receive any such Money Answ To this I Answer That when the Money is Mill'd there will be no great fear of having it Clipp'd because it will not pass then as other Clipp'd Money does now but it may be so cunningly Counterfeited that they deserve worse than Banishment and Twenty Pounds Fine that are found guilty of the Fact And a Severe Penalty would be too hard upon any one that should be deceived therewith Nothing but exceeding Care and Judgment can prevent their being sometime deceived The People abroad have Scales and Touchstones to prevent the receiving of Counterfeit-Money And before the Jews Silver was turned into Dross Abraham weighed unto Ephron the Silver which he had named in the Audience of the Sons of Heth Four hundred Shekels of Silver Currant-Money with the Merchants 2. To prevent Melting down Let the Crown-Piece be Coined of the intrinsick Value of Four Shillings and Six Pence only c. And let each Piece pass Currant for their respective Denominations The Nation will quickly be sensible of the Advantage of this Article for our Merchants will never be at the Expence of exporting Bullion when it will be a much greater Profit to have it Coined at home Answ To which I Answer in Sir Robert Cotton's Words That Money must value in Pecunia quantum in Massa For Silver is a Commodity as other Wares P. 197. and therefore holdeth its Estimation as they do according to the Goodness And the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Anno 1561. when the Currant of State-Council affected an Abasement of Coin after a grave deliberation advised the Queen from it and never would give way to any such Resolution in his time For the Revenues of the Crown being commonly in certain Rents they must in true value howsoever in verbal sound P. 196. be abated to the proportion that the Money shall be abased But that Benefit which truly the King might more make of Bullion than now he doth is to erect again Cambium Regis P. 197. his own Exchange An Office as ancient as before Henry III. and so continued until Henry VIII the Profit of it being now ingrossed amongst a few Goldsmiths and would yield above 10000 l. a-Year if it were heedfully regarded And then should the King himself keep his Mint in continual Work and not stand at the Devotion of others to supply Bullion He should never want Materials if Two Things were observed I. To permit all Men bringing in Bullion to trade outward the value thereof in Domestick Commodities at an abated Custom II. To abate the mighty Indraught of Foreign Manufactures and unnecessary Wares that the outward Trade might over-balance the inward which otherwise will as it hath done draw on this desperate Consumption of the Common Wealth P. 198. Which Anno 27 Edward III. was otherwise Ex scaccar inter rememb Regis 27 Ed. 3. for then the Exitus exceeded the Introitus by far and in the last Times of Queen Elizabeth As in Anno 1553. II. * Cottoni Posthuma P. 285. c. How our scandalous Clipping and scandalous Coining doth do it is now too notoriously known to all Men. I cannot but assuredly conceive that this intended Project of enhansing the Coin will trench both into the Honour the Justice and the Profit of my Royal Master c. †Honour Ali Estates do stand Magis famâ quam vi as Tacitus saith of Rome and Wealth in every Kingdom is one of the essential Marks of their Greatness and that is best exprest in the Measure and Purity of their Moneys Hence was it that so long as the Roman Empire a Pattern of the best Government held up their Glory and Greatness they ever maintained with little or no charge the Standard of their Coin But after the loose Times of Commodus had let in Need by Excess and so that shift of changing the Standard the Majesty of that Empire fell by degrees And as Vopiscus saith the Steps by which that Statee descended were visibly known most by the gradual alteration of their Coin And there is no surer Symptom of a Consumption in State than the Corruption of Money 1286. ☞ What Renown is left to the Posterity of Edward I. in amending the Standard Edw. I. both in Purity and Weight from that of elder and most barbarous Times must stick as a Blemish upon Princes that do the contrary Thus we see it was with Henry VI. who after he had begun with abating the Measure Hen. VI. he after fell to abating the Matter and granted Commissions to Missenden and others to practise Alchimy to serve his Mint The Extremity of the State in general felt this Aggrievance besides the Dishonour it laid upon the Person of the King When Henry VIII had gained as much of Power and Glory abroad Hen. VIII of Love and Obedience at home as ever any he suffered Shipwrack of all upon this Rock When his Daughter Queen Eliz. Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown she was happy in Council to mend that Error of her Father and to reduce the Standard to the ancient Parity and Purity of her Great Grandfather King Edward IV. Edw. IV. Justice To avoid the Trick of Permutation Coin was devised as a Rate and Measure of Merchandize and Manufactures which if mutable no Man can tell either what he hath or what he oweth No Contract can be certain and so all Commerce both Publick and Private destroyed and Men again enforced to Permutation with Things not subject to Wit or Fraud In the last part which is the Disprofit this enfeebling the Coin will bring both to his Majesty and the Common Wealth Profit I must distinguish the Moneys of Gold and Silver as they are Bullion or Commodities and as they are Measure the one the intrinsick Quality which is at the King's Pleasure as all other Measures the other the intrinsick Quantity of pure Metal which is in the Merchant to value c. What the King will suffer by it in the Rents of his Lands is demonstrated enough by the Alterations since the 18th Edward III. when all the Revenue of the Crown came into the Receipt Pondere Numero It will discourage a great proportion of the Trade in England P. 292. and so impair his Majesty's Customs c. The Moneys of Gold and Silver formerly Coined and abroad being richer than those intended will be made for the most part hereby Bullion and so Transported which I conceive to be none of the least Inducements that hath drawn so many Goldsmiths to side in this Project that they may be thereby Factors for the Strangers And if in 5 Edward VI. 3 Mary and 4 Elizabeth it appeareth by the Proclamations that a Rumour only of an Alteration in Coin caused such Effects punishing the Author of such Reports with Imprisonments and Pillory it cannot be doubted but the projecting a Change must be of far more Consequence and Danger to the State
scandalous Titles or Opinion but should receive all Encouragement imaginable When Rome was in a rising condition those that Informed in her favour were looked on as Men of Honour but as she went to ruin and was exposed by the Soldiers who should preserve her to the Sale of who gave most the Informers were looked upon to be only famous for Infamy as they are now in other declining Countries VI. Resolved That it is the Opinion of this Committee That it be Penal on any Person to Export English Bullion and the proof to lie on the Exporter I was extreamly glad when I read this Resolution for it will by some kind of necessity put us upon gaining the over balance of Trade which is the only thing next to Religion and Justice which we want to gain the Empire of the Vniverse as well as that of the Ocean Religion in Britain hath hitherto been for the most part Hist Disc maintained by immediate Influence from Heaven And the way of Justice and Gentleness hath had more Force in Britain than Arms. Under the wise Government of Aurelius the Emperour mounting into the British Throne crowned Lucius first of all Kings with the Royal Title of a Christian And he was not so much a Vassal as a Friend and Ally to the Romans And perceiving the Empire to be past Noon and their Lieutenants to comply with the Christians began to provide for future Generations and according to the Two grand Defects of Religion and Justice applyed himself to the establishment of both Which Act of Lucius so advanced him in the Opinion of Writers that they knew not when they had said enough of him Whereas before Britain was become a Glut of Wickedness and a Burden that God would endure no longer The Kingdoms of Christendom now in being had their rising from the fall of Rome and Vortigern a Native of this Isle first established here a free Kingdom four hundred and fifty Years after Christ and so left it to the Saxons So England hath a great Precedency in respect of the Antiquity of the Kingdom which as Beda observes was always a Monarch in a Heptarchy So it hath the Precedency likewise in respect of the Antiquity of the Christian Religion Joseph of Arimathea planted the Christian Religion immediately after the Passion of Christ in this Realm And Aristobulus one of them mentioned by St. Paul Dorotheus Rom. 6. was Episc Britannorum and likewise Simon Zelotes yea St. Peter and St. Paul himself as Theodoretus doth testifie The first Christian King in Europe was Lucius Surius And the first that ever advanced the Papacy of Rome was the Emperour Constantine born at York Edward the Third King of England was Anno 1338 created by the Emperour Vicarius Perpetuus Imperii And William the Third King of England may be the greatest Emperour that