Minister made little return to that but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did That there was three Years Wooll then in England and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England the Gentleman laid down these Positions First That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories Secondly That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before and that abated our Trade abroad Thirdly That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home This I remember put the Minister into a â—aughter and laying the two first aside he desir'd him to make out the last Position That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that which was left was a Mistery he could not understand but seem'd to him the only way to make it rise But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion that every Pound of English Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll and that as much as they Manufactur'd so much was Abated in our Exports for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll as they could not make without it and consequently by that means one pound of our Wooll with theirs made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it if we had kept it at home From which he Inferred That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts there would be as much Manufactoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets as we could make if we had wrought all our own Wooll and so much being made Abroad we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England and he being brought for Proof of what he said That which was Matter of Fact I thought undeniable though it would not be allowed so by the Minister The thing was this The Year after the Restauration there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King with a Non obstante to any Statute for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland upon which some Merchants in London buying the Grant sent over to Ireland and bought most of the Wooll and sent it to Foreign Parts this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll both there and in England but in so short a time as Five Moneths it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England came then to England yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they shipped it for Foreign Parts This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d to be litterally true and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland And he farther added that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland makes Wooll in both Kingdoms fall in Price according to the Quantities that are sent out This part of the Dispute being over the next Question was Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks and consequently keep down the Rents of Land This was answered in the Negative to all the three that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll nor hinder the Increase of Sheep or Abate the Rents of Land That the Irish Wooll coming into England helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England and most proper for Bayes and Serges That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall but it was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief and for the reasons before given he concluded that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad as is made in England so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms the Flocks of both might be trebled and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Nature and Improvement of the Wooll of these Kingdoms and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate for that he robs but a small Number but he that sends out Wooll destroys Thousands weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back there cannot be enough done to secure it but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation neither to punish or reward Impunity in the first makes us abound in Criminals and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey I mean in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation than we do at Noon-day I have often thought that it was possible for a Monarch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tributaries to him in Trade by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Navigation of these Kingdoms without being oblig'd to any help but what ariseth from his own Dominions of which
Neighbours in carrying Commodities cheaper to a Market than we can and consequently makes them the Carriers of our Produce and Manufactory which is the only certain Gain in Trade Merchants often loose when a Ship Arrives safe in Port but Seamen have their full Wages There is also another Prejudice and Loss to the Nation and that is carrying Money out by Foreign Seamen that are imployed in our Merchant-Men ¼ being allowed by the Act of Navigation which might have been thought the only mistake in that Act if the Consideration of our not having sufficient for our Ships had not produced that Liberty As Naval War abates the number of our Seamen so it increaseth those of the French for that they imploy more Seamen in their Privateers than they do in time of Peace in Merchant-Men And as this affects us in War so it may reasonably be fear'd it will in time of Peace For having so many Seamen made to their hands will naturally put them upon inlarging their Navigation to which they will be the more incouraged by our want of Men to supply ours which they will soon fall into And the Abating of our Marine Imployments hath a worse Consequence than the Loss of our Trade for that it seems the most effectual way to lay us open to the Invasion of the French which we are no longer secure from than whilst we Command the Sea And if we find the French alone able to contend with us and the Dutch United what might they not do if they should be assisted with other helps and we left single to oppose them There are more ways than one to bring such a Revolution in Europe And therefore it seems of the greatest moment for this Nation to provide in their Naval Force as if they were left to their own defence against the Power of more than the French at Sea It is no doubt the Interest of England to support the Dutch and it is hoped we shall never be divided But that Kingdom is in an ill Condition that cannot secure its self without the Force of its Allies Such Reflections as these may not be improper in this Age They were thought necessary in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when she question'd the French of Building a Ship of War but of Fourteen Guns And since they are now above such Demands and that we cannot restrain them it seems necessary for us to increase our own and that is not possible to be done any other way than by Improving our Navigation and inlarging our Trade without which we may fight for the Sovereignty of the Sea until we have lost the use of it If Account were taken of those several Trades that this Nation hath in a manner totally lost since the Reign of James the First it might open those Eyes that are alwayes shut to that which is the Strength and Riches of this Nation as Navigation is There were many Thousand Seamen formerly imployed where for late years we have few or none as the Greenland and Muscovy Trade lost that of the North-Seas and Newfound-Land little better most of our Eastland-Trades managed by