Trade but since miserable was presented to the Parliament and a Bill was order'd in upon the Prayer of the Petition which being fram'd to the disadvantage of this Interest was the First Year baffled a second attempt made a third a fourth it still lay upon the Table like the Lame Man at the Pool of Bethesday and when any Motion was made to bring it to a Hearing some more important Affair always stept in A Bill for the Royal Lustring Company To Naturalize Solomon Amey a Frenchman who has since cheated our Clothiers of a considerable Sum and wrote them from Holland if they will not take Ten Shillings in the Pound he will pay none to out of an Entail to cut a River O quanto plausu quibus haec complectimur ulnis and which was very remarkable that Member which was most zealous for this foreign Interest seldom mist Preferment Sr S Sr Y. Mr. C. or any other that the Coat will fit If the Disappointments in the Funds prolong'd the War two Years had good Care been taken in this partilar I am satisfied the War had ended four Years sooner Our Poor cost Seven Hundred Thousand Pound in Charity per Annum the French earn'd as much out of our Wooll How often was the Consideration of Trade recommended by His Majesties Most Gracious Speech which part of it was like the Rabbins Greek Non potest legi Our Saviour in a Parable tells us of a Man that had two Sons and he came to the one and said go work in my Vinyard and he answer'd upon what scruple I can't tell I will not but afterwards upon due consideration repented and went he said likewise to the other and before the Words were out of his Mouth he seems to Answer I go Sir but never went I think I may fairly borrow the Words of Juvinal and assert them in a great deal of Truth at this time with a little Variation Et spes ratio bonorum in Caesare tantum Solus enim artifices hac tempestate Egenos respexit Sat. 7. And true Love of this kind always begat Love in England which to Queen Elizabeth was a better security than a Standing Army War we are told is now become a Trade and Management the Principle Art of War and such Qualifications needful to our Souldiery as for Men set apart to the Gospel I can't but disagree with these Qualifications from our late Experience when the Army began to Preach as well as Fight we had soon no King It must be confest that the Power of France was so great that it made up a full Apprentiship in War to bring this Potent Prince within his due Bounds and no Prince but ours could ever have turn'd the Tide of his Ambition Notwithstanding which it doth not follow that Souldiery shall be a standing Trade in England because it was never thought to be our Natural Strength and if it be allowed That France came to this extraordinary Greatness by the advantages which he enjoyed by the Manufacture of our Wooll the large consumption of his Linnens Alamodes Claret Brandy Paper c. in England the whole Reign of King Charles the Second and King James and upon the other hand that England Germany and Flanders have been impoverisht by a lessening the consumption of our Woollen Manufactures and the Linnens of Flanders and Germany it doth follow that this Greatness of France was purely accidental Money being the Sinews of War and if so Land-Forces in England are to be esteemed no more than accidental and safely to be laid aside when these extraordinary supplies of the French Treasure are intercepted which is now in our power to do But France is at this time too strong a Match in Flanders for any single Nation in Europe not excepting England Which may be allowed yet I doubt not but Spain the Emperor and Holland are able to ballance his Greatness the Emperor being disengaged in his War with the Turks and the Dutch having obtained a Revenue out of Ergland since the War which would hugely augment their Forces if need require Our Souldiers being disbanded will fall into Employments which will increase our Treasure many may come into our Militia and thereby not only preserve their Exercise but encourage others and if any thing extraordinary should happen a small Reward would gain many of them again and an Army kept in England with our Beef c. but few Years I am of Opinion would shrink at first time at the Hardships abroad as new-rais'd-Men has done and supposing the Duke of Monmouth had been a Frenchman and our Western Manufacturers flusht in Employment they had soon made Dice of his Bones this Gentleman by his fondness of Alliances and Confederacies abroad seem'd to be taken with the Vanity of the Stag who fell in love with his Horns and despised his Legs And this brings me to the Proof of my Assertion And in the First Place I will consider our Coin the artificial Matter of Commerce which is said to be the Sinews of War and of State and I very much doubt in this Point we are Expiring a Common-Wealth is like unto a Private Family where if the Expence is greater than the Revenue he must needs come behind-hand which seems to be our Case at present the quantum of our Coined Silver out of our Clipt-Money and Plate