ever was if we are not wanting to him when he is not to us This Kingdom is held of God alone Cottoni Posthuma p. 87. Hist Disc p. 3. acknowledging no Superiour It was long before the Son of God was enwombed and whilst as yet Providence seem'd to close only with the Jewish Nation and to hover over it as a choice pick'd Place from all the Earth that with a gracious Eye surveying the forsaken condition of all other Nations it glanced on this Island Both Thoughts and Words reflected on Isles Isa 42.4.31.3.60.4.66.19 Isles of the Gentiles Isles afar off as if amongst them the Lord of all the Earth had found out some place that should be to him as the Gem of the Ring of this terrestrial Globe And if the ways of future Providence may be looked upon as a Gloss of those Prophecies we must confess that this Island was conceiv'd in the Womb thereof long before it was manifested to the World No sooner was the Scepter departed from Judah but both it and the Law-giver came hither as if we were the only White that was in God's Aim VII And shall we after all this for the sake of Self-interest be any ways wanting to Albion which God hath so highly honoured and so bountifully bless'd above all the Kingdoms in the World No sure for there is nothing expected from our Gratitude towards God and our Duty towards the Nation but what the Honourable Representatives thereof may make practicable by means of their principal Commitees of Religion Grievances Trade and Justice and the Power they have of sending for Persons Papers and Records VIII And since they are as deeply engaged as they are highly concerned to regulate the Coin of the Kingdom and to turn our Dross into Silver again I hope they will raise no small Fund or Sum of Money for it * In a printed Paper entituled Reasons for not laying any farther Impositions upon Coals there is this Particular Which in things of Choice and Luxury may be tolerable but in Cases of Necessity must be extream grievous especially to many Trades-men out of the Causes and Effects of Extravagancy and Covetousness I mean such Extravagancies for the most part as promote excessive and consumptive Importations And such Covetousness as makes against the Laws of God and the World Twelve and sometimes Twenty per Cent of Money by Interest Procuration Continuation c. It is the Opinion of some others as well as my own That all Masters of English Ships should be Taxed abroad together with the Factors for they are come now to act in half Commissions c. with the Factors And to speak with all Modesty they gain above 12 per Cent. more than the Merchants do by more advantageous Trading And there are a great many concern'd in this Craft that should refund a great deal for the present Occasion IX And if our Trade and Justice be regulated together with our Coin and Religion honestly and 〈…〉 our King 's most excellent Majesty may use a greater Style of Soveraignty than this of King Edgar wherewith and with a few other Words I conclude Ego Edgarus Anglorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnicumque Regum Insularumque Oceani Britannici circumjacentium cunctarumque Nationum quae infra eam includuntur Imperator ac Dominus And now I think from what hath been said or rather shewn it may be seen a little how much God and Nature have done for us more than we endeavour to do for our selves And I wish that any part of this Enterprize may answer the Ends for which the whole was design'd with all Sincerity and Good-will For else I would have robb'd and stollen from the Authorities I have acknowledged transmigrated their Dispensatâ—â—iâ—s into the Wrong Appropriation and made those Doctors Opinions pass for my own who am the most unfit Person to prescribe any thing for the Distempers of State in a Corrupted Time FINIS
AN ESSAY ON THE Coin and Commerce OF THE KINGDOM Trade and Treasure Which are Twins Being the only SUPPORTERS thereof NEXT TO Religion and Justice For the Merchandize of it is better than the Merchandize of Silver and the Gain thereof than fine Gold LONDON Printed and Published for the Consideration of the Present and Future Sessions of Parliament 1695. To the High Court of Parliament and particularly to the Grand Committee of Trade appointed Mart. 19 Feb. 94. to sit every Tuesday Thursday and Saturday in the Afternoon and to the Honourable Committee appointed to receive Proposals for prevention of Clipping and Coining SIRS SInce I expose the following Particulars for the Publick Good and do most humbly submit them to your Honourable Protection I hope no particular Person will be displeased with me for relating only what some others think fit to say c. PART I. I. SOmetimes before the