only arise Riches to the Subjects rendring a Nation considerable but also increase of Revenue and therein power and strength to the Soveraign and England having so potent a Neighbour it 's absolutely necessary for its preservation to advance it for every Nation is more or less considerable according to the proportion it hath of Trade and it 's more or less enriched by the ballance of its foreign Trade If France vent more of our Commodities than we consume of theirs in value the overplus returns to us in Treasure but if France consume less of ours than we of their Commodities England will be impoverished for that Treasure which is brought in by the ballance of our foreign Trade doth only enrich us How the balance of Trade stands between England and France it 's worthy of your grave Consideration The French King not long since having a design to prohibit all Trade with England the French Merchants not well resenting it petitioned his Majesty to the contrary and delivered a Certificate unto the most Christian King of all the Commodities by them exported and of all the English Manufactures and Commodities by them imported into France which was as followeth There is transported out of France into England great quantities of Velvets plain and wrought Sattins plain and wrought Cloth of gold and silver Armoysins and other Merchandises of Silk which are made at Lyons and are valued to be yearly worth one hundred and fifty thousand pounds In Silks Stuffs Taffaties Poadesoyes Armoysins Cloths of gold and silver Tabbies plain and wrought Silks Ribbons and other such like Stuffs as are made at Toures valued to be worth above three hundred thousand pounds by the year In silk Ribbonds Gellowns Laces and Buttons of silk which are made at Paris Rouen Chaimont St. Estienes in Forreâ—â—â— above a hundred and fifty thousand pounds by the year A great quantity of Serges which are made as Chaâ—â—us Charles Estimines and Rhemes and good quantities of Serges made at Amiens Creveceour Blicourt and other Towns in Picardy above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year In Bever Demicasters and Felt-Hats made in the City and Suburbs of Paris besides many other made at Rouen Lyons and other places above one hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year In Feathers Belts Girdles Hat-bands Fans Hoods Masks gilt and wrought looking-Glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Bracelets and other like mercenary War above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year In Pins Needles Box-Combs Tortois-shell-Combs and such like above twenty thousand pounds a year In Papers of all sorts which are made at Auvergane Poictou Limosin Champaigne and Normany about one hundred thousand pounds a year In Perfume and trimmed Gloves which are made at Paris Rouen Vendosm Chremont and other places about ten thousand pounds a year In all sorts of Iron-mongers Wares that are made in Forrests Annergine and other places about forty thousand pounds a year In linnen Cloth that 's made in Britany and Normandy as well course as fine there 's transported into England above four hundred thousand pounds a year In Houshold-stuff consisting of Beds Matresses Coverlets Hangings Fringes of silk and other Furnitures above one hundred thousand pounds a year In Wines from Gaseoigne Nantois and other places on the River of Loyer and also from Bourdeaux Rochel Nants Rouen and other places are transported into England above six hundred thousand pounds a year In Aqua-vitae Sider Vinegar Verjuice and such like above one hundred thousand pounds a year In Saffron Castle-Soap Honey Almonds Olives Capers Prunes and such like above one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year Besides five or six hundred Vessels of Salt laden at Marone Rochel Borage the Isle of Oloron and Isle of Rhee transported into England and Holland of a very great value So that by this it doth appear that the yearly value of such Commodities as are transported from France into England amount unto above six and twenty hundred thousand pounds And the Commodities exported out of England into France consisting chiefly of woollen Cloaths Serges knit Stockings Lead Pewter Allum Coals and other Commodities which do not amount unto above ten hundred thousand pounds a year By which it appears that our Trade with France is at least sixteen hundred thousand pounds per annum clear loss to this Kingdom The French King hereupon laid aside his Design So that in few years if some timely Expedient be not applied all the money of this Nation will be drawn into France there being not above eight millions if so much of pounds in this Kingdom which will be the impoverishing of England but greatly to the enriching of France and they melting down the Coyn of England by their allay gain near one third France by our sloth flourish by our foâ—ly grow wise by our excess wax proud by our money rich by the valour of England made potent and enabled to fight against us As the middle Region of the Air is wont to frame its Thunder-bolts Hail and dreadful Thunder against