Foreign Ships and so the Trade of Ireland the neglect of which in that point as well as some others may be found when it is too late of pernicious Consequence to England These are Trades we lost to the French and Northern Navigation in time of Peace and this War hath brought on the Stage the Portugese a Nation we least fear'd yet under this cover we may very well loose great part of our Southern Trade We formerly imployed our Ships in their Braziel and other Trades and now we are forced to imploy theirs not only because of their being Free Ships but also because we cannot get Seamen to Navigate our own Ships By Accidents of War Trade often shifts from one Nation to another and some will stick behind after the War is ended for that Seamen and Merchants rest where they find most Incouragement and wherever they come they are made wellcom and when the benefit they bring to the Countrey they Trade in is observed they will not want Incouragement to stay there There never was a fairer opportunity if the Portugueze make use of the Introduction this War hath given them to make Lisbon the Mart for Trade and Navigation in the Western and Levant Trade It is a mistake to think that Navigation and Marine Imployments can have no growth where the Natives are not Numerous and Apt for the Sea Trade is best Improved by good Laws and Incouragement for Strangers where such are together with a Scituation for Trade that place will be crowded and so would Lisbon and the Portugueze Ports if it were not for the Inquisition but it is believed the Rigour of that will be Abated now they have tasted the sweets of Trade All these things make against us and though little consider'd bodes ill for these Kingdoms if some extraordinary and speedy Resolutions be not taken to regain our Navigation and Sea-Imployments this Nation will fall under some Foreign Power It is easie to read our Destiny nor will it be like a Conquest on a Continent One Day at Sea may determine the Fate of these Kingdoms and if we have no Fund or Nursery for Seamen in Proportion to the French and others about us what can be expected That which I humbly conceive the most visible Means to preserve these Kingdoms in their Trade and Navigation and nothing but that can provide for their Naval Force is the setting up a National Bank This now on foot is too little and yet too bigg the first because it promotes nothing of our Navigation but on the contrary may be fear'd to Destroy it by that Tax on Shipping but I have left my Bank which as I conceive too little for the reason I mention'd so I think it too big because it will Ingross the Money and consequently the Trade of the Nation into one City and will draw from all Parts of the Kingdom those little Sums that do now in great measure support the Manufactoryes of the Nation When there was no place where Money could be lodg'd at Interest for a Day it was easie for Industrious Men to borrow from their Neighbours and by that means our Manufactories were made Plenty and Cheap but now a little time will shew they can be neither But of this I have writ my thoughts a part The Bank that I conceive would be useful in this Nation must be of such Universal Extent that every Person in the Kingdom may be concern'd in it and that every corner in the Kingdom shall partake of the Streams that run from it That out of this Bank there may be Provision for Ships and Seamen That those Trades before-mentioned that we have lost may be retrieved and such Methods laid down as may incourage that Navigation which imploys most Seamen as the Fishing c. To Establish this Bank will require great Consideration for that
out of six and then distinguish'd what related to England by what Ships brought in and out then computed the Value of each Commodity and to what they were Improved being Manufactor'd in England and then what Money in Specie or Bills of Exchange which is the same was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland all which appear'd being brought up to a Sum that England Gained by Ireland Two Millions Sterling per Annum It seem'd to me an Incredible thing but being as he affirms Matter of Fact for which he hath the account of the Customs it is not to be denyed the breviate is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easie to any Understanding and therefore to mine I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter but he thinks it may be made use of a better way and affirms that as great as this looks yet it might be improved to much more if the Trade of Ireland were dispos'd as it might be to the Advantage of England But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign since the first Conquest of Ireland consulted in its Trade but left to its self or treated like an Enemy All the use made of it was for Courtiers Men of Projection and Necessity to Traffick and dispose it into Grants Imployments and Offices and so made it rather a Forest for Game than a Plantation for Trade and Commerce and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England believing it grew too fast and incroached on their Trade though it is demonstrable Ireland doth us no hurt but where we by our own Laws force it and that Act pardon the expression like Lunaticks that strive to suppress their Shadows for fear they should assault them None will say England would be the worse if it were double the Acres it now is And though the Sea part us from Ireland may not Laws make us one in our Interest and Trade and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in General than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion There never was so fair an opportunity for Inriching this Nation by Ireland as now it is by Divine Providence once put a Blank in our hands in which His Majesty may stamp what he pleases And we have reason to believe That He who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure One thing I must not omit which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts That Ireland neither Interferes with nor gains on England for that in the last Twenty Years of Irelands greatest Prosperity not one Man in England purchased in Ireland but Numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England as they of that Kingdom I mean the English always do as they Increase their Fortunes This being so Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure and affects us though in a much larger Proportion as Hudson's Bay whatever is gained in them terminates in England Here I end with the Pamphlet of which I shall only say If the Matter of Fact be truly Related as by the Authority he gives we have reason to believe it is then there is plain Demonstration that Ireland hath been and may be made much more profitable to this Kingdom then most of our Foreign Plantations Of them we take great care and why not more of this since it lies so near and costs us so dear seems unaccountable The truth is our Ancestours had never such a happy Juncture to do it as we have now to secure it If therefore we lay not hold on the opportunity put into our hands we cannot answer it so well as they might The Numbers of Refugees here and in other Countreys near us are Objects in this case both for our Charity to them and Advantage to our selves There hath been for several Sessions of Parliament much talk of the Forfeitures of Ireland and that it was reasonable they should be Sold and made a Fund to