late Revolution I have heard the S AVH of some other Countries compare the English in many parallel respects to the Jews and Greeks Two Nations very honourable and brave in their Ancestry but Ignoble and Base in the Degeneracy of their Descendants for which they now both suffer both under a Heathen and a Christian Yoke from which Good Lord deliver us And it should be the oftner in our Litany because the Wise Venetians more worthily than the others do value themselves on a prospect of futurity at a very great distance and will never in their Senate enact any thing as to day until they consider and see what will come of it to morrow c. II. The Form and State of the Jewish Government was often chang'd its Lustre obscured and its Puissance and Grandeur lessen'd and impair'd according to the Degrees of the People's Transgressions Who drew Iniquity with Cords of Vanity and sinned as it were with a Cart-rope For which their Silver was turned into Dross and their Justice into Wormwood their Cities were burned with Fire their Lands Strangers devoured it in their presence the People were oppressed every one by another and the rewards of their own hands were given them And at last they were entirely left without a Sceptre and brought under the Roman Yoke as our Religion had lately been had not the Providence of God protected it by means of his Heroick and most Excellent Majesty and his late most religious and Royal Consort of Famous and Everlasting Memory III. And as the Jews were so were the Greeks who became first so careless of their Honour and afterwards of their Countrey 's minding at last only their private Interest that when they lost Coiro Docastron they laugh'd at it and slightingly said by way of Preface and Introduction to their future Misfortune and Distress That it signify'd but as the words do a Pig-stye But soon after the Turks taught them by woful Experience to understand what it is not to understand and redress Grievances in their prime before they come to an irreparable pass IV. The great Grievances which now we all complain of and not a little but much too late are our Clipp'd Silver and Dross-money and our decay of Treasure and Trade together And since four such sad Calamities have befallen this Kingdom in such a time of War let us first enquire into the Causes of them the knowledge of the Cause being the first step to the Care Now the general Cause of so general a Calamity not altogether unlike that of the Jews and Greeks both in Cause and Effect must needs be first our general Degeneracy and our little regard to Religion Grievances Trade and Justice for which there are appointed four principal Committees at the opening of every Sessions of Parliament V. * And here it may be noted that the Dutch c. have of late Years exhausted both Money and Goods from us and have paid us for both but in our own Coin I mean 〈◊〉 Money as they Coined and Clipped for such kind of Commerce A particular and a very considerable Cause of the decay of our Treasure in general I mean of our Money and Manufacture is the Over balance of Trade which the greatest part of the Wiser World have long since gained from us and whereby they have exhausted our Treasure either in Bills Money Bullyon or Goods which as some of them especially have managed the Matter hath been almost equal gain to them and the like loss to us For if for instance we import one Year with another Goods to the value of Three Millions Sterling and do export Goods but to the value of Two Millions the Nation must yearly lose a Million one way or another and will be in the same State and Condition of a Gentlemen that spends Fifteen hundred Pounds a Year out of a Thousand Pounds per Annum if Matters be not remedied In Edward the Third's time the English had the Over-balance of Trade in their favour and that King having prohibited the Exportation of our Wool ordained new Coin for Conveniency c. having the Advantage of War by that Advantage of Trade and having many Voluntiers for Men's Courage sympathize with their Coin as it is base or noble invaded France with a Valiant and Victorious Army and was the first King that Quarter'd the Arms of France with those of England England under Queen Elizabeth had likewise great Advantages in War with Spain c. by means of the Advantage it then also had in Trade as well as it hath by Nature and Situation But in the four latter Reigns which succeeded hers and preceeded his present Majesty's in a slothful and drowsie Peace as my Lord Bacon calls it in his Advancement of Learning the Princes and their People like one another neglecting first the Reformed Religion next the Justice then the Trade and at last the