the Earth out of the Exhalations it draws from the Earth it self so France out of the Riches and Substance which it gathereth from Europe and the Kingdoms and Dominions thereof doth raise formidable Armies and potent Fleets against them New Maxims must be framed and Measures taken for the retrenchment of the Power of France or else I can foretell without the help of an Augur what will be the Fate of England Enfeeble the Trade of France and money will fail and by consequence its potency will become impotent for Trade is the fountain from whence its Riches spring and Money is the basis of its greatness and strength The Parliament with great wisdom and judgement hath prohibited England all Trade or Commerce with France and France cannot take it ill when the most Christian King had the same design upon England but that he observed it would turn to loss It 's no prudence to admit those Manufactures and Commodities into England wherewith we now abound or may have better than from France And no reason of Commerce requireth that we should be injurious to our selves to be serviceable to the advantages of others the Emperor by Edict doth exclude the Hungarian Wines and many other things of the growth of that Kingdom out of Austria that they of Austria may consume and dispose of their own And as for Wines England may have them from Hungary Austria Tirol Franconia Rhene Mosel Portugal and elsewhere at better rates and cheaper than out of France and the Princes of those Countries will take off the Manufactures and native Commodities of England for them and by that means we may settle Trade upon a solid Basis with them How far these generous Wines do exceed those of France Augustus the Emperor if he were alive would tell you who when he possessed Italy Spain Creta Greece Egypt and the richest parts of Africa Asia and Europe he would drink no other Wines
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH Usurpation UPON THE Trade of England And what great damage the English do yearly sustain by their Commerce and how the same may be retrenched and England improved in Riches and Interest LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXIX AN ACCOUNT OF THE FRENCH Usurpation UPON THE Trade of ENGLAND SIR I Received yours and do pay you the greatest tribute of thanks for your excellent Remarques upon the present state of Affairs in Europe and must have the same Sentiments and do admire with you that France which not many years since was so weak and feeble that it trembled at the very Name of the Dukes of Burgundy should now be so potent as to contrast the mightiest Powers of Europe Lewis the II. paid to the King of England fifty thousand Crowns yearly to be his Friend and sixteen thousand Crowns to his Ministers of State to keep him so Henry the IV. having the Carkass of an inconsiderable Ship in the Stocks received sharp Messages from Queen Elizabeth of England to desist which accordingly he did and that Queen lent unto him and disbursed for him four millions of pounds sterling to support his Wars and had Towns of Caution for them Within these few years France had not above twelve Gallies and twenty men of War as they called them and was not able to put them to Sea and keep them there for want of money the yearly Revenues of that Crown then not exceeding ten millions of Florens But of late the French King is tapred up to that magnitude of Power so potent in the best Squadrons of Ships at Sea so powerful in the most experienced Captains and Troops at Land so rich in Treasure the Revenues of the present King amounting unto sixty millions of Florens yearly that Europe begins to bow to his Power and to declare unto all Christian Princes what he intends he hath taken to himself this Motto Solus contra omnes His Designs are so vast that in some short time all Europe will not be Elbow-room for his Ambition How France hath of late arrived to this Power and Pyramid of Grandeur it 's well becoming the wisdom of the most considerate person to enquire It 's not from the richness of their Soyl nor the amplitude of Territory Spain having much greater France hath no Mines of Gold or Silver as Hungary and Bohemia nor other rich Mines as Germany and other places have yet by their natural and artificial Commodities peradventure their stock of money doth not fall much short of the money of the rest of all Europe The Images of great things are best seen contracted into small Glasses By their Wines the natural Riches of France they draw out of the Northern Regions of Europe twenty five millions of Florens for Salt ten millions of Florens for Brandy five millions for Wines Brandy and Salt they yearly exhaust from thence forty millions of Florens For their Silks Stuffs Toys and Fripperies which are the artificial Riches of that Kingdom they spirit out of those Parts yearly forty millions of Florens and there is not imported into France of the Commodities of all the North so much as doth amount unto fifteen millions of Florens So that France doth yearly drain out of the Northern Regions of Europe sixty five millions of