Labour ought to be countenanced and encouraged and Magistrates and Gentry would do well to give Examples thereof to those amongst whom they live If all the Poor now maintained in their Idleness were set at work and paid out of the Money raised as aforesaid those that now have two Shillings or three Shillings a Week might by their Work earn so much or suppose they could earn but one Shilling sixpence a week and nevertheless receive three Shillings it is half in half saved so that a Moyety of what now is collected from the people might be spared to them and yet the Poor be as well or better maintained than now But if Men Women and Children were set at work few Families that now receive two or three Shillings a week but in all probability would and might earn four or five Shill a week help to Manufacture the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom at cheap Rates and thereby bring down the Wages of Handicrafts-men which now are grown so high that we have lost the Trade of Foreign Consumption because abroad Wool and Leather and the Manufactures thereof are sold at lower Rates than we can afford ours at This Mischief of high Wages to Handicrafts-men is occasioned by reason of the Idleness of so vast a number of people in England as there are so that those that are Industrious and will work make men pay what they please for their Wages but set the Poor at Work and then these men will be forced to lower their Rates whereby we shall quickly come to sell as cheap as Foreigners do and consequently engross the Trade to our selves There are many ways to set the Poor at work both old and young Women and Children by Spinning of Linnen Woollen and Woolsted Carding Combing Knitting Working Plain-Work or Points Making Bone-Lace or Thred-or Silk-Laces Brede and divers other things The Linnen-Trade if well regulated would employ some hundred thousands of People and if brought to perfection might save vast Sums of Money within the Kingdom which now are sent out for the same The Woollen and Leathern-Manufactories would employ Multitudes of Men and young youths and vast quantities of Wooll might be manufactured and consumed in England more than now is if all the Tapestry we now use were made here which is now imported from beyond the Seas Also if the Act for Burying in Flannel as ridiculous as men make it were put in Execution seeing Flannel would be as good for that use as Linnen abundance of our Poor would be employed in making these things And the Money now paid for these Foreign Manufactures would be kept in England and defray the Charge of the Manufacturing of them at home It is not to be imagined how many thousands of Men Women and Children the Fishing-Trade which is that I principally aim at would keep in employment The making of the Nets Sayls Cordage and other Materials for that use the Building of Fishing-Vessels and the Catching and Curing of the Fish when catch'd would find work for above two hundred thousand People and would encrease the number of Sea-men Ship-wrights and many Handicrafts-men A great Revenue if well managed would thereby arise to the Publick and the Fish taken would be as good to us as so much Ready-Money and be taken off beyond Seas in Exchange for such Goods as we necessarily want and have from Foreign Parts and now pay Ready Money for To conclude Were the things Proposed as aforesaid done as desired Trade would be encouraged and encreased the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom be in far greater quantities consumed both at home and abroad the Price of Lands would be raised Tenants be enabled to pay their Rents the Kingdom would be greatly enriched and in a few years the Publick Debts of the Kingdom might be discharged without Imposing any considerable Tax upon the People FINIS
to the Consumption in England So that Lean Cattle though they be dearer because of the scarcity of them yet fatted Cattel are cheaper for want of the Consumption we formerly had The Consequence whereof is That the Ends of the prohibition are not answered Rents of Lands are not Raised but on the Contrary Feeding-Lands must and do fall for want of a Cheap Stock and our former Consumption and Breeding-Lands through the decay of Trade which this prohibition hath occasioned 3ly This Prohibition is prejudicial to Trade and Navigation 1. Because those Foreigners who formerly Victualled here do Victuall themselves in Ireland 2. And they have their Provisions for the fourth part of what we pay for ours whereby they have a great advantage in point of Trade and can Sayl Cheaper than we which forceth the English to Victual there also 3. All Irish Cattle which formerly came unto England and for which they carryed out no Money but took of our Manufactures in return are carryed to other places beyond Seas and from thence fetch the Commodities wherewith we before the prohibition supplyed them So that the Traders in Lancashire Cheshire and other Northen parts where the Breeding-Lands lie their Loss is greater for want of a Consumption of the Manufactures of those Countries which formerly were sent into Ireland than the