in ancient times the great glory of the Nation renowned for gaining many signal battles against our Enemies what laws have we for importing bow-staves and what great number of Families were maintained by that trade c. whereas now neither are there Archers nor bowyers nor bow-staves hardly in the whole Kingdom I wish we do not too soon repent the disuse of those our famous weapons to prevent which Q. Eliz. used her endeavour both by laws and encouragement and to second her Sr. Tho. Smith writ an ingenious book in commendation of Archery the loss of which weapon I rather lament then hope to recover But those workmen doubtless provided themselves other trades as Archery decaied and this age feels no want of emploiment from that decay neither will the next from that of clothing But cloth may perhaps come again into request and then the tentered thin Dutch-cloth the light searges of France and the effeminate Silks of Italy may be despised Perhaps also which I see his Majesty most prudently endeavours some new trading place may be discovered which may take off our Cloth in greater abundance then France or Holland did Or if this happen not yet by applying our selves to fishing we shall in short time think our present failure an happy increase Our wooll has ever been accounted the great riches of the Kingdom By Pol. Virgil England is call'd terra de lana and our wool the Golden-fleece by reason of the great quantity of Gold and Silver which came in yearly to buy it Yet in the Sea at our doores lie greater treasures then in our wool if we were not so slothful as to suffer our neighbours to Rob us of it whilst we stand idle spectators of our ruine 4. It is also objected that the French and Dutch may in time work us out of trading in other parts by underselling us they undermine us 't is true not by underselling us constantly but by underselling us chiefly at first and their trading being in societies and companies their losses are shared amongst so many that a small one is hardly felt by any wherefore if they find we have a settled trade in any place they sell first to their own loss and when by this means they have beaten us out they raise their price higher then we did Which prohibiting exportation will not hinder there being no way of blowing up this mine of theirs but by such a countermine of our own If the Dutch have either more skill in making Cloth or by faring more hardly or having provision cheaper from Ireland and taking less fraight can afford their Cloth cheaper they must of necessity in time beat us out of trade unless we learn to work or live as they do But if all the superfluous wooll had a good price and good custome set upon it would it not be a good antidote against this underselling us I am sure it would against their underselling us by what they make of our wooll and far better then endeavouring to force the stream and fighting with Impossibility 5. It has been demanded by some since our Clothiers cannot work out our woolls what is become of the wooll which lay on the Graziers hands in An. 1666. at which time say they there was as great quantity unsold as at present Tho this I might in part deny yet I will grant that great quantities did then ly upon our hands because during the War and the plague there was little of it wrought in our own and less exported into forein Countries the King of France at that time commanded all the English wooll which came into his dominions which was no small quantity to be burnt for fear of infection And therefore the War and Plague ceasing our wooll was again in greater measure transported to foreiners then before It can not therefore be concluded that our Clothiers can manufacture all the Wooll of England because at this juncture we had more and afterwards less wooll upon our hands But we still loose the point which is concerning superfluous wooll only if the Clothiers can work it all let them do it we shall all rejoice at it if they cannot I hope they will acknowledge themselves unreasonable if they oppose what we request 6. Lastly they urge that the French cannot make any except very course Cloth without our wooll Which I deny and appeal to them who know any thing of the South parts of France whether they make not good Cloth at and about Carcassone Bourge en Berry and diverse other places without the help of our woolls Some Turky Merchants know also that their Carcason Cloth findes good prices and many buyers in the Levant But grant it true that they can make but little besides course cloth without our wooll and suppose it were possible to keep our wooll from them yet if they will be content to wear their own course Cloth as most certainly they will and must rather then buy ours what shall the not-exporting wooll advantage the Clothier or the Merchant I would fain ask those who are so unwilling to have wooll exported whether they will give security to take of all the wooll yearly growing in the Nation at a reasonable rate suppose 10. pound per Pack but if they refuse let them not think it reasonable the poor Grazier and Farmor or indeed the Land-lord must bear all the loss and damage 'T is too great a burthen on them who already bear the cheif and almost only burthen of the Nation V. For remedy of all the disorders in this matter I shall propose nothing but what I conceive the laws of the Nation and Acts of Parliament enjoin As 1. That