Florens the prodigious sum of money which he doth yearly drain out of the rest of Europe is beyond my Arithmetick to tell you But the most Christian King being Lord of the Commerce of that Kingdom and being studious to accumulate money and careful to bring in more daily and rarely suffers any to go out and being provident to dispose of all his Merchandise and Manufactures abroad and not permitting any foreign Commodities to be imported into France but such as are incumbred with such great Duties that they return to no profit to the Merchants France will in a short time draw into them all the moneys of Europe The most Christian King having for his Royal Revenue sixty millions of Florens yearly and France being enriched yearly as abovesaid and by his supream Power without any check or control may impose what Taxes and Impositions upon his people he shall please and they willingly submit thereunto he hath laid such an inexhaustable â—uâ—dus of Treasure to carry on his Designs he being very active and circumspect that he can rarely be disappointed or fail in any By this all submit to his Power This makes the Ephemerides by which he knows how all the Orbs of many Princes Courts move by it he can work all things Platonically to his own Idea to its splendor and lustre the World the safety of the Common-wealth and the love of liberty do humbly prostrate themselves and to deal plainly with you it 's the source of all the miseries and infelicities of Europe Hence it is that France not long since so impotent can now maintain such stupendious Forces and can support their Armies when other Princes are enforced to beg for peace and disband their Armies because their Treasures are exhausted France only after many years War can engage in a new War and upon all occasions by reason of its money have instruments to execute their Designs and truly Sir money is the primum mobile which moves the Sphears which are the hearts and hands of men and it 's the soveraign Cordial which gives life to all noble Actions and Designs The most Christian King hath set up the East and West-Indian Trades and hath engaged in them most of the rich Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom and hath armed them with ample Priviledges Powers and Immunities and hath erected several other trading Companies and certainly he hath thereby laid a foundation of a greater Empire than ever was in Charlemain By his Moneys and Priviledges he draweth most of the best Workmen and Artists out of the other parts of Europe into France and the Materials too when they are there manufactured they make a Mittimus and send them into the Countries from whence they came But if any from thence be imported into France they are seized upon being forbidden Goods as they pretend or else so incumbred with Duties by them that Europe can have no profit or encouragement to trade with France By these Arts France with its Manufactures and Commodities and those which will be drawn from the East and West-Indies will surcharge all the Marts of Europe and the most Christian King having so great a Treasure may under-sell his Merchandise and Goods on design to break all other Merchants and Traders and so in consequence will have the Trade and Commerce of the Universe in their hands and we must be content to take their Commodities and Merchandises at such prices and rates as they shall please to impose upon them And all other Princes and States must become Higlers and petty Chapmen under them Trade is the true and intrinsick Interest of England without which it cannot subsist From Trade there doth not
for these receive esteem dignity and value from their age and antiquity and contribute much to health if moderately taken whereas the French Wines procure nothing but sharp and tartarous humours and as now adulterated in France they are pernicious unto us The Wines of France if compared with the other are insipid and of no value all the Wines of France from their nativity will scarce bear the age of one year and some of them before the Month of August in the same year in which they grew are corrupted from whence it followeth that they must be drunk corrupted or new in both cases dangerous to our health Brandy is a Liquor very fatal to us and it had been well for England if we never had heard of it yet if we do so much admire it though we have no Grapes here yet it may be drawn off from Corn and there is no better than that which is so drawn in Sarmatia and drunk by the Poles As for Salt if the making of it were encouraged there might be made much better here in England than we have from France That worthy and publick-spirited Person Richard Alcorn Esq by his Salt-works near Portsmouth is an excellent president for the whole Nation The Salt of France is gross foul black corrosive and by no means to be compared with that of England If you take two Vessels of equal magnitude and fill the one with English and the other with French Salt and decoct them the English decreaseth less by one third part than the French if the English Salt be recocted and a requisite quantity of Sea-water