Treasure of the Nation as well as the State of War which Queen Elizabeth left it in did lose in general not only their Courage but so much of their Coin and other Treasure as would non-plus the Arithmetick of Archimedes who undertook to write the number of the Sands to cast up an Account thereof For the most modest Computations do reckon from Matters of the most Infallible Fact that from the First of King James the First to the last of King James the Second this Nation lost one Year with another above Two Millions Sterling by Trading only with two or three other Nations on unequal and disadvantageous Terms And King Charles the Second was made so sensible by Mr. Fortrey and others of the vast Advantage which the French then had of us by our so disadvantageous Trading with them in particular that he promised the Nation a Council of Trade consisting of some of the Principal Merchants of each Company of some of the best qualified Gentlemen in the Kingdom and for the greater Honour thereof some of His Majesties own Privy Council but he promised like a Merchant c. And if One hundred Pounds As Sir
England will not cause a Transportation of most of that that is now Currant to be Minted in the Netherlands and from them brought back again whereby his Majesties Mint will fail by the Exported benefit 4. Whether the advancing the Silver Coin if it produce the former Effects will not cause the Markets to be unfurnished of present Coin to drive the Exchange when most of the Old will be used in Bullion 5. Whether the higher we raise the Coin at home we make not thereby our Commodities beyond Sea the cheaper 6. Whether the greatest profit by this Enhaunsing will not grow to the ill Members of the State that have formerly culled the weightiest Pieces and sold them to the Stranger-Merchants to be Transported V. And at the same time these general Rules were Collected out of the Consultations at Court concerning Money and Bullion 1. Gold and Silver have a two-fold Estimation in the Intrinsick as they are Monies they are the Princes Measures given to his People and this is a Prerogative of Kings In the Intrinsick they are Commodities valuing each other according to the plenty or scarcity and so all other Commodities by them and that is the sole Power of Trade 2. The Measures in a Kingdom ought to be constant It is the Justice and Honour of the King for if they be altered all Men 'T is just now so with our Guineas c. at that Instant are deceived in their precedent Contracts either for Lands or Money and the King most of all for no Man knoweth then either what he hath or what he oweth 3. This made the Lord Treasurer Burleigh in 1573. when some Projectors had set on foot a matter of this nature to tell them that they were worthy to suffer death for attempting to put so great a dishonour on the Queen and detriment and discontent upon the People for to alter this publick Measure is to leave all the Markets of the Kingdom unfurnished And what will be the Mischief the Proclamations of 5 Ed. VI. 3 Mariae 5 Edw. VI. 3 Mariaet 4 Eliz. and 4 Eliz. will manifest when but a rumour of the like produced that Effect so far that besides the Faith of the Princes to the contrary delivered in their Edicts they were enforced to cause the Magistrates in every Shire respectively to Constrain the People to furnish the Markets to prevent a Mutiny 4. To make this Measure then at this time short is to raise all Prizes or to turn the Money or Measure into Disise or Bullion when it is richer by seven in the hundred in the Mass than the new Monies and yet of no more value in the Market 5. Hence of necessity it must follow that there will not in a long time be sufficient Minted of the New to drive the Exchange of the Kingdom and so all Trade at one Instant at a stand and in the mean time the Markets unfurnish'd which how it may concern the quiet of the State is worthy care 6. And thus far as Money is a Measure 7. Now as it is a Commodity it is respected and valued by the Intrinsick quality And first the one Metal to the other 8. All Commodities are prized by plenty or scarcity by dearness or cheapness the one by the other If therefore we desire our Silver to buy Gold as it of late hath done we must let it be the Cheaper and less in Proportion valued and so contrary for one equivalent Proportion in both will bring in neither We see the proof thereof by the unusual quantity of Gold brought lately to the Mint by reason of the price for we rate it above all other Countries and Gold may be bought too dear To furnish then this way the Mint with both is altogether impossible 9. And at this time it was apparently proved both by the best Artists and