raise Money towards the carrying on the present War which might be thought reasonable for us of England to press because it would ease us of so much in our Taxes But why the Gentlemen of Ireland were so busie to promote it was at first to me a question and set me on the Inquiry and from some of themselves I had this answer That though they could not deny but the benefit of those Forfeitures were justly due to us of England yet the Justice of the thing was not all the motive they had to promote it but their own future security was at least as much consider'd by them for that they hoped the Sale of those Forfeited Lands would put them in Protestant hands and by that strengthen the British Interest in Ireland which could never be secure whilst the Irish held so great a proportion in the Kingdom and that whilst the Land lay undisposed they fear'd the Irish would find wayes to be restor'd they having got enough by their Robberies and Plunder of the English to purchase them though they cost them Ten Years purchase And that they were in fear also of the Irish buying from such as had great Grants of Forfeited Lands but if there was a Publick Sale they would come into so many hands that most of them would stick with the Purchaser and not come to the Irish They further said It was not the Interest of England to let the Forfeitures come again into the Irish hands for that they never Improved nor Traded and so were no wayes profitable to England If this apprehension of the Protestants be valid either to them or us it seems that a disposition of these Forfeitures of Ireland to Protestant Strangers would answer all objections and be a more certain way to keep such Lands of Ireland out of Irish hands then by selling them to the English for by that they would be to greater value in one Mans hand and the English would for advantage sell them to the Irish Proprietors for that few Purchasers would go to settle on their Lands nor could they find Tenants in the Countrey since there is so much Land waste but if Foreigners had it in small Proportions they would be able to manage it themselves and so keep it from returning to the Irish I have been longer on this of the Forfeitures then perhaps will be thought proper since my Subject is Trade But since it hath relation to the Improvement of Ireland in the way of Trade this Digression I hope will be excus'd I return then to shew how the bringing in Refugees to Ireland will advance the Trade of England and that may appear in three particulars The Increase of People in Ireland will occasion the
Expence of Manufactories and Product of England for that they have from England or would if the Laws of that Kingdom in Relation to the Customs were duely executed most of the fine Draperies Silk Iron Manufactory Haberdashers-Wares Hats Sadlers Wares Tapes Pins and other small Manufactories Also from England they have all the hopes white Salt Coals Brass Commodities Tobacco Sugars and Groceryes They also Imploy or should so if due care was taken in the Act of Navigation the Ships of England all which would be considerably advanced if that Kingdom were improved by Foreigners 2. Foreigners would Inlarge the Linnen Manufactory in Ireland to which no part of Europe is most proper And there is already a beginning and aptness in the Irish to that Manufactory and however it is not the Interest of England that Ireland should grow in the Woollen Manufactory yet it is that that they should in the Linnen and Cordage But of this I shall in the Second Part when I come to Discourse at large of the Trade of Ireland say more 3. The bringing Foreign Protestants into Ireland will Inlarge the Fishings there Great part of which will be to the Advantage of England as would the General Improvement of Ireland be if it were dispos'd to such Trade and Navigation as might be subservient and helpful to ours But to make Laws with design to keep them Poor is not unlike him that set his own House on Fire that his Neighbours might be burnt keeping Ireland Poor and discouraging the Protestant Interest there puts that Kingdom in the hands of the Irish and that renders it not only unprofitable to England but dangerous the management of Ireland Since the first Conquest will not be Credited in future Ages and although we must own of a Nation that hath the best Constitution in Government we have alwayes been unhappy in the Administration yet I think in nothing so much as in the Neglect of Trade and in that of Ireland which any Nation but we would make a Treasure of and we Imploy all our skill to make it an Aceldama It hath been so to this poor Kingdom and if relation be true is in a ready way to be so again They in whose Province it is will consider the Politick part my business is Trade and in that I will venture to say Ireland might be made more profitable to England than all the Foreign Plantations have ever yet been I confess New-England and Newfound-Land may be made more than altogether but that which makes Ireland of more Consideration to England than all the rest is because without keeping that we can enjoy none of the rest It is every days Refuge for our Merchant-Men and not to be forgotten how soon after this Reduction it saved our Smirna and Levant Fleet. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wooll THIS is the great Staple of the Kingdom and in truth of the World which by Divine Providence is so put into our hands as that without a turn in Nature we cannot totally loose it yet all that is possible for an unthinking People as we are call'd abroad we have done to the prejudice of those Commodities by which means we have transferr'd great part of our Woollen Manufactoryes to other Countreys to Germany and Venice our Coarse Draperies to Holland and France our fine and New Draperies and that which is remarkable is that we laid the foundation for loosing them the same way by which we first got them that is by persecuting Men for their Religion Abel's acceptable Sacrifice seems still to follow the Fleece No Society of Men in the Kingdom are so generally affected with the strictest Injunctions of our Religion as our People bred up in the Woollen Manufactories and these Men first fell under the Rod after the Restauration an excellent Reform to drive Men out of the Kingdom for having too much Religion but not question such as had none at all This driving our Clothiers into Germany and Holland put them and their Friends upon Inventions to send our Wooll after them and in that their Friends that stay'd behind were and still are assisting them though to the prejudice of the Trades they are in themselves there being nothing that draws compassion more from one Man to another than seeing Men of honest and unblameable Conversation us'd worse than Thieves and Robbers for serving God according to their Conscience This severity banish'd many thousands out of England soon after the Restauration of Charles the Second One Tilham carried in the Year 1665 Three Thousand into the Prince Palatine of the Rhyne and divers others did the same into other parts insomuch that Account was taken of Twenty Thousand Sacks of Wooll carried into one Port of France in less than Two Years from England and more went from Ireland and besides the Quantities that went for Holland is Incredible All this is evidently fallen upon the Nation by the fury of those that would make a Trade of Religion and banish