Advantage they receive by advanceing the price of Lean-cattel doth amount unto 4. It hath enforced the Irish for to lessen their Heards of Cattel and increase their breed of Sheep having gotten of our largest and best Breeders So that they have now Vast Flocks and prodigious quantities of Wooll besides Hides and Tallow which proves mischeivous to England three wayes 1. By their sending Wooll beyond Seas unmanufactured which notwithstanding the Prohibition every day they do which being manufactured by Foreigners they grow rich thereby whilst our poor in England starve for want of the work they had when they were Imployed in manufacturing for a Foreign Consumption 2. By sending their Hides Tallow and Wooll in great quantities into England which for want of a Consumption here bring down the price of our own growth 3. By setting up the Woollen Manufacturies in Ireland where having the Wooll Land and all Provisions cheaper than in England they must necessarily have their Workmen cheaper and if so they will be able to make enough not only for their own use but to supply Foreigners also with that which England used to supply them with heretofore which in a short time if not prevented will undermine the Staple and most Advantagious Trade of this Kingdom It is the Interest of England being the Seat of Government to maintain a preeminence in the Trade and to see that the Manufacturies thereof be preserved intire within it self Otherwise by how much the more Ireland is Improved by so much the more England will be Impaired therein For they working cheaper lying nearer Foreign Markets and their freight being less do what we can will underfell us where ever they come whereby our Manufacturies will be destroyed and Manufacturers with their Families be Ruined It is observable 1. That the Trade with Ireland kept three or four hundred ships in full imploy which were paid by the Irish Freighters there and occasioned the breeding many Seamen yearly but now all those ships are laid aside the breed of Scamen neglected and that Trade managed in Foreign Bottomes 2. That the Cattel and Sheep formerly imported by Computation amounted unto a Million of Money per Annum 3. That they carryed no Money out of England but the effect of their Cattel was all laid out in our Manufacturies or other Commodities Imported into England and from thence sent to Ireland and the King had a Custom paid both upon the Importation and Exportation and also for every head of Cattle brought over The Irish being now Prohibited this Trade are necessitated to send all their Victuals to Forreign parts where they sell them for more than we paid for them and buy what ever they want Cheaper than they had them from us by which means they will be concerned to take no Commodities from England Nor can they Trade with us if they would because they have no way to pay for what they buy unless they bring over Money in Specie to the mischeife of that Kingdom or by Bills of Fxchange which cannot be had under 15 or 16 per Cens. which is double the profit gotten by those that Trade with them That Exchange of monies thence is very high Gentlemen whose Estates are Returned over do find and by reason thereof are forced to retrench a fixth part of their Expences here which is a further lessening to the Consumption of the Manufacturies Provisions of this Kingdom and of Trade with them which is further dangerous for if we send Goods they having a new Trade to Forreign parts we must send our Stocks thither So that if any loss happen it is the English that undergoe it Irelands being peopled from England was at first a hurt to us because it lessened the Consumption of our Provisions here But to prohibit them Trade with us is ten times worse for that not only takes off the Consumption they used to make of our Manufactures but destroyes all those Families in England that used to be Imployed for their supply So that they can neither spend of the Provisions nor Manufacturies of this Kingdom as formerly they did And besides these Handicraft-men there are many Eminent Trades in London as Mercers Milliners Haberdashers c suffer greatly for when Fashions were out here they used to send them into Ireland in return for their Cattle and they went off as new there for want of which utterance many of those Tradesmen by reason of the often changing of Fashions amongst us have been and are daily undone There is one other high Inconveniency like to fall upon England by this Prohibition which hath put Ireland upon Industry For some part of Ireland lying nearer to France Italy and Spain than England doth and so the Irish having Salt from France and Cask and Mens Labour and all Tackle for Fishing being cheaper there than we have here do set up the Fishing Trade there from whence they need but one Wind to carry them to their Markets and they catch the Fish six weeks before they come into England If so then what hinders but that they may cure them and supply Foreign Markets sooner and cheaper than we can which in time will destroy the Fisheries of this Kingdom Not but that Ireland should have its proper Advantages and may if they please there being many additional Manufactures that both they and we want to which the nature of that Soyl and the inclination of the People gives encouragement particularly that of Linnen the greatest part of the Countrey being Turf-Land and naturally proper for Hemp and Flax and being employed to that use with due regulations those Commodities may be had cheaper there and