added the English Salt doth increase one third more than the French what great loss by one and advantage by the other doth accrew is worthy of due consideration The English Salt by reason of its purity and extraordinary efficacy cures Fish or Flesh better goes further in use preserves longer than any unrefined Salt the Fish or Flesh saved with it is much more wholesom to the body pleasant and grateful to the taste which is the reason that the Dutch have better prices for their Fish than the English and a greater Trade because they are cured with refined Salt It will be of singular use in hot Climates because it pierceth so much quicker than Salt unrefined and corned by the Sun and will by consequence preserve either Fish or Flesh better and longer whereas the unrefined Salt in hot Climates by reason of its corroding quality doth decay very suddenly either Fish or Flesh and in any Climate robs the Flesh of its gravy and moisture makes it dry and hard and so prejudicial to the body The great benefit of the English Salt in curing Fish the Company of the Royal Fishery can give a very great account thereof To give encouragement to the making of Salt here in England which they may do not only to serve England with Salt but in the Baltick West-Indies and elsewhere is to impose some great Duty upon foreign Salt which will increase his Majesties Revenue if they shall continue to bring it into this Kingdom and to impose half so much upon the English Salt as shall be imposed upon the foreign which the makers of Salt are willing to pay because English Salt by reason of the great quantities of foreign Salt imported in some parts of this Kingdom is sold at six pence per Bushel whereas formerly it hath been sold at four shillings per Bushel It will much increase home-Trade by causing great sums of money to circulate it will give imployment to many persons which now beg steal or otherwise live in a miserable and poor condition It will very much increase Navigation by imploying great numbers of Vessels to bring Coals to the Salt-works and to carry Salt to Markets whereas foreign Salt is imported by return of freight or foreign Vessels The Vnited Provinces of the Netherlands did for some time by publick Edict prohibit all Wines Salt and Brandy and the Manufactures of France as foreign Commodities and not for them needful If the Emperor and other Princes of Germany by their pragmatick Sanctions had done the like France would have lost those prodigious and vast sums of money which to the impoverishing of many parts of Europe it hath drawn into them thereupon their Trade would have decayed their Money failed and by consequence their Power would have abated Their Wines Brandy Salt and other their Manufactures would have layn upon their hands their people for want of imployment must have begged and then if his most Christian Majesty should have continued Taxes upon them it would have hazarded their obedience and certainly nothing hath hitherto kept that people within the circle of their duty but the great encouragement the most Christian King hath given to Trade for thereby they are imployed and their thoughts taken off from breaking out into any Action or Distemper All French wrought figured flowred brassed stitched stripe Silks and Drogets Tamines and Estimens Serges and other Stuffs made of Wooll together with Madam la Mode being proscribed England all due encouragement must be given to the Weavers The English have arrived to a very great perfection in weaving of Silks and other Stuffs made of Wooll but by reason of the Importation of French Commodities they have for want of imployment been burthensom and chargeable to their respective Parishes and many Strangers which have come into England to work here by reason they found so little imployment they returned into their own Countries again It will be prudence in us to encourage Strangers to work here but not to give countenance to foreign Traders The English have paid yearly for the manufacturing of the French Weavers Silks besides Stuffs which might have been better wrought by the English here and which are generally paid for with money not with other Commodities the sum of five hundred four thousand one hundred and ten pounds So that allowing to every person working Silk fifteen pounds per annum it would imploy 33000 persons which number were they well imployed here would be considerably advantagious to this Kingdom and it 's evident that England hath hitherto maintained the French King's Subjects at work whilst the Natives here have been ready to starve for want thereof It 's great prudence in the Parliament that they have absolutely proscribed all these French Commodities and Manufactures and not to impose some great Duty upon them as some designed because much of the French Commodities by small Ships or Shallops are privately conveyed hither without out paying any Custom It 's demonstratively true that not one piece in twenty is entred or paid for to the deceit of his Majestn and the impoverishing of his good Subjects here The Woollen Drapery which formerly was our glory and brought much Riches to us and imployed not fewer than 700000 persons must be encouraged It 's to be feared that of late not one third part of the Wooll which is growing in this Nation
