the same being stolm insomuch that when the duty to the King was four shillings per Gallon Brandy was sold for three shillings which was twelve pence less than the Kings Duty But admitting that if Brandy should be prohibited the additional Excise of Ale and Beer would not answer the Kings lose he shall sustain thereby and taking it for granted that our English Constitutions are now so accustomed to Brandy that it is become absolutely necessary for them to use the same or some Liquor like it If it be so then from our Malt and Wheat may be extracted a Spirit equally as good if not for our Constitutions much better than Brandy And then laying a small duty as a penny a Gallon upon low Wines will more than answer what the additional Excise shall fall short of to the King yea and very much exceed what he shall lose by the Prohibition desired And in as much as nothing is so much wanting in England as people Therefore all means possible in point of Prudence and Policy ought to be used to preserve the lives and healths of those we have But the Importing of Brandy hath destroyed many is like to destroy more ergo it ought to be prohibited And the rather in regard that Brandy comes from France and whatever we import from France ready money is paid for the same or for the greatest part thereof For although we impose but between Four and Ten pound per cent upon any of the Manufacturies or Commodities of the growth of France except the duty upon Wine and Brandy yet the French King either prohibites the Importation of the Manufactures of England into his Dominions or the selling them there unless they be sealed for which Seal a great duty is paid or else he burns them if they are imported and sold without such Seal as he did the Silk Stockings or imposeth upon the Importation thereof a duty of 30 40 or 50 l. per cent which is double as muchas was imposed till within these few years last past and is in effect a Prohibition For when we do Transport any thing thither of our Growth or Manufacturies the French by reason of the high duty imposed upon them undersel us whereby we are necessitated to keep our goods till spoiled or bring them back And if so them plain it is that whatsoever we have from France ready money goes for the same So that by a moderate computation they have at least 400000 l. per annum in money from us which is a vast prejudice to England and a great enriching to France who impose upon us not only vast proportions of their Brandy and Wines but also of their Silks Stuffs Ribbons Laces Points and divers other things whereby our Manufacturers in England are ruined and the Treasure of the Nation exhausted I know it will be said that we lay far greater Impositions upon their Wines and Brandy than they do upon any of our Manufactures and it is true that we do so But consider that whatever duty we lay upon Wines is laid upon the King of Englands own Subjects they pay it and such duty doth not hinder the Importation thereof for more comes in now then ever there did when the duty was not half so high and the French force the English to pay more for their Wines than ever they paid before But the Impositions laid by the King of France upon our Manufactures have stopt us from sending any thing considerable thither whereas before such duties imposed we sent great quantities So that in a few years if not prevented the very Commerce with France is like to destroy England As for Brunswick Mum I am sure we brew as strong in England as they do there and yet afford to sell it for half the price they sell theirs for therefore there is no necessity of the Importation thereof to supply any defect we have here consequently 't is not fit to be encouraged because it hinders the Consumption of the Grain of this Kingdom And for Coffee Tea and Chocoletta I know no good they do only the places where they are sold are convenient for persons to meet in sit half a day and discourse with all Companies that come in of State-matters talking of news and broaching of lyes arraigning the judgements and discretions of their Governors censuring all their Councels and insinuating into the people a prejudice against them extolling and magnifying their own parts knowledge and wisdom and decrying that of their Rulers which if suffered too long may prove pernicious and destructive But say there were nothing of this in the case yet have these Coffee Houses done great mischiefs to the Nation undone many of the Kings Subjects for they being very great Enemies to Diligence and Industry have been the ruine of many serious and hopeful young Gentlemen and Tradesmen who before they frequented these places were diligent Students or Shopkeepers extraordinary husbands of their time as well as money but since these Houses have been set up under pretence of good husbandry to avoid spending above one peny or two pence at a time have got to these Coffee Houses where meeting Friends they have sate talking three or four hours after which a fresh acquaintance appearing and so one after another all day long hath begotten fresh discourse So that frequently they have staid