I think was about Five or Six Millions a very scanty allowance to carry on the Commerce of this Kingdom and if that Tale was to be made good at this time I would not be the Security for one Million Upon the consideration first of the Price of Bullion ever since the Coinage has been over which has been from five shillings seven pence half-penny per ounce to five Shillings three Pence rising and falling at this time about five shillings six pence and as the Exchange to Cales now rules there is no likelihood of any alteration The Arrival of the Galeons nor Flota has turn'd the Tyde The late Act of Parliament for consolidating our Gold and Silver-Lace has had a very good effect in the increase of that Wear in Occular Demonstration The Exportation of our Bullion to the East-Indies bears an equal proportion to our consumption of Muzlins and Indian Commodities which is so great that we are forced to ransack all Christendom for Silver which lately disturbed our rich Neighbours who are the Pattern of a Free-Trade fearing that we were about to shake the Bank of Amsterdam tho not half a ballance to what was Shipped hence to Holland in the prime time of our Clipping as the Bills of Entry will demonstrate When we have been so lately in the Sudds by a general Clipping and Exchanging of Broad Money to expect so sudden an alteration that twenty eight pound of Silver in Coin shall be paid away to purchase twenty five pounds and an half of the same Commodity is too great a presumption I doubt whilst the Refining-Pot knows no distinction Doctor
which is Verbatim exprest in the Journals of Edward VI. Edward VI. of Blessed Memory us'd all Endeavour to retrieve what his Father lost by Establishing Trade upon a just and honest Basis in the right of his own Subjects and in the Year 1552. the English Merchants being brought to this low Ebb in Trade put in their complaint to the King and Council against these Merchants Tutonicorum as they stil'd themselves and they gave in their Answer to the said Complaint upon the Eighteenth Day of January and upon the 25th their Answer was deliver'd to some Learned Council to peruse it upon the Eighteenth day of February the Merchant-Adventurers put in their Replication to the said Answer and upon the Twenty Third a Decree was made by the Board that upon Knowledge and Information of their Charters they had found First That they were no sufficient Corporation Secondly That their Names Numbers and Notions were unknown Thirdly When Edward the Fourth did restore them to their Privileges it was upon the condition that they should cover no Foreigners Goods which they had done For these Considerations Sentence was given That they had forfeited their Liberties and were to be no more than Strangers Upon the 28th Day came Ambassadors from Hamburgh Lubeck and the Regent of Flanders to speak upon the behalf of these Merchants Tutonicorum And upon the Second of March the Answer for the Ambassadors was committed to the Lord Chancellor the two Secretaries Sir Robert Bowes and Sir John Baker Judge Mountague Griffith Solicitors Gosnald Goodrick and Brooks it remained under Consideration until the First day of May and then the Merchants Tutonicorum received their full Answer confirming the former Judgment of the Council This gave great Encouragement to English Men to come into the Company of Merchant-Adventurers In October 3. following there met Three hundred Merchant-Adventurers of that Company and lent Edward the Sixth Forty thousand Pounds to be paid in Flanders and they Ship'd off at that time Forty thousand Cloths Our Woollen Manufactures at this time were wonderfully debast Anno quinto sexto Edw. 6. cap. 6. as appears by the Preamble of the Statute made in the same Year Gold was paid at advance Prices at the same time and I think there was never more effectual Means used in any Reign to discourage the Profuseness which this Kingdom was led into cap. 19. in the long Reign of Henry the Eighth To prevent the Abuses and Disorders in Ale-Houses and Tippling-Houses a Power was given by Law to the Justices of Peace to Remove Discharge and put away common selling of Ale and Beer as they shall think convenient and none allowed without giving Bond and Surety against using unlawful Games Anno quinto sexto Epw 6. cap. 25. and for maintaining good Order and Rule AND whereas at this time great numbers of Taverns were set up in back-Lanes Corners and suspicious Places within the City of London which produced many Inconveniencies Anno septimo Edw. 6. cap. 5. much Evil Rule and common resort of misrul'd Persons The Price of French Wine was limited to Eight Pence a Gallon at the most AND the number of Taverns reduced to Forty in the City of London and no Persons to keep any Wine in their Houses under such Qualifications These had been the most effectual means to discourage Profaneness and Imorality so often recommended by His Majesty Sine cerere Bacco friget Venus And I think I may say we have had Forty new erected Taverns in the City of London since