Merchants most acquainted with the Exchange in both the Examples of the Mint-Masters in the Rix Dollar and Real of Eight that Silver here is of equal value and Gold above with the Foreign parts in the Intrinsick and that the fallacy presented to the Lords by the Mint-Masters is only in the Nomination or Intrinsick quality 10. But if we desire both it is not raising of the value that doth it but the balancing of Trade for buy we in more then we sell of other Commodities be the Money never so high prized we must part with it to make the disproportion even If we sell more than we buy the contrary will follow 11. And this is plain in Spain's necessities for should that King advance to a double rate his Real of Eight yet needing by reason of the barrenness of his Country more of Foreign Wares than he can counter vail by Enchange with his own he must part with his Money and gaineth no more by Exhauncing his Coin but that he payeth a higher price for the Commodities he buyeth if his work of raising be his own But if we shall make Improvement of Gold and Silver being the Staple Commodity of his State we then advancing the price of his abase to him our own Commodities 12. To shape this Kingdom to the fashion of the Netherlands were to frame a Royal Monarch by a Society of Merchants Their Country is a continual Fair and so the price of Money must rise and fall to fit their occasions We see this by raising the Exchange at Frankford and other Places at the usual time of their Marts 13. The frequent and daily Change in the low Countries of their Monies is no such injustice to any there as it would be here For being all either Mechanicks or Merchants they can Rate accordingly their Labour or their Wares whether it be Coin or other Merchandise to the present condition of their Money in Exchange 14. And our English Merchants to whose profession it properly belongs do so according to the just Intrinsick value of their Foreign Coin in all Barter of Commodities or Exchange except at usance which we that are ruled and ty'd by the Intrinsick Measure of Money in all our constant Reckonings and Annual Bargains at home cannot do 15. And for us then to raise our Coin at this time to equal their Proportions were but to render our selves to a perpetual incertainty for they will raise upon us daily then again which if we of Course should follow else receive no Profit by this present Change we then destroy the Policy Justice Honour and Tranquility of our State at home for ever If we go on debasing our Money Manufacture and Navigation to make even with the Dutch we may now in a very short time undo the Nation and there is nothing that can recover us at present but the Balance Regulation and Advancement of Trade which the King 's most Excellent Majesty hath so often recommended to his Parliament and by which means Edward III. got that Advantage of invading France and dealing with it as he did to the great Honour and
Interest of England VI. Edward III. having that Game to play with France either he must win or lose it his Spirit was too big to sit still and yet Historical Discourse of the Vniformity of the Government of England from the first times to the Reign of Edward III. Printed 1647. Part 2. p. 64. pre-advising himself about the Poverty of the People and that their Patience would be spent soon after their Supplies if they continually saw much going out and nothing coming in he laid a Plat-form for the augmenting of the Treasure of the Kingdom as well for the benefit of the People as of the Crown By Taxes * P. 65. 1. And altho' it be true that Edward III. was a King of many Taxes above all his Predecessors yet cannot this be imputed as a blot to his Honour or Liberty of the People For the King was not so unwise as either to desire it without evident cause or to spend it in secret or upon his own private Interest nor so weak and irresolv'd as not to employ himself and his Soldiers to the utmost to bring to pass his Intentions nor so unhappy as to fail of the desirable Issue of what he took in hand So as tho' the People parted with much Money yet the Kingdom gained much Honour and Renown and becoming a Terror to their Neighbours enjoy'd what they had in fuller security and so were no Losers by the Bargain in the Conclusion For the People had quid pro quo by the Advance of Trade P. 66. 