five or six hours together in one of them All which time their Studies or Shops have been neglected their Business left undone their Servants been trusted and an opportunity given them thereby to be idle and deceitful the taking of money in many of these mens shops hath been hindred and their Customers gone away displeased How many by these means have received great losses and disadvantages in their Trade and by accustoming themselves to these houses have made it so habitual to them that they cannot forbear them though together with their Familes they are ruined thereby These Houses being very many of them professed Bawdy Houses more expensive than other houses are become scandalous for a man to be seen in them which Gentlemen not knowing do frequently fall into them by chance and so their Reputation is drawn into question thereby VII THe Seventh Proposal That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads may all or most of them be suppressed especially these within 40 50 or 60 Miles of London where they are no way necessary And that a due Regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued These Coaches and Caravans are one of the greatest mischiefs that hath hapned of late years to the Kingdom mischievous to the Publick destructive to Trade and prejudicial to Lands First By destroying the Breed of good Horses the Strength of the Nation and making Men careless of attaining to good Horsemanship a thing so useful and commendable in a Gentleman Secondly By hindring the Breed of Watermen who are the Nursery for Seamen and they the Bulwark of the
Practices if continued will prove so mischievous that unless Foreigners come in amongst us in few years there will not be People to Manure our Lands Eat our Provisions Wear our Manufactures or Manufacture the Staple-Commodities that are of the growth of the Kingdom without which it is no wonder if Lands yield little Rent or Sell not for above 14 or 15 years Purchase And if Foreigners must come over or our Estates here grow worse there must then Encouragement be given them so to do else they will think themselves Well-Seated where they are following their Trades encreasing their Estates Enjoying all the Liberties and Priviledges of Free-born Subjects know how and have Liberty and Encouragement to improve their Estates and when they have got them can keep them therefore will never come themselves nor bring over their Families or Estates amongst us here to be accounted of as Aliens and Strangers such as may not purchase Estates amongst us and if they do shall not enjoy the same nor their Children after them That sort of people which we most want are such who though they would come over and dwell amongst us yet cannot spare 50 or 60 l. out of their Stock to procure themselves naturalized by Act of Parliament especially if they bring over Wife and Children with them which would be more advantageous for us than for them to come over alone Or if they should spare Money to Naturalize themselves yet perhaps they may not have so much as to pay for the naturalizing of their Wives and Children who as our laws are cannot be permitted to Inherit what their Fathers purchase unless they be naturalized also So that an Act for a General Naturalization is absolutely necessary if we will be supplyed with People from Foreign parts But the passing such Act alone will not be sufficient to encourage Foreigners to come and dwell amongst us there must be Liberty of Conscience also granted unto them and they must be assured that they shall not be Imprisoned Banished or have their Estates seized and taken from them and sold only for differing from the Church of England in the way of their Discipline whilst they agree in the Fundamentals of Religion live peaceably under the Civil Government and disturbe not the Government of the Church established for they having such liberty abroad where they are will not without assureance of the same here be induced to come amongst us How many thousands have left England and gone to seek shelter in Forreign parts for the persecution they were under for their Consciences who otherwise with their Families would have Continued amongst us How many have been forced to leave their Trades by being kept in Prison and having their Goods and Estates taken from them How many for fear of being undone not knowing but that so soon as their Goods come into their Shops they may be seized for their having been at Conventicles have left their Trades drawn off their Stocks and keep up their Money not knowing how soon they may have occasion to make use of it in the time of their distresses which otherwise would have been imployed in Trade to the benefit of the Kingdom How many thousands of Farmers have been necessitated to leave their Farms and come to dwell in London or to live obscurely in the Country for fear lest when they should have imployed their Stocks Plowed and Sowed their Land Reaped their Corn and Stocked their Pasture-Land all should be taken from them and they imprisoned and forced from their Families for their Religion Are not these great mischiefs