those that had Religion with their Trades But blessed be God we have now a King of a more comprehensive Perswasion and our Church better supply'd with Men of Learning and Charity which the Infallible Authour tells us is above all the Arts Sciences and Acts of Devotion whatsoever Such Numbers of Men being gone out of the Kingdom for want of that Liberty they may now injoy it is a wonder they do not return and a greater that they are not sent for and Invited back We do not consider what the loss of a Man is in a Kingdom not half Peopled We want nothing so much as Bodies of Men and it is said we have above Thirty Thousand in Foreign Countreys and they are not of the raff but sober Industrious People such as these should not be lost But from the hands to Work Wooll I come to the Wooll it self how useful and in some cases of such absolute use in their Manufactories that they can make none of their best without our Wooll This is no Secret nor the Severe Laws that are made to prevent Escapes of Wooll but none have proved effectual some of them being too easie and others severe to loss of Life to them all I have seen a Proposal of a Gentleman that hath been a great Dealer in that Commodity to Foreign Parts which he affirms would be Infallible to prevent Exports of Wooll to Foreign Parts From England it seems probable enough but he is positive and reserves part of the Secret which he saith when told will make every one that hears it as positive as himself I would have perswaded him to offer it to the House but he expects a great Gratification and that he thinks at this time will not be given though I am of another mind and believe he deserves more than he can either ask or expect if his Project takes It is indeed to be lamented that solid Proposals for the Trade and Manufactory of the Nation should not meet with so
at first upon the Importation Let that be well looked to and Frauds upon Exports cannot easily be Committed for the Trick will lye as it doth in some Cases at this time The Merchant saves suppose one third of his Duty and then Ships out one third of what he payd Duty for and by that means payes but half Dutyes two thirds being Sold and he paying Duty but for one and to drive this Trade it may be worth a Merchants while to Import with design at least one third more than he Intends to sell in the Kingdom But though this is an Inconveniency and may be some Prejudice to the Revenue yet I do not think it is of that Value as to obstruct a much greater Advantage to the Publick But it will be further objected that to Repay all the Duty payd Inwards upon the Exports is unreasonable something at least to defray the Charge of the Officers should be allow'd and that is allowed where there is the greatest Freedom To this I Answer That the Design here is to Incourage our own Navigation and to retrieve our lost Trades in Russia and the Sound To effect which there may perhaps be more Incouragement than this given The Parliament upon other occasions have thought fit to give Money to Incourage the Exports of the Kingdom as that of Corn And though I shall not presume to direct yet perhaps there may be found necessity to do something of that Nature to lay hold of Trades we have lost I have often thought there was the same reason for a Nation to lay out a Stock of Money to Introduce some Trades as there is for a particular Person and though that Objection which some make That Publick Funds are alwayes Imbezled be true and that no Private Person will receive any Return for what he pays towards a Publick Benefit Yet if the Money be Imployed in Manufactoryes or Navigation though the Original Money be sunk yet every Individual Man in the Nation is the better for it even to the Cobler in his Stall I might Inlarge on the many Advantages these Repayments on Exports would bring to the Nation but I shall summ them all up in 1. It will Increase the Customs if that be a Profit to the Nation in General which to me is a Question but however it is that which is acceptable to the Government and that a Liberty of Exporting without any Charge what Merchants cannot dispose of will certainly Incourage to greater Imports than when Men are liable to loose both Goods and Customs as now they in many Cases are 2. It will bring a very considerable Advance to our Ships and Seamen and in this there is more than at first sight appears By the Act of Navigation it is wisely provided That every Nation might Import into England the Commodities of their own Countrey in their own Ships This Liberty was fair and equal Dealing in matter of Trade That every Countrey should have the Command of their own Trade and so gave no Offence nor could we advance our own Navigation by it more than what each Countrey had not Ships of their own to carry their Commodities but this Liberty of Foreigners bringing their Commodities to seek a Market and if they do not meet it may Ship out what they cannot sell and have all the Duty Repayd so it be Imported and Exported in English Ships this will put them upon Imploying our Ships that so they may be Intitled to make our Harbours Free Ports and it will be a very great Incouragement to them in their Trade and as great to us to have the Carriage there being more clear and certain Gain by the Navigation part of Trade than by the Merchantine part of it These Bill Repayments upon Exports will not only supply us with all sorts of Foreign Commodities on easie Tearms to compleat Cargoes for the Northern Trades we have now lost but also be a means to Increase the Exports of our Woollen Manufactoryes of which we shall send Quantities abroad to places we cannot now for want of other Commodities to make up Cargoes for several Markets Upon the whole I conceive this Freedom will â—n all respect the Benefit of Free Ports with this Advantage of terminating in the Increase of our Ships and Seamen Of a Counsell of Trade THIS hath been the common Theam of Men of all Understandings on which so much is said and writ that it looks like remonstrating against the Government to print more on that Subject since there seem'd not a tendency towards it For this reason I thought to have passed â—t by but hearing such a thing is now under Consideration and having lately seen a Print Prescribing the Modus of a Counsel of Trade I venture to put my Oar in the Boat though I cannot keep stroak with any I ever yet met in this matter differing both in the Men and Numbers of a Counsel of Trade 1. As to the Qualification of the Men that is generally thought proper some there be that would have a Counsel of Trade compos'd of Men of all Qualities in Trade and Manufactoryes such as was in the Reign of K. James the First that sat in Haberdashers-Hall and were more like a Parliament than Counsel of Trade Others there are that are not for such a promiscuous multitude but yet would have a great Number of Merchants as believing them the best Judges of Trade and so I think them to be yet whilst they are in Trade not the properest Directors of it Against both these Qualifications of Men for composing a Counsel of Trade I submit these reasons First That Mechanicks are generally Strangers to any Trades but their own and consequently can be no Judges and Advisers in other Mens Secondly Bringing Artizans and Mechanicks into a Counsel of Trade would raise Discontents thorough the Kingdom among them of differing Trades nothing being more Common than Men of one Trade to Interfere with another And where any such Complaint shall come to the Counsel of Trade as they being in it will Incourage them to bring they will be Judges of their own Complaints for that many Trades have dependance one upon another and so these Men will naturally have Parties as Interest leads them which they acquainting their Friends and Brethren of in their Respective Countreys will create Dissentions among Artizans who are good Judges among themselves in their respective Companies of one another in their own Trades but seldom determine Disputes in other Mens Trades but with a Club and broken Head Now as for the foregoing Reasons I think Mechanicks not proper for a Counsel of Trade so neither do I believe Merchants in Trade proper for though they are Superiour to understanding and Conversation with the former yet they are under the same Temptations and Difficulties of making Parties and Interfering with one another in their Trades and therefore not proper Judges whilst they are Parties though they may be the best when they are not A