2. ☜ wherein the King shewed himself the Cape Merchant of the World Certainly Men's Parts in those Times were of vast reach that could manage such Wars settle such a Government and lay such a Foundation of a Treasury by Trade a thing necessary to this Island next unto its own being as may appear not only in regard of the Riches of this Nation but in regard of the Strength thereof and in regard of the maintenance of the Crown The two latter of which being no other than a natural effluence of the former it will be sufficient to touch the same in order to the thing in hand Now as touching that ☞ it is evident that the Riches of any Nation are supported by the Conjuncture of three regards I. That the natural Commodities of the Nation may be improv'd II. That the poorer sort of People be set on work III. P. 67. 3. That the Value of Money be rightly balanc'd 1. For as on the one part tho' the People be never so laborious if the natural Commodities of the Island be not improved by their Labour the People can never grow much richer than barely for Subsistence during their Labour And here let me humbly presume to say ☞ that so long as this Nation is over balanc'd by others in Trade we can get nothing but by one anothers Loss 2. The Endeavour were to advance Manufacture and principally such of them as are made of the staple Commodities amongst all which Wool had the Precedency as being the most principal and ancient Commodity of the KINGDOM and the Manufacture of Wool of long use but had received little Encouragement before these Times For that it formerly had been the principal Flower in the Flemish Garden P. 68. and nourished from this Nation by the continual supply of Wool that it received from hence Which was the principal Cause of the Ancient League between the House of Burgundy and this Crown But Edward III. was too well acquainted with the Flemings Affairs P. Ditto by a joint Engagement with them in the Wars with France ☞ and therein had gained so good an Opinion amongst them that he might have adventured to have chang'd a Complement for a Courtesie The Staples beyond the Sea were now taken away He now inhibiteth the Importation of Foreign Cloths and having gained these two steps onward of his way he represents to the Flemings their unsettled Condition 11. Edw. 3. Cap. 2 3 5. by these bordering Wars with France the peaceable Condition of England and Freedom of the People Then propounds to them an Invitation to come over into England P. Ditto ☜ promiseth them share and share-like with his own People with such other Immunities as they took his offer came over and brought their Manufacture with them which could never after be recall'd So as now the Wool and the Manufacture live together P. Ditto and like to Man and Wife so long as they care for one another both will thrive but if they come to play their Games apart both will be Losers in the Conclusion Another means to advance Trade was the settling of a Rule upon Exportation and Importation P. 70. 3. ☜ which wrought a double Effect I. That Importation brought in more Profit than Exportation disbursed II. That both Exportation and Importation were made by Shipping belonging to this Nation so far as it did consist with the benefit of this Nation III. That the Exportation was regulated to the Over-plus saving the main Stock at home 1. The truth of the first will be evident from this ground P. Ditto ☜ That no Nation can be rich that receives more dead Commodities from abroad than it can spend at home or vend into foreign Parts especially if it be vended in its proper kind and not in Money And therefore the Laws provided 27 Edw. III. ☜ That no Merchant should export more Money than he imported and what he imported must have been of the New Stamp which it seems was inferiour in value to the Old 2. The Second is no less beneficial for as it is in War P. 71. so in all Trades the greater the number is that is employ'd the more effectual the issue will be 3. The Third and Last Consideration is as necessary as any of the former for if Trade be maintained out of the main Stock ☜ the Kingdom in time must be brought to Penury The last means that was set on foot in the Reign of Edward III. for the Advance of Trade was the regulating the Mint P. 74. ☜ and the Currant of Money This is the Life and Soul of Trade for tho' Exchange of Commodities may do much yet it cannot be for all because it is not the Lot of all to have Exchangeable Commodities nor to work for Apparel and Victual Now in the managing of this Trick of Money ☞ Two things are principally looked unto P. Ditto 1. That the Money be good and currant 2. That it should be plentiful As touching the Excellency of the Money several Rules were made 25 Edw. 3. Stat. 5. cap 13. 6 Edw. 3. cap. 2 and 3. as against embasing of Money against Foreign Money not made Currant and against Counterfeit and False Money For according to the Goodness of the Money ☞ so will the Trade be more or less For the Merchant will rather lose in the Price of his