to the Kingdom and great reasons of the decay of Trade and of Gentlemen their wanting Tenants for their Lands a thing so generally complained of all over England that men are not suffered to live as they would do quietly and employ and improve their Stocks as they might do to the advantage of Trade and the Kingdom in General which if they were permitted would occasion the Consumption of more of the provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom Imploy more poor people at Work and thereby Improve the Rent of Lands and would send many of the Gentry and Farmers who left the Country for the Reasons aforesaid and now live obscure in London and some other places back to their Country-houses or to their Farms again it would remove their Fears quiet their Minds and cause their Purses again to be opened and every one would be putting himself upon some way of Improving his Estate and not live upon the main Stock as now they are forced to do It were greatly to be wished that there were more love and Charity amongst us And that all men would Consider seriously what they do when they take upon themselves thus to impose their own Principles upon all others as such that are only right and Condemn all others as Erroneous this is to magnifie themselves as Infallible and despise all others Upon all these Reasons I humbly submit to Judgment whether an Act for a general Naturalization and Liberty of Conscience be not absolutely necessary at this time And whether the Passing thereof may not be of great advantage to the Kingdom since it would increase Trade Promote a vast Consumption of the Manufactures and Provisions of the Kingdom make us more Industrious Imploy more of our Poor Increase his Majesties Revenue of Customs and bring our Lands to let for greater Rents and to sell for more years Purchase than ever heretofore they would have done V. THe Fifth Thing Proposed is That the Act for Prohibition of the Importation of Foreign Cattle so far as it relates to Ireland and Westphalia-Hams may be Repealed This Act hath no way answered the end designed by the passing thereof but on the contrary proved First Very prejudicial to his Majesty in his Revenue of Customs Secondly To all or most of the Land-Owners in England Thirdly To the Navigation and Trade of the Kingdoms 1. To his Majesty for before this Act passed there were so many great Cattle and Sheep Imported from Ireland as Computing the Custom paid for them and for the other Commodities exported out of England into Ireland in lieu of them amounted yearly to 80000 l. besides the Customs of all Norway Spanish and Westphalia Hams which sum the King loseth every year and the Kingdom to their Vast prejudice have lost that Trade 2. To Land-Owners this prohibition must necessarily be a great prejudice If it be considered 1. That the Breeding-Lands of England are not able to raise a sufficient Stock for the feeding six months feeding being as much as four years Breeding 2. That by reason of the scarcity of such Stock the Breeders Impose a greater price on Lean Cattle then they will yield when fatted whereby Feeding-Land becomes worth little or nothing 3. That for want of Irish Cattle the Victualling both for Home-Consumption and Foreign Trade and Naval Provisions most of it is transferred from England into Ireland which is a great prejudice
THE Grand Concern Of ENGLAND EXPLAINED IN SEVERAL PROPOSALS Offered to the Consideration of the PARLIAMENT 1. For Payment of Publick Debts 2. For Advancement and Encouragement of Trade 3. For Raising the Rents of Lands In Order whereunto It is proved Necessary I. That a Stop be put to further Buildings in and about London II. That the Gentry be obliged to live some part of the Year in the Countrey III. That Registers be setled in every County IV. That an Act for Naturalizing all Foreign Protestants and Indulging them and His Majestie 's Subjects at home in Matters of Conscience may be passed V. That the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Irish Cattel may be Repealed VI. That Brandy Coffee Mum Tea and Chocolata may be prohibited VII That the Multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans may be suppressed VIII That no Leather may be Exported Vn-manufactured IX That a Court of Conscience be setled for Westminster and all the Suburbs of London and in every City and Corporation in England X. That the Extravagant Habits and Expence of all Persons may be curbed the Excessive Wages of Servants and Handicrafts-men may be Reduced and all Foreign Manufactures may be prohibited XI That it may be made lawful to Assign Bills Bonds and other Securities and that a Course be taken to prevent the Knavery of Bankrupts XII That the Newcastle-Trade for Coals may be managed by Commissioners to the Ease of the Subjects and great Advantage of the Publick XIII That the Fishing-Trade may be vigorously prosecuted all poor People set at work to make Fishing-Tackle and be paid out of the Money Collected every Year for the Poor in the several Parishes in England By a Lover of his Countrey and Well-wisher to the Prosperity both of the