the same being stolm insomuch that when the duty to the King was four shillings per Gallon Brandy was sold for three shillings which was twelve pence less than the Kings Duty But admitting that if Brandy should be prohibited the additional Excise of Ale and Beer would not answer the Kings lose he shall sustain thereby and taking it for granted that our English Constitutions are now so accustomed to Brandy that it is become absolutely necessary for them to use the same or some Liquor like it If it be so then from our Malt and Wheat may be extracted a Spirit equally as good if not for our Constitutions much better than Brandy And then laying a small duty as a penny a Gallon upon low Wines will more than answer what the additional Excise shall fall short of to the King yea and very much exceed what he shall lose by the Prohibition desired And in as much as nothing is so much wanting in England as people Therefore all means possible in point of Prudence and Policy ought to be used to preserve the lives and healths of those we have But the Importing of Brandy hath destroyed many is like to destroy more ergo it ought to be prohibited And the rather in regard that Brandy comes from France and whatever we import from France ready money is paid for the same or for the greatest part thereof For although we impose but between Four and Ten pound per cent upon any of the Manufacturies or Commodities of the growth of France except the duty upon Wine and Brandy yet the French King either prohibites the Importation of the Manufactures of England into his Dominions or the selling them there unless they be sealed for which Seal a great duty is paid or else he burns them if they are imported and sold without such Seal as he did the Silk Stockings or imposeth upon the Importation thereof a duty of 30 40 or 50 l. per cent which is double as muchas was imposed till within these few years last past and is in effect a Prohibition For when we do Transport any thing thither of our Growth or Manufacturies the French by reason of the high duty imposed upon them undersel us whereby we are necessitated to keep our goods till spoiled or bring them back And if so them plain it is that whatsoever we have from France ready money goes for the same So that by a moderate computation they have at least 400000 l. per annum in money from us which is a vast prejudice to England and a great enriching to France who impose upon us not only vast proportions of their Brandy and Wines but also of their Silks Stuffs Ribbons Laces Points and divers other things whereby our Manufacturers in England are ruined and the Treasure of the Nation exhausted I know it will be said that we lay far greater Impositions upon their Wines and Brandy than they do upon any of our Manufactures and it is true that we do so But consider that whatever duty we lay upon Wines is laid upon the King of Englands own Subjects they pay it and such duty doth not hinder the Importation thereof for more comes in now then ever there did when the duty was not half so high and the French force the English to pay more for their Wines than ever they paid before But the Impositions laid by the King of France upon our Manufactures have stopt us from sending any thing considerable thither whereas before such duties imposed we sent great quantities So that in a few years if not prevented the very Commerce with France is like to destroy England As for Brunswick Mum I am sure we brew as strong in England as they do there and yet afford to sell it for half the price they sell theirs for therefore there is no necessity of the Importation thereof to supply any defect we have here consequently 't is not fit to be encouraged because it hinders the Consumption of the Grain of this Kingdom And for Coffee Tea and Chocoletta I know no good they do only the places where they are sold are convenient for persons to meet in sit half a day and discourse with all Companies that come in of State-matters talking of news and broaching of lyes arraigning the judgements and discretions of their Governors censuring all their Councels and insinuating into the people a prejudice against them extolling and magnifying their own parts knowledge and wisdom and decrying that of their Rulers which if suffered too long may prove pernicious and destructive But say there were nothing of this in the case yet have these Coffee Houses done great mischiefs to the Nation undone many of the Kings Subjects for they being very great Enemies to Diligence and Industry have been the ruine of many serious and hopeful young Gentlemen and Tradesmen who before they frequented these places were diligent Students or Shopkeepers extraordinary husbands of their time as well as