and Tarr for Soil to raise Hemp and well enough for making Iron But there seems some difficulties in the want of hands to work and supply that is the only Objection I see in this Affair and altho that hath been too great for particular men to undertake yet may not tho if undertook by a publick Fund which perchance upon a thorough consideration may be found necessary to be done upon some such Inducements as these It would make New England of the most useless and unprofitable Plantation of this Nation the best and most advantageous to this Nation I might enumerate many particulars but I presume this will come into hands that need no more than to put them in mind of the Place and Product That New England lies better for a Market to Spain Portugal and the Levant than the Northern Crowns who now furnish that part of Europe with those Commodities New England can furnish That establishing this Trade will Employ many Ship-Carpenters and Seamen which I cannot omit whereever it comes in my way to say is the Treasure and Strength of these Kingdoms That this Trade will occasion the Consumption of more Woollen Manufactories than all our Foreign Plantations it being a Cold Climate and Men with hard Labour wear out much Cloaths That there will be room and reason to give great encouragement for Foreigners to settle in this Plantation and Undertaking which next to our Seamen seems of moment to advance which even those that are against at home will not be when they are abroad And to sum up all As this Plantation may save the Nation the Expence they are now at in purchasing Naval Stores so it will bring in considerable returns in Bullion for what they send into the Levant Spain c. And that this may not appear as a Chimera it is to be noted That there hath been many years since several Ships loaden in new-New-England with Masts c. for the Streights but for the Reasons before given the want of Hands and Publick Encouragement that Trade did not prosper Merchants do not affect a Trade that takes up much Time and little Stock as the Lumber-Trade doth which is more profitable to the Ship and Men than the Merchant and it is a mistake in those that think Merchants are always Owners perhaps they have least share in the Ships of England Having thus given some sew Hints for they are no more if compar'd with what is to be said on this Copious Subject it may be expected that I should say something of the Modus for setting up this Manufactory and building Ships in New-England To set down an Exact Scheme would take up more Sheets than I design Lines in this Place but something I shall mention 1. To carry on this Work it will be necessary that extraordinary Privileges be given to Foreign Protestants that will inhabit there as having Land given them free Liberty of Conscience greater Wages than they can have in their own Countries Houses for some time Rent-free from all manner of Impositions c. 2. That such Encouragement be given as may invite the Natives to work They are very ingenious and docible but naturally averse to Labour yet I have seen some of them take great pains in working Curiosities and that which induceth me to believe they would work if they were sure of good Wages is the great labour they take in making their Wampompeeg of which the most skilful and laborious amongst them cannot make above Two Shillings a day Now if these men could have so much a day for any other work it is reasonable to believe they might be brought to it and by that means they would be better cloath'd than those that are idle and that would tempt them in also But to this may be objected That this dear Wages would make those Commodities dear To which I answer That there is some works in Falling Floating and Drawing Timber that cannot be had cheaper and that there are no men will sooner learn the best labour than they and as the Countrey fills and the Indians are brought to work Wages will fall 3. There may be Negroes brought whose labour will come cheap and their very little Children will be very useful in peeling Hemp picking Oacum and other things about Pitch and Tar. This Undertaking being thoroughly managed will be such a Staple for Shipping and Naval Stores as no part of Europe can exceed and put these Kingdoms out of the Power of their Neighbours in that of their Naval Provisions and our Ships may be cheaper built than in any part of Europe with the advantage of preserving the Timber of England for the Royal Fleet. I have often wondred that such a disposition as this hath not been thought on for that unprofitable Plantation which now brings nothing to this Nation but to the contrary buries Numbers of Industrious People in a Wilderness that produceth nothing but Provisions to feed them and yet the most useful Commodities in it for the Nation being that which makes our Walls and Bulwarks This neglect is such as was in this Kingdom in exporting our Wool which was consider'd by that Wise Prince Edward the Third who thereupon pass'd a Law for encouraging Foreign Clothiers and that they should settle in what part of the Kingdom they pleas'd A good President for giving all the Encouragement and Immunities imaginable to invite Foreign Carpenters and others into a Plantation that might raise such Commodities as are the Foundation of our Wealth and Security Of the Act of Navigation TO write upon this is to enter upon Controversy in Trade which I think doth as little good as that in Religion and is commonly undertook or at least started by those that have least share in the Practice I have never been so attach'd to my own Understanding as to conclude those in the wrong that differ with me but I must own my self a great Votary to the Act of Navigation believing it the Sea Magna Charta and the only Law that ever past in England for the securing our Trade and Navigation and I had like to have said with it our Religion Laws and Properties too for that no men in the Government are more averse to Popery and Arbitrary Power than they are And altho I believe we can never add too many to our Number on Shore yet perhaps it may be the Interest of the Nation to keep as many English in our Sea-Employments as we can for that they are in truth our Guards and tho when Naturaliz'd and Inhabitants Foreign Seamen may be useful yet so as that they may be but a small Proportion to the whole Number of Seamen in our Trade and Navigation It is observable that notwithstanding the States in Italy are inseparably united in their Force at Sea against the Turks yet they are so jealous of each others Growth in that Strength that they are oblig'd to each other not to exceed the Number of Galleys they are