King and Kingdoms London Printed in the Year 1673. PROPOSALS humbly offered to consideration of the Parliament c. 1. For discharging the Publick Debts of the Kingdom 2. For Encouraging and Advancement of Tradc 3. The Increase of the Rents of Lands THE Honour Interest and Safety of a Kingdom lies in maintaining the Grandure and Dignity of their KING and the Prerogative of his Crown The which can no way be better secured than by providing him a plentiful Revenue wherewith to defray the Publick Expences of the Kingdom encourage and help all his Friends and Allies maintain Forces for his Own his Subjects and the Kingdoms Safeguard at home and a sufficient Fleet at Sea for the Security of Trade abroad and Defence of his Kingdom against all Forreign Princes and Potentates and wherewith also to discharge such Publick Debts as are justly owing to any person upon valuable Consideration If the payment of Publick Debts were provided for the rest would be easily secured without any great Charge to the People and the King be freed from the necessity of calling for fresh Supplie every year from his Subjects which now comes very hard and makes Parliaments uneasie to themselves as well as to those whose Representatives they are The vast Debt contracted by his Majesty when beyond the Seas the great Summs he hath since his happy Restauration given to relieve some of the many poor yet Loyal Subjects that served him and his Royal Father faithfully and lost their Limbs and Estates in their Service The great Debts he found the Kingdom in to the Army and Navy when he came first home which are all paid off excepting about 150000 l. that hath been under consideration of the Parliament which if not paid will be the ruine of many thousands of poor Families who advanced the same for his Majesties Service and it was all employed for the bringing him home The great charge of the last and this present Dutch War both which his Majestie hath been necessitated unto for the preservation of the dignity of his Person which they so basely scorn'd and contemn'd the Honour of his Kingdom and the interest and security of Trade these together with the Money 's expended in the reparations of his Ruined Houses repurchasing his own Goods and others for furnishing his Royal Palaces and many other publick affairs have called for frequent and great Supplies Which howbeit the Parliament have thought fit freely to grant when the King hath desired the same and passed several Acts for Pole-money Benevolence-money Subsidies Hearth-money additional Excise Taxes upon the Law poundage upon Rents and Land-Taxes yet the publick Debts are very great and the reason of it is plainly because whatever hath been given excepting Land-Taxes was so overvalued in the granting thereof the Grants so uncertain the Collecting so troublesom and chargeable the Payment so vexatious to the People that the end of the Parliament hath not been answered the King hath not had the Supply intended nor the Subjects the benefit or ease designed but the quite contrary events have hapned So that it 's humbly conceived there 's nothing can be more for the Interest and advantage of the King and Kingdom than for the Parliament to examine what the publick Debts really are how contracted and when and to see where the King has been well or ill used where Persons have made usurious or advantageous Contracts and taken advantage of the King's necessities to impose ill Commodities and at unreasonable rates upon him and there to reduce the Debt to such a preportion as the Commodity sold was at the time of such Sale really worth and to see where the King hath been justly dealt with which done and the Accounts being brought to Balance and the Debt stated and known then at once to raise so much Money as may discharge the whole and appoint Persons to see the money so to be raised disposed to that and no other use allowing them indifferent Salaries for their pains that so they may mind the work and recieve no manner of Fees or advantage from the Creditor whereby the publick Debts may be lessened for whoever hath trusted the King had a respect in setting his price on the Commodities fold to the time he thought he should stay for his Money the uncertainty of ever receiving it the vast Charge he must be at in Exchequer Fees Gratuities c. when ever he should have obtained the same insomuch that publiek Debts were and are frequently sold at sixty or seventy pounds per cent And so what hinders but that if this Business be prudently mannaged by Persons to be intrusted for that purpose the publick Debts may be lessened and the more easily paid which done the Subjects may reasonably expect and hope for the future to be at quiet and freed from the fears they are now under of a Parliaments meeting lest still there should be fresh supplies for the purposes aforesaid demanded and given and no end be known of such Gifts and yet to his Majesty and the Kingdoms great dishonour both at home and abroad the publick Debts still remain undischarged And if Money for this purpose shall be by the Parliament thought fit to be given It