is consumed in that Manufacture but it 's sent over to our Neighbours and they buying most of the Wooll growing in Ireland they have almost gotten the Manufacture from us and we undone the prices of Wooll being so low the Manufacture failing that if people did not send it beyond Seas they would not in many places be able to pay half their Rent Wooll falling in value as much as Land It was an observation of the Lord Burleigh that if Wooll fell one shilling in the Stone it 's a million a year loss to this Nation If this observation be true I pray Sir consider how many millions this Nation hath lost and how much we may suffer e're we can recover our Manufacture and Trade again Till the 5th of Edward the III. most of the Wooll which was growing in England was sent over into Flanders Hannolt and Artoys to be draped into Stuff Cloth and Stockings Edward the III. looking upon it as a great loss to this Nation brought over 70 Families of Walloons into England and they did teach the English the Manufacture of the woollen Drapery an advantage so great to this Nation that none of his Predecessors did ever effect any thing to compare with it and what Riches it brought to us we can tell you by the sad loss of it The late Statute which by the great Wisdom of the Parliament was enacted for burying in Flannel if it be rationally considered and duely put in execution and Informers encouraged is great in consequence and will consume much of our Wooll and preserve the linnen Cloth for making of Paper which will save this Nation some hundred thousand pounds a year Those Artists in Flanders which are so excellent in working Tapistry and other Hangings are much desired by the French King to come into France and inhabit there but he hath not prevailed with them if they might receive countenance from England I doubt not but many of them would come over and inhabit here which would be a great enriching of this Nation and would imploy in that Manufacture some great part of the stock of Wooll of this Nation For want of Imployment many of our Weavers go over into France to whom that King gives great priviledges and countenance their Friends here send them over Wooll and the Manufacture in a little time will follow after The linnen Drapery would be of great advantage to this Nation if it received due encouragement no Nation produceth better Hemp and Flax than England the sowing of which would be a great improvement and if the English were enjoyned by Act of Parliament under some penalty and a considerable part of that penalty given to the Informer to sowe yearly so many Acres of Hemp and Flax in proportion to the Land they occupy it would return to great profit The English have found out the best means not heretofore practised for the dressing and preparing of Hemp and Flax and there are many persons living in Cambray Vallentine and other parts in France which would come over and live here if they might be encouraged and then we might here in England make Hollands Diapers Damasks and other fine Cloth not only to furnish this Nation but other parts of the World and would likewise draw to us the Manufactures of making the French Sail-Cloaths and all kind of Tackling concerning Ships in small and big Cordage Twine Yarn Thread Nets Cable-ropes which would enrich this Nation yearly at the least 900000 l. It would be a great instance of Wisdom to set up the Royal Fishery here in England and to countenance it with Priviledges and Immunities certainly Sir it 's so necessary that without it his Majesty will want Sea-men for his Royal Navy for his Majesty must so increase his Royal Power that he be superior to neighbour Princes and States or else I can easily foretel what will be the Fate of England This being established the making of Sail-Cloaths Ropes Tackle Nets Cables and also Salt which are the necessary attendants upon the Fishery would be much encouraged But Sir you must not expect that the Fishery is to be carried on by any private persons it must be the publick Act of the State the Laws Powers and management thereof must be settled by Act of Parliament a good Fundus and Bank of Money must be raised for its advance and encouragement otherwise it will return to no account and every small loss which shall fall upon it will be the overthrow and dissolution of the whole as it hath been heretofore found by experience The Company of the Royal Fishery being well established and taking their measures rightly it will in a short time so increase in Riches that upon any exigency of State it will be able to advance considerable sums of money for the service of the Publick all persons which have money will place it in this Company if they might be sure to have the product and effects of it being the best means for Fathers to raise Portions for their Children and all other persons to improve their Estates and enrich themselves It will be