by Compact allowed to have This provident care of theirs might put us in mind of our Neighbours and that we have no reason to declaim against the Act of Navigation that doth only encourage our own Seamen and that we have reason to do since we have no Compact with those about us to restrain their Growth at Sea but every Government enlarge as much as they can And whatever reason they have for it we have more both as to our Trade and Safety One reason that is given why there are no Beggars in the United Provinces is because of the Multitude of Seamen none gives more Employment to the Poor than Seamen their own Consumption of the ordinary Manufactory besides the small Adventures of them they carry abroad but I think it needless to enter upon the Benefits we receive by the Act of Navigation we are in possession of it and therefore have only to answer the Charge laid against it and I take them all to be comprehended under Four Heads 1. That by the Act of Navigation we have lost several Trades as the Muscovy Greenland Norway and in great measure the Trade into the Sound 2. That the Act of Navigation hath raised the Wages of Seamen to the great Discouragement of all Merchants 3. That by the Act of Navigation we have very much lessened the Building of Ships 4. That by the Act of Navigation we have totally lost some Trades because they of that Countrey have no Shipping and Strangers of other Countries cannot bring their Commodities These are the several Topicks upon which all is said that I can find against the Act of Navigation I shall begin with the first That by it we have lost the Muscovy Trade This is said but no Reason or Instance given to evince how as there is for some of the following and since they can give no reason I can find none our of the Act of Navigation but other Reasons there are how we come to lose that Trade One is the heavy Customs plac'd on Commodities brought from Foreign Parts which is in consequence a Prohibition to their Exports from us to any other Countrey The Dutch who court Trade as their Mistress lay their Customs so that they can export them again with little Charge and the Muscovite Trade requires variety of Commodities in a Cargo which we have not proper for that Countrey of our own Product and our Customs hinder shipping out any This put that Trade with Advantage into the hands of the Dutch in the Reign of Charles the First and they taking the Advantage of the Civil Wars in England represented us under such Characters to that Court that no English for some time durst appear there These are the true Causes of our Lofs of the Mascovy Trade not the Act of Navigation which was made some years after It is further said By it we have lost the Greenland Trade but appears not by any thing that is offered but that the Dutch-built Ships are cheaper and sail'd with fewer men It is true Dutch-built Ships are cheaper but as true that an English-built ship will last twice as long So then I cannot find the odds but that the sailing with fewer Men is an Argument for the Greenland Trade shews their being Strangers to that Trade who bring it for a reason because the Greenland Fishing obligeth the Ships to carry Five times the number that would sail her to be employed in their Shalops when they come to the Fishing So then there is no advantage by the Number of Seamen to sail a Ship to Greenland when they are forc'd to carry so many for their Fishing But for discourse sake to see if any thing could be made of this Argument allowing it was as they mistake that a Dutch Ship and Men can fish cheaper than we yet where is the Argument That therefore Englishmen go not at all It is equally alike to the English whether they manage it dearer or no for they set their Rates accordingly since by the Act of Navigation the Dutch nor any other Nation can bring into England the Product of that Fishing but upon paying double Aliens Duty So that I can see nothing in this matter but believe we have lost that with other Northern Navigations by our Southern and Levant Trade being more pleasant and profitable Voyages for Seamen and so wanted Men for our less profitable Trade and we should for some other Trades we yet hold as that of Virginia and the little we have left of the New-found-land Fishing if the Act of Navigation did not secure them There seem'd for these Reasons no doubt grounds for the Act of Navigation to confine this Trade to our Ships and Seamen as much as they could otherwise it would certainly have fallen into Foreign hands And according to my sense of Trade it were better for the Nation to have neither Whale nor Oyl nor Whalefin than to have them by Purchase from Foreigners I make this distinction That there is no Gain to the Nation by what is consumed in it and neither of these Commodities are exported The next Objection is The Loss of the Norway Trade and in this there is something but I cannot see so great a mischief in it as is represented but that which may be remedied by a dispensation for employing Dutch Ships in that Trade so they be sail'd by English men for that I conceive is the great design and of more value than all the rest in the Act of Navigation for that in most of our Trades English-built Ships are used and Dutch not proper so there needs no force when it is done of choice But that which may put an end to this Exception in the Act of Navigation and most of the Northern Trade is propos'd in the foregoing Essay of Building Ships That which is objected of hindring our Trade in the Sound hath nothing in it when at the same time it appears that of Seven Ships a year sent there Five goes in there Ballast That we have lost our Trade into the Sound is plain from the variety of Commodities the Dutch carry in one Ship and we commonly carry the Product of England which is one of our Mistakes in Trade that for fear of a small loss in the Customs we lose so considerable a Trade as we do in the Sound and Northern Kindoms But of this something shall be said apart And so I have done with the first Head in relation to the Act of Navigation which better Judgments may determine but in mine there is nothing appears to the prejudice of the Act. The second Objection against the Act is That it hath raised Sea-mens Wages so that Merchants are now at the Mercy of Seamen who raise their Wages at pleasure and so impose upon Trade to the discouragement of Merchants All this I know to be literally true and allowing the Matter of Fact we will see what Inferences are made from it They that are against the Act of