to the Consumption in England So that Lean Cattle though they be dearer because of the scarcity of them yet fatted Cattel are cheaper for want of the Consumption we formerly had The Consequence whereof is That the Ends of the prohibition are not answered Rents of Lands are not Raised but on the Contrary Feeding-Lands must and do fall for want of a Cheap Stock and our former Consumption and Breeding-Lands through the decay of Trade which this prohibition hath occasioned 3ly This Prohibition is prejudicial to Trade and Navigation 1. Because those Foreigners who formerly Victualled here do Victuall themselves in Ireland 2. And they have their Provisions for the fourth part of what we pay for ours whereby they have a great advantage in point of Trade and can Sayl Cheaper than we which forceth the English to Victual there also 3. All Irish Cattle which formerly came unto England and for which they carryed out no Money but took of our Manufactures in return are carryed to other places beyond Seas and from thence fetch the Commodities wherewith we before the prohibition supplyed them So that the Traders in Lancashire Cheshire and other Northen parts where the Breeding-Lands lie their Loss is greater for want of a Consumption of the Manufactures of those Countries which formerly were sent into Ireland than the Advantage they receive by advanceing the price of Lean-cattel doth amount unto 4. It hath enforced the Irish for to lessen their Heards of Cattel and increase their breed of Sheep having gotten of our largest and best Breeders So that they have now Vast Flocks and prodigious quantities of Wooll besides Hides and Tallow which proves mischeivous to England three wayes 1. By their sending Wooll beyond Seas unmanufactured which notwithstanding the Prohibition every day they do which being manufactured by Foreigners they grow rich thereby whilst our poor in England starve for want of the work they had when they were Imployed in manufacturing for a Foreign Consumption 2. By sending their Hides Tallow and Wooll in great quantities into England which for want of a Consumption here bring down the price of our own growth 3. By setting up the Woollen Manufacturies in Ireland where having the Wooll Land and all Provisions cheaper than in England they must necessarily have their Workmen cheaper and if so they will be able to make enough not only for their own use but to supply Foreigners also with that which England used to supply them with heretofore which in a short time if not prevented will undermine the Staple and most Advantagious Trade of this Kingdom It is the Interest of England being the Seat of Government to maintain a preeminence in the Trade and to see that the Manufacturies thereof be preserved intire within it self Otherwise by how much the more Ireland is Improved by so much the more England will be Impaired therein For they working cheaper lying nearer Foreign Markets and their freight being less do what we can will underfell us where ever they come whereby our Manufacturies will be destroyed and Manufacturers with their Families be Ruined It is observable 1. That the Trade with Ireland kept three or four hundred ships in full imploy which were paid by the Irish Freighters there and occasioned the breeding many Seamen yearly but now all those ships are laid aside the breed of Scamen neglected and that Trade managed in Foreign Bottomes 2. That the Cattel and Sheep formerly imported by Computation amounted unto a Million of Money per Annum 3. That they carryed no Money out of England but the effect of their Cattel was all laid out in our Manufacturies or other Commodities Imported into England and from thence sent to Ireland and the King had a Custom paid both upon the Importation and Exportation and also for every head of Cattle brought over The Irish being now Prohibited this Trade are necessitated to send all their Victuals to Forreign parts where they sell them for more than we paid for them and buy what ever they want Cheaper than they had them from us by which means they will be concerned to take no Commodities from England Nor can they Trade with us if they would because they have no way to pay for what they buy unless they bring over Money in Specie to the mischeife of that Kingdom or by Bills of Fxchange which cannot be had under 15 or 16 per Cens. which is double the profit gotten by those that Trade with them That Exchange of monies thence is very high Gentlemen whose Estates are Returned over do find and by reason thereof are forced to retrench a fixth part of their Expences here which is a further lessening to the Consumption of the Manufacturies Provisions of this Kingdom and of Trade with them which is further dangerous for if we send Goods they having a new Trade to Forreign parts we must send our Stocks thither So that if any loss happen it is the English that undergoe it Irelands being peopled from England was at first a hurt to us because it lessened the Consumption of our Provisions here But to prohibit them Trade with us is ten times worse for that not only takes off the Consumption they