the only means to make the Subject rich by the circulation of Money for a Nation may be rich in Coin and yet the people poor when it 's gotten into few hands and that State is in no thriving condition when at the end of the Game most of the money is in the Box and I must tell you the Treasures of Princes are then greatest not when their own Coffers are full only but their Subjects rich For the raising of a sufficient Fundus to carry on the Fishery if the Wisdom of this Nation shall think fit to lay one shilling or some such sum upon every Chaldron of Coals it would much advance it and it 's but reasonable that the advantage and benefit being general that the charge should be so too and methinks but I humbly submit to more advanced judgments that if Ireland and Scotland each of them built a good squadron of stout men of War and maintained them at their own charges they would be able to justifie the Fishery against those who durst invade it and fish without licence from his Majesty or paying tribute as formerly hath been used and practised it would answer all their charges and in case of a rupture with any Prince or State those squadrons would be a great access of Power to his Majesty howsoever those Seas being well guarded are the Lock and Key of Trade Look upon all the maritine Counties in England and that County which hath ten Ports or more in it there are not above one or two if so many which have any Trade considerable or have any Ships belonging to them but the Havens and Ports are decayed the People in those Towns few and desperately poor whereas if the Fishery were established the Port Towns through the Nation would be the richest and best stocked with people which would be the strength and security of the Nation
will be laid aside For want of such a Law our Servants here imitating their Masters and Mistresses must go very gay and to support that vanity demand three times more Wages than formerly though they perform ten times less service which is a great infelicity amongst us and will lay a foundation of our ruine if not timely prevented Certainly Sir England by reason of its scituation many safe Ports and Harbours the richness of the Countrey in materials for Manufactures if it were fully peopled and these industrious and take their measures rightly might exercise the greatest Merchantile Trade and grow the richest People in the Universe for where the People are many and the Arts good there the Traffick must be great and the Countrey rich It would be a great means to inrich this Nation by Trade to increase the Exportation of our Commodities and to decrease the consumption of foreign Wares for that Common-wealth that excessively spendeth the foreign Commodities dear and uttereth the native fewer and cheaper shall inrich other Common-wealths but beggar it self whereas if it vented fewer of the foreign and more of the native the residue must return in Treasure when foreign Materials are but Superfluities foreign Manufactures must be prohibited for that will either banish the Superfluity or gain the Manufacture The consumption of our own Commodities must be frugal for it will advance much yearly to be exported unto Strangers if in our Cloaths we will be rich let it be done with our own Manufactures and Materials so the excess of the rich will be the imployment of the poor Trades in remote Parts or Countreys as Turkey the Indies ought to be encouraged because of their great increase of Shipping and Mariners thereby and because they return to more profit than those at hand All Commodities manufactured here in England are to be made without deceit which will give a value to them and they are so to be ordered that they may be sold as cheap as possibly we can for it 's found by experience that we being able to sell our Cloth in Turkey cheaper than the Venetians we have thereby yearly increased the vent thereof and the Venetians have lost as much of their utterance in those Countreys because it 's dearer It 's his Majesties undoubted Interest to promote Trade by removing all obstructions and giving it all encouragement It would be much for the advance of Trade but I humbly submit to the supream Authority that all Manufactures made in England of foreign Materials might be exported with a small Custom as all manner of wrought Silks because it would imploy many poor People and cause more Materials to be brought in to the increase of his Majesties Revenue and of Trade and the Manufacture would much more increase in England and decrease in France Italy and elsewhere Native Commodities would not be charged with over-great Customs and foreign Wares brought into England to be transported again are to be favoured otherwise this manner of Trading cannot prosper or subsist The manufacturing of any Commodity doth redound more to the profit of the Common-wealth than the Commodity it self therefore it ought to be favoured and the Italians get more Money by manufacturing of the raw Silks of Sicily than the King of Spain and his Subjects have by the Silk it self and there is five times more profit by the manufacturing