our Reformation made out of English Merchants Houses A very commodious Accommodation to Merchant Aliens Queen Mary in the First Year of her Reign made a good step to regulate Persons in their Habits according to their Professions and Employments Whosoever shall wear Silk in or upon his Hat Bonet Girdle Scabbard Hose Shooes Spurleather shall be three Months imprisoned and forfeit 10 l. except Mayors Aldermen c. If any Person knowing his Servant to offend do not put him out of his Service within Fourteen Days or do retain him again Anno primo Ph. Mar. c. 2. he shall forfeit 100 l. This Counsel would never have consented to the vast Charge and Hazard of our Fleet in the Straights to bring home this Commodity There was an attempt made in this Reign by the Foreign Merchants of the Stilliard to regain their Liberties by the Favour of King Philip but it proved ineffectual In the Year 1557 we lost Calais which of a long time had been the chief Mart of English Goods Queen Elizabeth confirmed the Charter of the Merchant-Adventurers of England and added Hambrough East and West-Frizland to their Charter and upon Stipulation with the Town of Hambrough as large Priviledges are granted to the English Factory as they had in former Time at Calais a very commodious Place to the Service of Germany In the first Year of Her Reign she revived the Law made by Henry the Seventh Anno primo Eliz. cap. 11. that no Person Denizen nor Stranger do take upon him to Enter or Do or Cause to be Entred any manner of Goods coming In or going Out in the Name or Names of any other Person or Persons than the very true Owner or Owners of the Goods upon Forfeiture of the Goods and at this time Aliens Duties were called the Antient Revenue of the Crown In the next Place She made an effectual Law to preserve the Imployment of our Navigation cap. 13. by obliging all Persons that Ship'd any Goods upon Foreign Bottoms to pay Aliens Duties In this Law She limited the Merchant-Adventurers to two Shippings a Year and no more In the Fifth Year of Her Reign a Law was made to prevent any Credit which should be given with Foreign Goods Anno quinto Eliz. cap. 6. appertaining to the Cloathing or Adorning of the Body by rendring the Person that Sold them uncapable to recover his Money In the Thirteenth Year of Her Reign She obliged every Person above the Age of Seven Years to wear upon the Sabbath-Day upon their Head a Cap of Wooll Knit Slick'd and Dressed in England Decimo tertio Eliz. cap. 19. except Maids Ladies Gentlewomen Noble Personages and every Lord Knight and Gentleman of Twenty Mark Land and their Heirs and such as have bore Office of Worship in any City Borough Town Hamblet or Shire and the Wardens of the Worshipful City of London upon pain to Forfeit for every Days not wearing Three Shillings and Four Pence So careful was She to preserve the Employment of Her own Subjects When each Woman in England in King Charles the Second and King James's Reign was a standing Revenue to the King of France by his Alamodes and Lustrings this was the last Sumptuary Law made in England and what Figure England made in the World and how firm this Queen stood in the true Interest of the Populacy I need not multiply Words to relate King James
I. in the First Year of his Reign Repeals all sumptuary Rules Anno primo Jac. I. cap. 25. and let loose the Reins to Excess in Apparel and Wine in Favour of Scotland He likewise Repealed the Law against Hawkers and Pedlers cap. 33. made in the Reign of Edward the Sixth and gave Liberty to Transport our Wooll under the Custom of Thirty three Shillings Four Pence of every Merchant born Denizen for a Sack which contain'd Eighteen Score and Three Pound Six Shillings Eight Pence for every Merchant Stranger not born Denizen And I think I need not spend time to shew how this Physick work'd by degrees amongst our English Subjects but am well assured by one Misselden a Merchant that wrote in the Year 1622 a little Tract upon the Decay of the Trade in England That Indian Commodities was got into England as much in those Days as in ours which he then urged as the chief Cause of the Scarcity of Money in England at that time In the Seventh Year of this Reign we had an English Parliament sate which gave a Subsidy to the King out of all Goods and Merchandizes of Two Shillings and Eight Pence in the Pound to be paid by every Person born within this Realm of England and Five Shillings and Four Pence by every Alien and Stranger born out of the King's Obeisance Four Shillings in the Pound out of all Land in the Hands of all Persons born under the Kings Obeisance and Eight Shillings in the Pound out of all Lands in the Hands of Aliens Denizens or not Denizens born out of the King's Obeysance How sar this distasted the Court at that time I can't tell but no Parliament was called until Fourteen Years after Foelix quam faciunt c. Charles the First did nothing in Trade for the good of his Subjects Oliver Cromwell put out a Proclamation upon the Thirteenth Day of May 1655 to support the