used to make of our Manufactures but destroyes all those Families in England that used to be Imployed for their supply So that they can neither spend of the Provisions nor Manufacturies of this Kingdom as formerly they did And besides these Handicraft-men there are many Eminent Trades in London as Mercers Milliners Haberdashers c suffer greatly for when Fashions were out here they used to send them into Ireland in return for their Cattle and they went off as new there for want of which utterance many of those Tradesmen by reason of the often changing of Fashions amongst us have been and are daily undone There is one other high Inconveniency like to fall upon England by this Prohibition which hath put Ireland upon Industry For some part of Ireland lying nearer to France Italy and Spain than England doth and so the Irish having Salt from France and Cask and Mens Labour and all Tackle for Fishing being cheaper there than we have here do set up the Fishing Trade there from whence they need but one Wind to carry them to their Markets and they catch the Fish six weeks before they come into England If so then what hinders but that they may cure them and supply Foreign Markets sooner and cheaper than we can which in time will destroy the Fisheries of this Kingdom Not but that Ireland should have its proper Advantages and may if they please there being many additional Manufactures that both they and we want to which the nature of that Soyl and the inclination of the People gives encouragement particularly that of Linnen the greatest part of the Countrey being Turf-Land and naturally proper for Hemp and Flax and being employed to that use with due regulations those Commodities may be had cheaper there and
of the Kingdom by the manufacturing whereof great profit doth arise to the Publick Yet of these if occasion require it will be made appear above 100000 with their Families are in great measure ruined by them And I pray you who are advantaged thereby what persons are imployed or set at work by them save only a few Servant-Coachmen Postilions and Hostlers whom they pretend they breed up and make fit for the service of the Nobility and Gentry of the Land a most incomparable School to train men up in and to fit them for the Gallows more likely than to live in sober Families but in the mean time while these are breeding up the Price and Rents of Lands are so brought down by hindrance these Coaches do make of the Consumption of Provisions and Manufactures that in a short time few Gentlemen will be in a capacity to keep Coaches so that if all Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans were supprest it would do well But if some few Coaches were continued to wit one to every Shire-Town in England to go once a week backwards and forwards and to go through with the same Horses they set forth with and not travel above 30 miles a day in the Summer and 25 miles in the Winter and to shift Inns every Journey that so Trade might be diffused these would be sufficient to carry the Sick and the Lame that they pretend cannot travel on Horseback and being thus regulated they would do little or no harm especially if all be suppressed within 40 or 50 miles of London where they are no way necessary and yet so highly destructive But this as well as the rest I submit to judgment VIII THe Eight Thing Proposed is That the Act for Transportation of Leather unmanufactured may be repealed or at least not renewed after the expiration thereof There would never have been any necessity for this Act had it not been that vast quantities of Hides are Iimported from Ireland which brings down the price of our English Hides And for the Stage-Coaches their hindering the Consumption of that Leather in England which before they set up was used for Boots Saddles Portmantues Hat-eases Holsters Belts Girts Reins Stirrup Leathers and many other things now become almost useless The making whereof for Home-service and Foreign-Consumption employed about 100000 Families whose Livelihood depended upon the manufacturing of Leather whereby they got Money with which they maintained their Families spent five or six good Joints of Meat in a week in their Houses and wore good Clothes thereby occasioning the Consumption of great quantities of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom more than now are consumed Till this Act passed it was felony to transport Leather unmanufactured and then France Spain Germany and other parts who could not be without our Leather had vast quantities of Boots Shoes and Saddles with their Appurtenances Portmantues Hat-Cases Holsters Trunks c. from England by the making whereof many thousands of Families got a handsom subsistance and grew rich but Stage-Coaches hindring the Consumption at home as aforesaid and Irish Hides being Imported into England and also great quantities from Ireland exported to Foreign Parts our Hides fell in their price in England The Question then arose how to raise them to their ancient value and it was by the Parliament conceived that giving a liberty to transport the same unmanufactured might