those who work up our wooll in England may buy when and where they please and as cheap as they can 2. That no broker or forestaller shall be suffered to buy wooll but that it shall be bought either by the Clothier himself or the Exporter but not by any man to sell it again in England unless in such Towns as Halifax c. Where the poor workmen are not able to buy any considerable quantities as formerly it was 3. That no Merchant stranger shall be suffered to buy any Wooll till All-Saints or St. Martins-day but then any may buy and export what they please 4. That every sack of Wooll that is exported shall pay such customes to the King as the Parliament in their wisdom shall think meet 5. That no Man under such a degree as shall be judged meet shall wear other then woollen outward garments 6. That all forein woollen and Silk-manufactures whatever be confiscate 7. That provision be made for vending our Cloth beyond Sea and a prohibition made of the Comodities coming from such Countries as refuse our Cloth as the Parliament shall think fit according to the example of former times 8. That the Irish wooll be prevented from coming into England unless in order to its sale to strangers 9. That the multitude of Acts for Cloth-working be reduced into one plain clear law remedying the innumerable abuses in mingling Carding Spinning Weaving Scouring Milling Rowing Tentring Dying c. Which done it 't will be easy to prevent exporting undressed and undyed Clothes Of which Sr. Walter Raleigh justly complains as prejudicial to the Kingdom 10. That the Aulnager may be countenanced in and be put in mind of duely executing his office not suffering his seals to be sold by dozens to Clothiers and Shearmen to fix to their own Clothes at their pleasure without being measured or visited 11. That no English-man be permitted to set up for himself in relation to clothing till he have served 7 years apprenticeship at the trade Which will lessen the out-cry of Clothiers for want of work encourage honest and skilful work-wen and give credit to the employment which now is disgraced by those whom ignorance not an ill trade reduces to necessity and finally it will give reputation to our Cloths which for want of it have much lost their vent beyond-sea as well as in our own Nation 12. That for encrease of our People a voluntary register be permitted and liberty given to all strangers to buy lands to set up manufacture at their pleasure and to live with freedom liberty and the priviledges of English-men Following in this the excellent example of great King Ed. 3 that there be care taken to prevent idleness so frequent in this Nation since Queen Elizabeths Acts for releiving beggars a thing most piously designed yet proving an encouragement to thei very and Idleness a charge to the industrious inhabitants of every Parish and an injury to the whole Nation FINIS
Thus by the most modest computation and such as no Man can gain-say there is lost upon every Pack of Wool 7 pound which supposing all the Wool of that Level sold it is evident 12320. pound is quite lost every year in that little place only which is very near 6s per Acre throo the whole Level lost in the Rent By which pray y' judge how many Millions are yearly lost throo all England by this want of a limited exportation Who then can shew so much cruelty as to blame poor People who to prevent some of this damage do adventure to help themselves by exportation tho they had much rather be content with a moderate price in their own Country And truly t is no wonder that W. C. complains of the difficulty and impossibility of hindring Exportation yet glories of his diligence in ruining so many poor and industrious Persons for doing what he confesseth impossible to hinder But our Superiours may conclude since t is either impossible or extream difficult to hinder Exportation and that there may arise troubles as some have been killed for indeavouring it it is much better and more natural to permit Exportation under the most advantageous terms their wisdom shall think fit For in truth is it not very absurd to imagine that because we cannot make so much of our Woolas possibly may be made that therefore we must make nothing of it like some perverse and obstinate Land-lords who chuse rather to loose all their Rent then abate the least part of it 3. A limited Exportation will be more for the advantage of our own Woollen-trade and less for that beyond Sea then the hindring of it has been For if strangers might come hither to buy the Wool tho they bought greater quantities yet should they pay dearer for it then they do at present and the dearer their Commodities are the dearer must they sell their manufacture consequently the more easily we may beat them out of their Trade For when a poor Man none else now will venture to transport it comes with a fraight of Wool into France or else where they make him take their own price for it his necessities and his danger forbid him carying home his Marchandize as well as staying there to contend for a better price but being slenderly paid for his charges and little or nothing for his pains and hazard returning thinks he comes off very well whilst undiscovered Yet to have the names of Merchants and to gain perhaps somtimes more then 12 d a day to live with more ease tho with greater hazzard possibly some may still be invited to continue this