of Wooll than by the Wooll it self compare the Wooll of England with its Cloth It would much advance Trade to make the transferring of Bills of Debt valid in Law because it would be a great advantage to Traders especially to young men of small stocks to be able to supply themselves with Money by the sale of their own Bills of Debt To constitute a Court-Merchant after the example of France and other Countreys to prevent tedious and chargeable Suits in Law taking men off from their Trade and Business would much promote Trade Free Ports if the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit would be of great consequence as to improvement of Trade Giving to Strangers as well as Natives upon payment of small Duties liberty to keep Magazines and Staples oâ— Commodities ready for transportation to other Countreys according to encouragement of Markets abroad they will much increase Trade Navigation and Riches to England as appears not only by Holland which is a Common-wealth but also by St. Mallows under the Monarchy of France and Legorn under that of Tuscany the first for its bigness and containing above thirty six Acres being the richest City in France the other all the Cities in that Princes Dominions not to compare with it These being observed France may be compared to a man grasping a handful of fine Sand in hopes to keep it if he holds it too loose it runs from him if hard but little remains which agreeth with the Italian Proverb Chy trappo abbraccia poco stringe He who graspeth too much retains too little But you have been pleased to say That I have no kindness for France Sir I do assure you I have that Honour for the Most Christian King and Kindness for France that whereas there is but one King in it I wish that there were twenty The Consequences whereof and the Advantages which will thereby accrew to England are as follow 1. The Power of France will be retrenched for take away the Sinew of War and you abate its Potency 2. The value of Land will arise to thirty years purchase whereas now it will give with much difficulty fifteen 3. In the Woollen Drapery so many persons will be imployed that we shall not only consume the Wooll growing in England but that of Ireland too and so by consequence we must drive the Trade of the World as to that Manufacture and have our own prices for them and our Neighbours being not supplied with any Wooll from us their Manufacture will fail the greatest part of those persons imployed by them will for want of imployment come over into England 4. All our Ports and Sea-Towns will be full of Ships and Men and flourish by their Trade 5. The Royal Fishery which will bring us more Riches to this Nation than the Indies to the Spaniard will be fully imployed 6. We shall have such numbers of Ships that we may trade into all Parts and our Fishery and woollen Drapery will fully fraught us out and in return bring us the Riches of the World 7. London will be the Emporium and great Mart of Europe for all Commodities whatsoever 8. We shall be fit for any foreign Action or new Conquests 9. We shall be industrious to enlarge our Trade having persons from all Parts amongst us and which know what Commodities and where they will vent with best profit Sir I crave your pardon for giving you this interruption to your more serious Affairs I am Sir Your faithful Servant J. B.
against all Invasions and would be a great enrichment to the whole Countrey because they might sell and put off their Commodities so near and to best advantage The French Kings which formerly never fished upon the British Seas but by special leave from the Kings of England and not otherwise and that with a set and limited number of Boats and that for their own Family and likewise to observe the Laws and Orders of his own Fishermen for breach whereof divers of their Subjects have forfeited their Vessels and their persons have been seized and imprisoned in Dover-Castle But of late the French are become so vexatious to us that they have given a disturbance to us not only upon the British Seas but at New-found-Land it 's the interest of this Nation to give an interruption to their fishing there and to prohibit them for the future for the fishing there is the Seminary and Nursery of their Sea-men which may for the future prove fatal to us By the fishing of the French and of other Foreigners upon the British Sea the Customs and Tolls which are undoubtedly due to his Majesty together with the increase of Trade and consequently of Customs thereby are unjustly usurped by them whereby this Kingdom loseth that which they gain which is increase of Trade of Ships and Mariners and thereby their Navigation is wonderfully strengthned their Mariners multiplied and their Trade increased The Fishery being set up Trade will flourish the King's Revenue augmented Lands and Rents improved Navigation increased and it will imploy some hundred thousands of men by Sea and Land it will ease the Publick of great charges in giving imployment to their poor Henry the Great of France caused all vagrants and idle persons to be sent to serve