answer the end proposed therefore an Act for that purpose was passed But sad hath been and yet is the consequence thereof for ever since that liberty given the best of our Leather is constantly bought up and transported beyond Seas unmanufactured Foreigners who formerly were supplyed with Leather wrought here will not buy or carry over a penny-worth that is manufactured so that all those poor people who served Apprentiships to learn their Trades and whose Trade depended upon manufacturing for Foreign Consumption are undone they that kept 20 or 30 Journey-men at work every day cannot now though eminent men of their own Trades keep two by means whereof upon computation at least 50000 Men and their Families Livelyhoods are wholly taken away and they so impoverished that they are ready to receive Alms of the several parishes wherein they live whilst in the mean time Foreigners grow rich by manufacturing one of the Staple Commodities of this Kingdom and whereas till this Act passed all our old Boots and Shoes were bought up mended here and then sent beyond the Seas and there worn The case is now otherwise for the best of our Leather is not onely bought up and transported unmanufactured and wrought beyond Seas but when it is wrought it is then imported back and vended here to the great prejudice and discouragement of Manufacturers in England who have many of them been forced as great a want of People as there is in England to transport themselves beyond the Seas for want of work at home and there have taught their Art to Foreigners What then doth naturally follow all these things What Consequence can be drawn from hence but this that instead of 500 ls worth of Leather formerly sent beyond Seas manufactured we send now as much Leather but it is not worth above 100 l. because the same is carried over unwrought by which means our Manufacturers lose 400 l. which they should have gotten if the Leather had been Cut and Wrought in England and so thereby we grow poor and Foreigners grow rich by gaining that 400 l. which our Manufacturers lose But this is not all for most of our Leather that is exported goes into France with whom we never were able to keep up a Ballance of Trade but have traded with them for ready Money they taking little or none of the Manufactures of England in exchange for their Commodities By a moderate computation from the best intelligence I can get France receives from England 30000 ls worth of our Leather every year which they cannot be without for our Leather-Manufacture was the only Manufacture that they were forced to be holden unto us for 30000 ls worth of our Leather manufactured was worth in France 120000 l. then at least 70000 l. of that went into our Manufacturers Pockets the rest to the Merchants and what our Manufucturers got was spent in the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom which being consumed bare a better rate than now and helpt to keep up the Rents of Lands This Money we not only now lose to our Impoverishment and the French get to their Inriching but considering that we now import as much nay far more of French Goods into England than we did formerly and taking it for granted that when we transported the most that ever we did yet could not a ballance of Trade be kept up between the two Kingdoms but our ready Money went for a great part of the Goods imported then must it naturally follow that by sending our Leather unmanufactured which formerly was mannfactured we must send over nigh 100000 l.
and o their own ruine thereby for nothing will serve them but to live at this rate keep their Wives thus fine expose them to Temptations by setting them in their Shops in tempting Dresses thinking to invite Customers and thereby very often they have that effect but sometimes those Customers make bold with the Ware that should not be sold or lent and once having attained that liberty if both Parries agree it is ten to one if that poor Man be not presently blown up either by the charge his Wife will put him to in maintaining that Gallant or by the Credit that good Gentleman shall have in the Shop to take up what he pleases And then when gone as far as the Owner can give credit for he leaves the Shop and his Mistress to his care Nevertheless sometimes men are undone and yet their Wives are vertuous as without doubt many thousands are and more would be were it not the Husbands fault That is when after their being a while set up and a little Estate gotten they grow high keep their Coaches must have their Countrey-Houses the Candles burning at both ends never thinking they shall see an end of their Gains And their Wives forsooth must not be Nurses but send their Children abroad so that reckoning the charge of keeping there and frequent going to see them and the Guifts and good things that are unknown carried to the Nurses these high Expences accompanied with a decay and declination of Trade occasioned by the multiplicity of Traders as aforesaid go far in destroying young Beginners Moreover the keeping unnecessary Maid-Servants giving them great Wages and maintaining them idle in