money but since these Houses have been set up under pretence of good husbandry to avoid spending above one peny or two pence at a time have got to these Coffee Houses where meeting Friends they have sate talking three or four hours after which a fresh acquaintance appearing and so one after another all day long hath begotten fresh discourse So that frequently they have staid five or six hours together in one of them All which time their Studies or Shops have been neglected their Business left undone their Servants been trusted and an opportunity given them thereby to be idle and deceitful the taking of money in many of these mens shops hath been hindred and their Customers gone away displeased How many by these means have received great losses and disadvantages in their Trade and by accustoming themselves to these houses have made it so habitual to them that they cannot forbear them though together with their Familes they are ruined thereby These Houses being very many of them professed Bawdy Houses more expensive than other houses are become scandalous for a man to be seen in them which Gentlemen not knowing do frequently fall into them by chance and so their Reputation is drawn into question thereby VII THe Seventh Proposal That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads may all or most of them be suppressed especially these within 40 50 or 60 Miles of London where they are no way necessary And that a due Regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued These Coaches and Caravans are one of the greatest mischiefs that hath hapned of late years to the Kingdom mischievous to the Publick destructive to Trade and prejudicial to Lands First By destroying the Breed of good Horses the Strength of the Nation and making Men careless of attaining to good Horsemanship a thing so useful and commendable in a Gentleman Secondly By hindring the Breed of Watermen who are the Nursery for Seamen and they the Bulwark of the
travels on Horseback No for this manner of travelling hinders the Sale of those Commodities they deal in of which much more would be consumed than is if such Coaches were down and by the Sale whereof they would get much more than they save by confining themselves to travelling as aforesaid so that plainly it is their interest to promote that way of travelling that tends to the greatest Consumption of the Manufacturies or Commodities wherein they deal 3ly The Husbandmen who live by the sweat of their Brows in manuring the Estates of the Gentry they are undone by this easie carriage for it hinders their selling their Corn Hay and Straw and other the products of their Farms and brings down the price of what they sell thereby rendring them unable to pay their Rents or to hold their Farms without considerable abatements which if not given them their Lands are thrown up into the Landlords hands and little or no benefit made by them 4ly The Grasiers they complain for want of a Vent for their Cattel which they had before these Coaches were erected Not that I do imagine Coaches to be the only reason of the want of that Consumption though it be evident they go far in the promoting that mischief for the want of People in England the loss of many thousands from amongst us of late years and the leaving of eating off Suppers by those that are left alive go a great way therein But these two may be easily remedied The former by the General Act of Naturalization and Liberty of Conscience proposed before which would bring all Foreigners in amongst us The latter by mens spending less in Taverns Playes and Balls and keeping up in lieu thereof the ancient laudable Customes of England of good House-keeping and thereby relieving the Poor Half the Money that Gentlemen idly spend in Taverns upon French Wines for which the Coin of the Kingdom is exhausted or upon Playes Bills treating Mistresses fine Clothes Toyes from France or other Foreign parts would defray the charges of having good Suppers every night whereby the product of our own Lands would be consumed and that would raise Rents Nay I am verily perswaded if it were duly considered and that all men as formerly would fall to eating of Suppers at least to dressing of them and when drest if they eat not themselves would give them to the Poor the increase of the Consumption would raise the Rents of Lands as much above what now they do go at at least in most places of England as would defray the charges of those Suppers If so would it not then be of great advantage to Men in their Estates and to the Kingdom in general But to proceed If the Gentlement the Tradesmen the Husbandmen the Grasier be not benefited by this travelling I am sure the last sort of Travellers To wit The Poor they cannot be profited thereby For Waggons or the Long Coaches first invented and still in use would be most for their interest to travel in being far less expensive than the other so that these Running Coaches are not most beneficial to every sort of Travellers Secondly Men do not travel in these Coaches with less expence of Money or Time than on Horseback For on Horseback they may travel