traffick notwithstanding any the severest prohibition After this manner strangers now and will hereafter have our Wooll almost as cheap as our-selves can buy it But were the Trade laid open Englishmen might still buy their wooll at reasonable prices but strangers must pay the dearer for it as the custome Officers fees fraight factorage and other charges amount unto which will perhaps be equal to the first penny paid for the Wooll it self Thus strangers shall pay twice-as-much for our Wooll as the English clothier who therefore may undersel them and make more advantage in the price of his Cloth by the exportation of Wooll then ever he did by the prohibition of it 4. My next reason against the hindring Exportation of Wool is because by our forefathers it never was prohibited unless upon some great occasion and for some small time till Anno 1647. and then also upon pretence that there was not Wool enough to furnish our own necessities Which if true might be because of the great destruction of Sheep by the Wars Yet there seems to be an other ground for that act The government of that time having been assisted in the civil Wars by great numbers of the Wooll-workmen who liked much better to Rob and plunder for halfe-a-crown a day then toile at a melancholy work for sixpence a day to incourage and reward them I say to weaken the Gentry they made this prohibition But to make this reason good let us run over the whole History or as much as we can finde either in our Acts of Parliament or creditable Historians concerning this Wooll business with all convenient brevity § 1. Tho there were several ordinances concerning Wooll in other Kings Reigns yet the Prince did not seriously begin to set himself to make the best advantage of Wool till the ninth of Edward the third at which time all Wooll-workers were invited to come and settle in England to have places assign'd them many privileges and liberties granted and wages from the King till they could gain a livelyhood by their art c. whereupon many Flemings and others chiefly Subjects to the Duke of Burgundy repaired hither and set up the manufacture of Wool in England § 2. 11. E. 3. c. 4. It was made felony to carry Wool out of the Realm till otherwise ordain'd This prohibition saith Speed was made to shew the Flemings the necessity they had of leaguing with England as soon after they did and the prohibition was taken off or as Walsingham saies to humble the Flemings qui plus saccos quam Anglos venerabantur The same year it was enacted no doubt for the better vending their Wool the Exportation whereof being prohibited made it of small value at home that none should wear other then English Cloth Except the King Queen and their Children But persons of such degrees might use forein furs and face part of their garments with Silk Also that no beyond Sea Cloths should be brought into England and that forein Cloth-workers should have several priviledges Whereupon saies Speed many presently came over § 2. 14. E. 3. Was granted to the King the 9 th Lamb 9 th Fleece and 9 th Sheaf for two Years also 40 s upon every sack of Wooll and 40 s upon every 300 Woolfels transported some say also that not long before this was granted to the King half the Wooll of the Communality and nine marks upon every sack of Wool of the Clergy By these great subsidies it is probable the King had great quantity of Wooll upon his hands and about this time the King sent the Bishop of Lincoln into Flanders with 10000 sacks of Wooll which he sold for 20 pound sterling a Sack Knighton And in his fifteenth year ordained that no Merchant or other should carry any Woolls out of the Realm till after Michaelmas by which time t is probable he had sold his own but after that every Merchand Stranger or other might freely buy and export his Wooll paying the due customes and that those who had Woolls should be compelled to sell them according to the price and sort in the Country to accomplish the Wools granted to the King which afterwards was disanulled § 4. 23. E. 3. The King stopt the Woolls in the land till the Merchants had fined with him for the same Holinsh 26. E. 3. the
staple was brought to London to the loss of the Merchands but advantage of the King who got by it 1200 pound that year Knighton § 5. 27. E. 3. This year a great advantage befel the Nation for because the young Earle of Flanders maried not with the King's Daughter as he had promised but with the Daughter of France or because the Flemings observed not the agreements which the King made in the life-time of Jaques de Arteville who procured of the King that the Marts might be kept in several Towns in Flanders the King removed the Staples and Marts of wooll from the Earls Towns establishing them in several Towns of England Newcastle Canterbury c. Some of which not being Port-Towns he afterwards changed for such and withall regulated the whole trade with certain ordinances for which I refer you to the Statutes § 6. 27. E. 3. 50 s were given the King by Act of Parliament on every sack of wooll transported By which grant it was thought the King receaved 1000 marks per diem Holin § 7. 