I attempt to prescribe Rules or give my Opinion in these matters as I may venture to do in that of Trade and therefore as Rural Matters have relation to that so I shall here treat of the Plow and of the Pruning-Hook the Field and the Orchard How Land may be improved there cannot be a truer or greater President than that of the Land of Canaan a spot of Ground not so large as one third part of England yet maintained double the People England doth That the Fertility of the Soil did not make the difference in their great increase above ours is observed by such as Travel there that at this time under the manage of the Lazy Turk that Land is much worse and brings forth less increase than ours So then it is apparent Labour and Industry makes the difference Now if the foregoing Computation be right that there were near double the People in that little Spot than there are in England as there is reason to believe for that in David's Reign the Number of Fighting-men was 1510000 besides the Two Tribes not brought into the Account this being allowed it will follow that there is not one Sixth part made of the Land of England as might be But to this might be said the want of Hands is the cause of our scant Production and that nothing but Crouds forceth Labour this is true as to matter of fact but not so as to be without a Remedy Nmbers of People make Laws for Industry out of necessity and good Laws may do the same with this Advantage that enlarging the Labour in Rural Affairs will produce more than is consumed in the Nation and that adds to the Treasure of it Whereas Numbers of Hands that only work to feed themselves adds nothing to the Riches of the Kingdom Now as Riches increase so will the Bodies of Men which is indeed the best Treasure we see this in the United Provinces where all Nations flock as Fowl where they find best feeding Money is so to Men and where that abounds Labour and Industry is encouraged but to sit down with an Opinion that England cannot be improved for want of People is too mean and abject for Englishmen There is a visible Prospect how great Improvements may be made in this Kingdom by the Hands we have and if that were done we should soon have more There are thousands of Persons in this Kingdom that beg who might be serviceable in many things relating to the Plow if lame in their Feet yet they may weed Corn that perchance now takes up the time of a lusty Man A Blind man may carry Burthens in company with other a Man without Hands may look to Cattle c. There are numbers of Men of no Employment that we have Laws that might oblige to Work and if they are not full enough to reach them they may be made to do it There is also another Set of Men that are lost in the Nation under the Cover of being Serving-men and Footmen Now this might be restrained and Men confined to the Numbers they keep according to their Quality which if done might add to the Plow and other Country Employments many thousands in this Nation I differ with them who complain of our Gentries humour of taking French Valets de Chambres I wish there were a Law that none but such should be taken into such Employments or at least that no Gentleman should have above one Englishman in his Family in Service as a Waiter or Foot-man this would drive Young men into the Country to Labour when they had no expectation of a Lazy Life and Maintenance as now they have Tho this is a General Complaint thorow the Kingdom of the want of Men for the Plow and that the Wages of a Plow-man is risen from 5 to 10 l. per Annum no man will say it is because there are not Men in the Kingdom but it is because there are easier ways to get a Living tho at the same time if those that chuse that idle Life of waiting on Gentlemen did but consider their hazard of begging their Bread in their Old Age or sooner if Sickness or any other Accident befal them Whereas there are few instances of Labouring-men in the Country that come to such misfortunes many from the Plow or Orchard arrive to a decent Living and Competency but few from holding a Plate I have often lamented the sight of Four or five lusty young Fellows hanging at the Tail of a Coach when they are wanted at the Plow and since it is not practicable to get Plow-men from France but is to get Foot-men and Valets de Chambres to me it would seem a good Law to prohibit Englishmen from such Employments and that would bring in French and other Foreigners enough to supply their places Thus I have laid down my thoughts of adding hands to our Country Employments which may be improved by better Judgments All I shall further say is That to me it seems plain that there might be 40000 Persons added to those we now have in Country Employments and they would so advance and enlarge Rural Production as would invite Numbers both at home and from abroad into the Country which hath been for some Ages so much neglected the humor of this Nation running too much after the French I mean those of them that come abroad for their Peasantry never do those we have from them are Artizans or Lacquies and such too many of our Nation affect to be and so quit their Country Employments I mean not by this any discouragement to Manufactories they cannot exceed but some have too many that attend them especially such as are consumed in the Kingdom which advanceth the Vanity of the Nation whilst the most solid Improvements and Employments of it are neglected for want of hands and if what is here proposed may produce and bring Numbers into Country Labours the next enquiry will be how to Employ them so as to make Plowing and Land-Improvements as much a Trade and Manufactory as other Manual Arts for that which hath always discouraged Tillage in this Kingdom hath been the practice of making Provision for no more than the Expence of the Nation whereas if such quantities of Grain was Sowed as might make it a Commodity for Exports that would soon invite Merchants to Exportation The Statute which was made for encouragement of Tillage was for that part of allowance at the Custom-House of good use but something more must be done to make Corn a Commodity for Exportation and that must be to have quantities yearly Sowed beyond the Expence of the Nation that so Merchants may be sure of a constant Trade as they have in the Sound where the Country depend as much on their Harvest as France doth on its Vintage and Merchants being sure of a constant supply make Provision for the Trade whereas ours is only a chance Market when the Harvest proves beyond expectation and often failing puts
us upon Importing Corn from other parts This in a Country so natural for Grain and that lies so near Holland which fetcheth such quantities from abroad may be thought not the least of our mistakes in Trade and Commerce To me I confess it seems a great neglect to see so many Acres set for Five or Ten Shillings an Acre and the Tenants scarce able to pay that which under Corn might yeild to the Farmer Five Pounds and though part of that goes in Labour yet the whole is so much added to the Treasure of the Nation and would be the greatest advantage to the Rent of Lands that ever was or can be by any other means raised in the Kingdom Now that what I here propose may appear practicable something shall be offer'd that I conceive may shew what I here set down to be more than meerly Notional 1. First then as to the Grain which is most in demand in Foreign Markets and they are Rye for Holland Horse-Beans for Bilboa and Barly for Portugal I mention not Wheat because that we have most of but the other three is least propagated in England though the most proper for Exportation and seems possible considering how much nearer we lye to a Market than Dantzick to be exported from England as Cheap as from any Part and as Quantities in other Commodities enables the Seller of them to abate in Price of what they can when they are scarce so it would be in this of Corn when a Farmer is more sure of a Market