faster and if they please all things duly considered with as little if not less charges For instance From London to Exeter Chester or York you pay 40 shillings apiece in Summer time 45 shillings in Winter for your Passage and as much from those places back to London besides in the Journey they change Coachmen four times and there are few Passengers but gives 12 pence to each Coachman at the end of his Stage which comes to 8 shillings in the Journey backward and forward and at least 3 shillings comes to each Passengers share to pay for the Coachmens Drink on the Road so that in Summer time the Passage backward and forward to any of these places costs 4 l. 11 s. in the Winter 5 l 1 s. and this only for eight dayes riding in the Summer and 12 in the Winter Then when the Passengers come to London they must have Lodgings which perhaps may cost them five or six shillings a week and that in fourteen dayes amounts unto 10 or 12 s. which makes the 4 l. 11 s. either 5 l. 1 s. or 5 l. 3 s. or the 5 l. 1 s. 5 l. 11 s. or 5 l. 13 s. besides the inconveniency of having Meat from the Cooks at double the price they might have it for in Inns. But if Stage-Coaches were down and men travelled again as formerly on Horseback then when they came into their Inns they would pay nothing for Lodgings And as there would excellent Horses be bred and kept by Gentlement for their own use so would there be by others that would keep them on purpose to Lett which would as formerly be let at 10 or 12 s. per week and in many places for 6 8 or 9 s. per week but admitting the lowest price to be 12 s. if a Man comes from York Exeter or Chester to London be five dayes a coming five dayes going and stay twelve dayes in London to dispatch his business which is the most that Countrey Chapmen usually to stay all this would be but three weeks so that his Horse-hire would come but to 1 l. 16 s. his Horse-meat at 1 s. 2 d. a day one with another which is the highest that can be reckoned upon and will come but to 1 l. 5 s. in all 3 l. 1 s. so that there would be at least 40 or 50 s. saved of what Coach-hire and Lodgings will cost him which would go a great way in paying for Riding-Clothes Stockings Hats Boots Spurs and other Accoutrements for riding and in my poor opinion would be far better spent in the buying of these things by the making whereof the poor would be set at work and kept from being burthensom to the Parish than to give it to those Stage-Coachmen to indulge that lazy idle habit of Body that men by constant riding in these Coaches have brought upon themselves Besides if thus their Money were spent they would save a great deal which now if Men of any Estates they pay for relief of those poor who for want of the work they had before those Coaches were set up and might have again if they were put down are fallen upon the several Parishes wherein they live for maintenance which charge would be quickly taken off if they were restored to their work Thus in proportion may a Man save from all longer or shorter Stages For instance from Northampton men pay for passage in Coach to London 16 s. and so much back from Bristol 25 s. from Bath 20 s. from Salisbury 20 or 25 s. from Redding 7 s. the like sums back and so in proportion for longer or shorter Stages Judge them whether men may not hire Horses cheaper than 5 s. a day I am sure they
of the Kingdom by the manufacturing whereof great profit doth arise to the Publick Yet of these if occasion require it will be made appear above 100000 with their Families are in great measure ruined by them And I pray you who are advantaged thereby what persons are imployed or set at work by them save only a few Servant-Coachmen Postilions and Hostlers whom they pretend they breed up and make fit for the service of the Nobility and Gentry of the Land a most incomparable School to train men up in and to fit them for the Gallows more likely than to live in sober Families but in the mean time while these are breeding up the Price and Rents of Lands are so brought down by hindrance these Coaches do make of the Consumption of Provisions and Manufactures that in a short time few Gentlemen will be in a capacity to keep Coaches so that if all Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans were supprest it would do well But if some few Coaches were continued to wit one to every Shire-Town in England to go once a week backwards and forwards and to go through with the same Horses they set forth with and not travel above 30 miles a day in the Summer and 25 miles in the Winter and to shift Inns every Journey that so Trade might be diffused these would be sufficient to carry the Sick and the Lame that they pretend cannot travel on Horseback and being thus regulated they would do little or no harm especially if all be suppressed within 40 or 50 miles of London where they are no way necessary and yet so highly destructive But this as well as the rest I submit to judgment VIII THe Eight Thing Proposed is That the Act for Transportation of Leather unmanufactured may be repealed or at least not renewed after the expiration thereof There would