37. E. 3. The Staple was removed to Callice putting the Town into the hands of certain Merchants that the Trade might be the more secure for them And not long after it was again returned to Towns in England but most of them Port-Towns for it was very usual to remove the Staples Holin 38. Ed. 3. was granted to the King 26 s-8 d of every sack of wooll transported for 3. years § 8. What was ordained by our succeeding Princes was either in conformation or regulation of what was already established according to the advantage of the King and People But that is very remarkable which is recorded by Hen. de Knighton 14. R. 2. being a case somewhat like ours at this present He describing a great dearth and calamity of the poor in this Nation tho there was Corn enough laid up in private hands to serve the whole Nation five years neither was the Corn then at any extraordinary price at last gives the reason of it to be want of money and this he ascribes to the not vending our wooll whereof he saies some men had 3 others 4 years wooll upon their hands tho now there be many who have 5 years-wooll unsold And this came to pass saith he because the English Merchants were forbid transporting wooll wherefore the year following liberty was granted them to transport wooll whither they pleased In those daies saith he wooll was so cheap that a stone of the best chosen wooll was sold for 3 s and in Leister for 2 s or 20 d pence Now three shillings in those daies was as much as 9 s at present and therefore dearer by 3 s a stone then it is sold for at present 6 s being a good price at this time § 9. 8. H. 6. An act was made to regulate the Merchandstrangers who exported our wooll and An. 27. H. 6. It was decreed that till our Cloths were accepted in Brabant no marchandice growing or wrought there should be brought into England upon pain of forfeiture § 10. 3. E. 4. An act was made concerning exportation of wooll and then it was likewise ordered that no cloth wrought beyond Sea should be brought into England none should buy woolls except he wrought it himself till after Bartholmewtide and 22. H. 8. not till after the Ascension of our Lady nor a stranger before the Purification no woollen yarne or cloth should be exported unfull'd and 3. H. 8. none undressed And an 1 of Queen Mary as also in the first of Queen Elizabeth their Parliaments gave them 33 s 4 d on every sack of wooll and every 240 woolfells transported by a Native 3 pound 6 s-8 d on the same transported by strangers and this to continue during their lives § 11. An. 1. Jac. A subsidy upon wooll transported was granted the King for his life-time a denizen was to pay 33s 4 d. a stranger 3 pound 6 s 8 d for every sack And there has not been a Prince from Ed. 3. to Ch. 1. who have not gained considerable revenues by the exporting wooll III. Out of which collections you may observe 1. That this wooll-trade beyond Sea was alwaies accounted a very great advantage both to the King and Subjects Which was the reason why it was so carefully managed and more laws about it then any one Subject whatsoever Nay scarce has there been any Parliament since the beginning of E. 3. wherein somwhat hath not been established concerning it 2. That no absolute prohibition of exporting it was ever enacted till the Reign of Char. 1. nor then till 1647. at which time neither could he be said to Reign Temporary ones indeed there have been but those of ill consequence to the Nation 3. That sumptuary laws concerning wearing vending our Cloth and the like were alwaies enacted pari passu with those concerning wooll-working For it is very advantagious to the Kingdom that much of it should be spent here Whereby many workmen would be maintained and less forein unnecessary trifles imported which now take away much of our money 4. That it was thought sufficient advantage to the Nation that they might buy wooll when and where they pleased but whatsoever wooll was sold by Strangers especially was not sold till after a certain time fixed That it was not to be bought by Brokers that what was bought by foreiners to be exported paid greater duties then what was bought by the Natitves which cautions alone if well regulated would render the exportation at this day very advantageous certainly much more then to let it putrify and moth-eat in our store-houses 5. My next reason for the permission of Exportation is because it will better his Majesties customes for it being impossible absolutely to hinder the exportation Men naturally inclining to run any hazard rather then apparent beggary by suffering their goods to perish in their hands the customs must of necessity be lessened What perishes un wrought and what is exported by stealth pay no custome But besides this it was the frequent use of our Fathers to help the Prince and ease the Subject by imposing taxes upon the wooll Exported Somtimes 50 s a pack sometimes more as occasion required which was the ordinary way being also a most easy one of gratifying the Prince If it be answered the customes would advance much more if the wooll were exported in manufacture we confess and seriously desire that our wooll were manufactured and so exported and sold Tho this was never yet done in England nor do I think can be But our question here is concerning our superfluous wooll which remains after we have here made or vended what we can after the Cloth-market is furnished or our workmens hands all emploied 6. The reason of the decay of Clothing is not exportation of wooll as W. C. supposes but the contrary For the decay if any be is since this prohibition so that by hindring this we apply a wrong remedy to