fine Habits and Dresses who with their vain and wanton carriages oftentimes become snares to young men this finisheth the work and both Masters Mistresses and Servants come all to ruine thereby One other great mischief to the young Tradesmen who are industrious close husbands and sober in their habits and expences is the great Rents they in the City when the Trade is gone to the other end of the Town where Rents are low Were all men of my mind those who lived in London before the fire and are Freemen and now to the destruction of the City live in the Suburbs meerly to enrich themselves they should starve before a peny should be laid out amongst them Why should they not come into the City again and make that the seat of Trade which is the Metropolitan of England and at such vast charge in Complyance with the Kings pleasure is nobly rebuilt and so many thousands are undone by the building thereof by having their houses stand empty on their hands such base treacherous men to the City who no more value their Oaths they took when bound Apprentices and made free ought not to be countenanced where they are by buying any thing of them there is not one of them but is forsworn if he duly weigh and consider the purport of his Oath And he that will make no Conscience of forswearing himself meerly to gain a little advantage in his Trade I am sure will make no Conscience of cheating of me therefore shall never have any of my custom One other great mischief to young Tradesmen is that they being but beginners are forced to keep Shops in order to gain a custom and thereby are constrained to pay great Rents and Taxes which are very hard upon London treeble as much in proportion as upon any one County of England and paid by these young men whilst your cunning rich ancient Tradesmen having a large Acquaintance great Stock and a full Trade give over their Shops and take a Country-house where they live for a small Rent pay not the sixth part of Taxes that are paid in London and so carry on their Trade in London privately in Warehouses I could name several of the Chief Magistrates that do so but will not at present though they deserve it Have they through Gods blessing arrived by their Trades in the City to great Estates and to be the chief Magistrates thereof only to be covetous and sordid seeking to save a little money when they have so much that they know not what to do with it and thereby put all the Charges upon those young Shop-keepers through their Avarice And thus many of these young men fall to ruine whilst the elder run away with all the Trade and Engross the same into their own hands It is a great shame this should be suffered and such men ought not to have any manner of Government or Power in or over the City who make use of it only to enrich themselves by destroying those they govern Moreover Handicraft Tradesmens high wages which they exact for their work is greatly mischievous not only to every man that hath occasion to use them whose particular occasion cannot be served but at far greater rates than formerly which if that were all would be little but it is destructive to Trade hinders the consumption of our Manufactures by Foreigners and the exportation of those vast quantities that used to be transported when the manufacturing of them was so cheap as formerly for now Wool and Leather being cheaper manufactured beyond the Seas than here we are undersold in Foreign Markets to our great prejudice which if not prevented in few years will tend to the total ruine and destruction of our Woollen and Leather Manufacturies I can give no better account for this advancement of their wages than our English peoples foolishness in encouraging Foreigners beyond their own Neighbours wearing their Manufacturies and neglecting the use of our own by means whereof our Manufacturers work is carried away from them so that whereas they had six days work formerly they have not above three now and having the same families must either have double the wages they had when they had full Employ which enhaunceth the price of the Commodities or let their families want bread three days in the week So the Case thus stands in short As for the loss of the Foreign Trade we had and the want of the consumption that used to be of our Manufacturies in Foreign parts no other reason can be given but that Foreigners are able to make their work cheaper than we do and thereby are able to undersel us where-ever we come and the reason of their working cheaper is because they live not so high neither are their expences in wages and working so great as ours If they were how could Foreigners fetch our Wool and Leaher pay Freight and Custom outward manufacture it abroad and then Import it back again paying a second Custom and yet sell it cheaper here than we do ours If this be true and thereby the Foreign Consumption of our Manufacturies be lost the more reason there is then in my poor judgement to endeavour the reducing the wages of our Manufacturers and themselves to a more sober and less expensive way of living that thereby if possible we may regain that Trade Which