never have been any necessity for this Act had it not been that vast quantities of Hides are Iimported from Ireland which brings down the price of our English Hides And for the Stage-Coaches their hindering the Consumption of that Leather in England which before they set up was used for Boots Saddles Portmantues Hat-eases Holsters Belts Girts Reins Stirrup Leathers and many other things now become almost useless The making whereof for Home-service and Foreign-Consumption employed about 100000 Families whose Livelihood depended upon the manufacturing of Leather whereby they got Money with which they maintained their Families spent five or six good Joints of Meat in a week in their Houses and wore good Clothes thereby occasioning the Consumption of great quantities of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom more than now are consumed Till this Act passed it was felony to transport Leather unmanufactured and then France Spain Germany and other parts who could not be without our Leather had vast quantities of Boots Shoes and Saddles with their Appurtenances Portmantues Hat-Cases Holsters Trunks c. from England by the making whereof many thousands of Families got a handsom subsistance and grew rich but Stage-Coaches hindring the Consumption at home as aforesaid and Irish Hides being Imported into England and also great quantities from Ireland exported to Foreign Parts our Hides fell in their price in England The Question then arose how to raise them to their ancient value and it was by the Parliament conceived that giving a liberty to transport the same unmanufactured might answer the end proposed therefore an Act for that purpose was passed But sad hath been and yet is the consequence thereof for ever since that liberty given the best of our Leather is constantly bought up and transported beyond Seas unmanufactured Foreigners who formerly were supplyed with Leather wrought here will not buy or carry over a penny-worth that is manufactured so that all those poor people who served Apprentiships to learn their Trades and whose Trade depended upon manufacturing for Foreign Consumption are undone they that kept 20 or 30 Journey-men at work every day cannot now though eminent men of their own Trades keep two by means whereof upon computation at least 50000 Men and their Families Livelyhoods are wholly taken away and they so impoverished that they are ready to receive Alms of the several parishes wherein they live whilst in the mean time Foreigners grow rich by manufacturing one of the Staple Commodities of this Kingdom and whereas till this Act passed all our old Boots and Shoes were bought up mended here and then sent beyond the Seas and there worn The case is now otherwise for the best of our Leather is not onely bought up and transported unmanufactured and wrought beyond Seas but when it is wrought it is then imported back and vended here to the great prejudice and discouragement of Manufacturers in England who have many of them been forced as great a want of People as there is in England to transport themselves beyond the Seas for want of work at home and there have taught their Art to Foreigners What then doth naturally follow all these things What Consequence can be drawn from hence but this that instead of 500 ls worth of Leather formerly sent beyond Seas manufactured we send now as much Leather but it is not worth above 100 l. because the same is carried over unwrought by which means our Manufacturers lose 400 l. which they should have gotten if the Leather had been Cut and Wrought in England and so thereby we grow poor and Foreigners grow rich by gaining that 400 l. which our Manufacturers lose But this is not all for most of our Leather that is exported goes into France with whom we never were able to keep up a Ballance of Trade but have traded with them for ready Money they taking little or none of the Manufactures of England in exchange for their Commodities By a moderate computation from the best intelligence I can get France receives from England 30000 ls worth of our Leather every year which they cannot be without for our Leather-Manufacture was the only Manufacture that they were forced to be holden unto us for 30000 ls worth of our Leather manufactured was worth in France 120000 l. then at least 70000 l. of that went into our Manufacturers Pockets the rest to the Merchants and what our Manufucturers got was spent in the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom which being consumed bare a better rate than now and helpt to keep up the Rents of Lands This Money we not only now lose to our Impoverishment and the French get to their Inriching but considering that we now import as much nay far more of French Goods into England than we did formerly and taking it for granted that when we transported the most that ever we did yet could not a ballance of Trade be kept up between the two Kingdoms but our ready Money went for a great part of the Goods imported then must it naturally follow that by sending our Leather unmanufactured which formerly was mannfactured we must send over nigh 100000 l.