in his Gallies to oblige them per force to work for idle persons who take not care to imploy themselves seriously in some thing are unprofitable to themselves and pernicious to the Publick Therefore that State must necessarily be rich and prosperous which hath Argus eyes to foresee advantages and Briareus hands and those imployed But Sir because great Trades cannot be managed or things effected without multitude of people it would be prudence to invite Foreigners into this Nation and to live here under such qualifications as the Wisdom of the Nation shall think fit A small Countrey well peopled will be able to effect things of more advantage and grandeur than a great Dominion ill stocked The ancient Romans finding nothing was more necessary for great and important Enterprizes than multitude of men imployed their care and study to increase their numbers by Marriages Colonies and such like helps making their conquered Armies free Denizens of their Common-wealth by which means the number of the Roman Citizens became so great that Rome could not be ruined in Hannibal's judgement by any force but her own and this did so much contribute to the agrandizing of her that that City only could arm six hundred and forty thousand men when Sparta could never exceed twenty thousand for that Lycurgus had inhibited the access of Strangers Theseus to engreaten and enrich the City of Athens invited as many as would come and dwell there assuring them to enjoy the self-same Liberties and Priviledges which the very Citizens themselves had And we see the Vnited Provinces of the Netherlands which are not bigger than Yorkeshire one County in England by their denizations and fair usage to Strangers have so enriched and be-peopled that Countrey that they have put to Sea more Ships and driven a greater merchantile Trade to all parts of the World than most of the Kings or Princes in Europe England cometh so short in number of people from Holland that whereas they are calculated to have six persons for one Acre of ground England I fear hath hardly one for ten Howsoever I cannot observe that it doth any ways comport with the interest of State to suffer such multitudes of people to pass out of his Majesties Kingdoms into other Princes Dominions or the Western Plantations thereby to disfurnish our selves of people the sad consequences and effects whereof are too visible in the misfortunes of Spain For since those Plantations by that King made in the East and West-Indies and all along the Coast of Africk and those great Garrisons maintained in Milan Naples Sicily the Low-Countreys consisting for the most part of natural Spaniards they have so exhausted them of men that John the first of Portugal who reigned before the several Plantations of that people was able to raise 40000 men for the War of Africk whereas Emanuel who lived after those undertakings had much ado to raise 20000 Foot and 3000 Horse on the same occasions and Sebastian after that found as great difficulty to raise an Army of 12000 men And whether this may not be our sad fate if not timely prevented it 's well becoming your great Judgement to consider And I can easily believe that 1000 years since this Nation had much a greater stock of people than now it hath for the Rome-scot or Peter-pence which was but one penny a Chimney granted by Offa and Ina Saxon Kings to the Pope did amount unto 50000 l. yearly and the Hearth money which is two shillings the Hearth and one Chimney may have many Hearths doth not amount unto 300000 l. yearly whereas if the number of Chimneys charged with the Rome-scot had been two shillings a Chimney it would have amounted unto 1200000 l. yearly So that we may conclude there were then more Buildings and Chimneys and so by consequence more People But where a Kingdom hath a great stock of People in it it will be the test of Prudence in that State not to suffer any City or Town in it too much to agrandize it self or to attain to that magnitude thereby to impoverish the other parts of the Kingdom for certainly the over-growth of any one great City is of dangerous consequence not only in regard of Famine such multitudes of mouths being not easily to be fed but in respect of the great danger of Insurrections if once those multitudes sensible of their own strength oppressed with want or otherwise distempered with Famine faction or Discontent should gather to a head and break out into Action And therefore Augustus Caesar like a wise Prince made it his work to hinder the growth of Rome abrogating all Laws by which the Allies and Confederates of that State were made free Denizens of that City for that he conceived to be a way to draw the whole Empire into one City and by the prodigious increase of that to make poor the rest Naples by reason of its situation had advanced it self to an immense grandeur by Buildings if the King by his Edict had not forbidden it and this he did partly at the perswasion of his Nobles who feared if such a restraint was not had their Vassals would forsake the Countrey to inhabit there but principally upon jealousie and point