for Twenty Acres of Corn than he is now of Five he may abate of his Price and yet be a greater Gainer than when he hath but a little and a greater Price we account it so in all other Commodities 2. For Encouragement of making Corn an Export it is to be remembred That we send most of our Ships light to Bilboa and Lisbon so that will help our Navigation that loads our Ships then it is to be considered that our Exports to Lisbon do not answer our Imports from thence since we fetch so much Wine from Portugal and it is hoped since we have fallen into it we shall never exceed in French Wine They neither can nor will take off our Commodities Corn they never did as Portugal will The difficulty that appears to the introduction of this so profitable a disposition of the Lands of England is how to bring the Nation to it for all new things are hardly propagated Three things I submit that to me seem of strength to bring the Nation into it And they are these 1. That a Statute be made to oblige all persons to a certain Proportion of Plowing according to what they keep in Grazing 2. That all Land under Tillage shall be free from any manner of Tax 3. That some ease may be given as to the Tythe for what is Exported it is a heavy load and discouragement one tenth for that which goes out care should be taken to make what goes out as Cheap as possible that so no other Country might Undersel us I would not be thought to lessen the Income of the Clergy to the contrary I think they ought to partake of all the Increase of the Kingdom and what I here propose would be for their advantage by encouraging the greater Exports and ways might be found to give some encouragement from them to the Plow-man that might be easy to both But to all that hath been said for encouragement of Tillage there appears a seeming Objection and that is We often see Corn so Cheap that the Farmers are broke by it and what would they do with double the Quantities as it is hoped this Law and Encouragement might produce This is partly answered before That the reason why we want a Market for our Corn is because we have not always Store and so Merchants make no Provision for the Trade nor will quit a place where they are sure of Supply so if once it were known that England set upon the Trade of Corn there would not be want of Buyers it is not to be imagined how soon the Plenty of a Commodity makes a Trade I remember when we imported quantities of Silk Stockins from the Levant but as soon as we had the Invention of Looms the stream turned and we send them there Plenty makes Cheapness and that increaseth Trade But there is another Answer to be given for the want of a Market for our Corn and that is We run most on Wheat and neglect those sorts before-mentioned which are most in demand abroad and of which we could never exceed but the more we provide the greater will the Price be for Quantities as is before said brings numbers of Buyers whereas where there are not Stores of a Commodity Buyers are but few and then they set the Market and have the Commodity at their own Rate I shall end this First Part of my Essays as I began them Truth may be allowed repetition That as this Nation never more wanted Thoughts and Endeavours to enlarge and improve their Navigation and Commerce than now having so Potent a Neighbour as the French that grow upon us so Blessed be God England never had a greater Monarch that lays out himself to make us a great and flourishing People If we are wanting to our selves it is our fault and will be our misfortune Measures for Trade must arise from the Subject Grants and Concessions from the King FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Cockeril at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey London THE Instrumentality of Faith Asserted Proved Explained Compared with and Preferred to a Conditional Relation thereof in order to Pardon and Happiness when seriously taken in a Legal or Foederal sence By W. Cross M. A. Good Deeds done for God's House A Sermon Preached on the occasion of the Death of Dr. Jeremiah Butt one of the Physitians appointed for His Majesties Fleet. By Ed Veal Infant-Baptism God's Ordinance Or a clear proof that all the Children of believing parents are in the Covenant of Grace and have as much Right to Baptism the now Seal of the Covenant as the Infant-Seed of the Jews had to Circumsion the then Seal of the Covenant By Michael Harrison A Remedy against Trouble in a Discourse on John 14. 1. Wherein something is also briefly attempted for clearing the nature of Faith of Justification of the Covenant of Grace Assurance the Witness Seal and Earnest of the Spirit and Preparation for Conversion or the Necessity of Holiness By Henry Lukin A Discourse of Schism By Edward Polhill Esq of Burwash in Sussex Eutropii Historiae Romanae Breviarium ab urbe Conditum usque ad Valentianum Valentem Augustos Ex recensione cum Notulis Tanquilli Fabri ut Sexti Aurelii Victoris de Vires Illustribus Liber in Usum Scholarum Phaedri Augusti Caesaris Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque In usum Serenissimi Delphini Notis Illustravit Petrus Danet Geography Rectified or a Description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Countreys Islands Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bayes Capes Names Inhabitants Scituations Histories Customs Commodities Government Illustrated with about 80 Maps Third Edition By Robert Morden Instructions about Heart-work what is to be done on God's Part and ours for the Cure and keeping of the Heart c. By that Eminent Gospel-Minister Mr. Richard Alleyn With a Preface by Dr. Annesley The 2d Edition The Evidence of Things not seen Or divers Spiritual and Philosophical Discourses concerning the state of Holy Men after Death By that Eminently Learned Divine Moses Amyraldus Translated out of the French Tongue by a Minister of the Church of England Poems on several Occasions with a Pastoral To which is added A Discourse of Life By John â—utchin A succinct and seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Natures Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors To which is added 1. An Answer to Mr. Cary against Infant-Baptism 2. An Answer to some Antinomian Errors 3 A Sermon about Union By John Flavel Mr. Flavel's Remains being two Sermons The one preached at Dartmouth in Devon on the day of the Coronation of Their Majesties The latter intended to be Preached at a Meeting of the United Ministers of several Counties With some Account of his Life A Discourse of Regeneration Faith and Repentance Preached at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street By The Cole Minister of the Gospel A Discourse of Christian Religion in sundry Points viz. Christ the Hope of Glory what it is to know God in Christ Christ the only Saviour the only Mediator Foundation of our Adoption c. Preached at the Merchants Lecture By Tho Cole Geography Anatomized Or a Compleat Geographical Grammar being a short and exact Analysis of the whole Body of Modern Geography after a new plain and easy method whereby any person may in a short time attain to the knowledge of that most noble and useful Science c. To which is subjoined the present state of the European plantations in the East and West-Indies with a reasonable proposal for the propagation of the Gospel in all Pagan Countries Illustrated with divers Maps By Patrick Gordon M. A.