Merchant-Adventurers of England in their Trade and particularly Established a Staple for English Goods at Dordrecht in Holland which place was agreed upon between the Fellowship of the Merchant-Adventurers of England and the Magistrates of that City he strictly forbad any English Woollen-Manufactures to be carried to any other Parts of Holland and at this time our East-India Trade was quite sunk Lands in England was never higher than at this time nor ever a more general Imployment for our Poor which brought much Riches in few Years into this Kingdom and gave such satisfaction to our Artificers that those times are still remembred with Veneration to this very day Charles the II. laid the Foundation of our Misfortunes in Trade by the Settlement of the Book of Rates so much in favour of France and our East-India Company particularly upon the Article of Linnens which is a Commodity of great Use in England and our Plantations and natural to be rais'd in France Flanders and Germany which three Places stand in Competition with this Commodity and the least favour in Customs given to any one must needs distance the other Flemish Gentish Isingam Overisils Rouse Brabant Embden Frieze-Cloth Bag-Holland Brown Holland all Flanders Linnens was charg'd at three pence per Ell Custom Fine Broad Dowlas of France the Piece containing one hundred and six Ells was charged at Five Shillings a little above one half-penny per Ell and all other sorts of Linnen in like proportion a piece of fine Lawns containing thirteen Ells of Germany Linens was charged at six Shillings Custom a piece of fine Muslin or Callico from the East-Indies six-pence per piece This impoverisht the Linen-Manufactures in Flanders and Germany and as much advanc'd the French which made way to the French Conquests in those Parts As the Consumption of Flanders and Germany Linnens lessen'd in England the consumption of our Woollen-Manufactures sunk in a like proportion in those Parts which in the Year 1663 made the Woollen-Manufacturers Petition the Parliament against the Merchant-Adventurers having large Stocks of Cloth upon their hands which they could not Sell the Parliament at that time Addresseth the King to make a Trial of a Free-Trade which was then seconded by some other English Merchants who were not Free of that Company who prevail'd and with strained false Cloth made some advantage to themselves in Flanders and Holland at the first time but this Gap being open'd to the Hollanders the English Interlopers were totally rooted out by the Dutch and other Nations and Agents for them settled in England which is well in Memory Wooll sunk from twenty five shillings per Todd to fourteen and the other produce of Land in like proportion and this un-easiness gain'd another Advantage to the French and Dutch In the twenty fifth Year of King Charles II. a Law was procured to take off Aliens-Duties which was the Fatal Stroke to our English Merchandize and Navigation which by this Means was preserved from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth It is well remembred how all French Commodities were encourag'd in England Linnen Clarets Brandy Silks Gauzes nay Druggetts made of our own Wooll c. The French could now turn their Clarets and Brandy into Perpetuana's and Colchester Bays and send them to Spain upon as good Terms as any Englishman and have Home Pieces of Eight in Return and Spanish Wooll in a settled Course of Trade which the King of France improved to the very utmost and upon a Modest Computation above a quarter part of the Wooll of this Kingdom was carried into France James the II. did nothing relating to Trade in his Reign His Martial Genius led him to the execution of that which was prepar'd in the last And upon this foot we stood at the Revolution at which time we could not reasonably promise our selves any safety without lessening the power of France who by the enjoyment of these advantages in Trade ever since the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second was come to a prodigious heighth The stop of our Wooll the Improvement of our Manufacture English Merchandize and Navigation the natural supply of our Treasure to a thinking Politician might have been a good help to the attainment of this End but nothing alas of this could be done without touching the Interest of Holland and in the heat of these Affairs the Vogue of a free Trade a free Trade Lil-ly Bullero a free Trade so much prevailed that instead of making up our Mounds which were pull'd down in K. Charles II's Reign like the inconsiderate Trojans we pull'd down our Walls to let them in and usher'd in a Clause by way of Rider in a pretended Bill to prevent the Exportation of Wooll to the Destruction of our Factories abroad the Father destroy'd his own Son and all opposition to this Interest in Trade has hitherto prov'd ineffectual A numerous Petition the very next Year to prevent the Transportation of Wooll by taking off the Felony and to redress some Grievances in Trade from a County then declining in