sure not by me These principles thus established this method or rule must be observed in the generation of knowledge One or more of the definitions or things or actions before known which are termed the subjects of the proposition must be assumed in every scientifical proposition either simply or conditionally wherein either some thing or act is propounded to be done which is termed a Problem which was not before known in any of the petitions or demonstrated propositions or some new knowledge in the Subjects propounded which is termed a Theorem which was not before known in the demonstration of this thing to be done or knowledge to be understood which are termed the Questions of the Proposition The major proposition must be an Axiom the minor proposition so made up of the Petitions and before demonstrated propositions and the Hypothesis if the Subjects be conditionally assumed conformable in all parts to the major proposition that the affirmation or question of the proposition or the contradiction if the demonstration be negative may flow into the conclusion Here Sir be pleased to stay a little and behold rational knowledge thus begotten how fair and lovely she is in her pure and simple nakedness how pleasant and easie are her ways and how excellent and noble is her extraction descended from eternal causes begotten by a mind so pure as partakes not any affection of any sensual appetite or passion Her ways all plain and before known and may be apprehended as well by youth of both Sexes as men of riper years Nor does knowledge thus begotten by the mind die with the body but though she be the daughter of time remains an eternal monument of the minds excellency being subject to no alteration wrimple or decay by any power of time or fate Oh Divine knowledge how is thy excellency imposed upon by Price Affectation Vain glory and hard Words How are thy ways obstructed by Faction Prejudice and Self-interest Whilst thy glorious beauty is never conspicuous but by denying these and frequenting the humblest paths If Sir I have more than becomes me insisted upon your patience I am so far from excusing my self herein that I acknowledge I have ofter before done it with this advantage to my self that as well in this as many other things I have had the honour to be confirmed by your more discerning Judgment This Treatise therefore presumes to inscribe your Name whereby it well hopes to be enlivened when it s own little worth shall find no other Monument so Sir I desire you to entertain a belief of me that no man more truly honours you or wishes you more happiness than SIR Your most devoted and obedient Servant Roger Coke PREFACE TO THE READER GOD hath endued other Creatures besides Man The Nature of Man with Sense Appetite and Fear so as excited by their Appetite and directed by their Senses without any subordination of one to another they pursue and attain those things which Nature had before provided for their subsistence and prompted by their innate impulse of fear they avoid and flee from those Creatures and things which are Enemies and hurtful to them But the case is otherwise with Man for God hath endued him with a Higher and Nobler Faculty of Soul in giving him understanding which by Reason not Love Hatred Fear or Desire Governs all his Actions for where these or any of them prevail those men never understand judg or act aright And Men not as other creatures live in Society and Subordination So that under the Laws of God and their Superiors men eat their bread in the sweat of their brows Nature of her own accord hath ordained subsistence necessary for other creatures Where as though God hath made all things for the use of Man yet nothing is useful to Man pure Water Milk and some of the fruits of the earth in their seasons excepted but as it is prepared by Humane Art and Industry While other Creatures live free and Independent from one another only Man stands in need and help of another And therefore where things are best prepared for Humane necessities and convenience there Necessity of Trade men most resort from whence Humane Society Industry and Civility is improved above those places where these are not and men but few And this is so well understood that Trade is now become the Lady which in this present Age is more coúrted and Celebrated The excellency of Trade than in any former by all the Princes and Potentates of the World and that deservedly too For she acquires not her Dominion by the Horrid and Rueful face of Warr whose footsteps leave ever behind them deep impressions of misery divastation and poverty but with the pleasant aspect of wealth and plenty of all things conducing to the benefit of Humane life and Society accompanied with strength to defend her in case any shall attempt to Ravish or Invade her Take an Instance or two herein When the United Netherlands made their defection from the Crown of Spain Spain was in its greatest height and riches after some Commotions ten of the Provinces did either return or were subdued to the Crown of Spain yet the other seven for neer 40 years together by Warr and Policy maintained themselves against all the Power of Spain untill the charge became so insupportable to the Crown of Spain that Philip the Second about the year 1607. was forced to seek a Truce from the States and afterward in the year 1648. Philip the Fourth a Peace Yet all this Warr was maintained by these States purely upon the account of Trade and that Forein for other means all the World knows they had none And though they were constantly assisted by Queen Elizabeth and the French Kings successively yet were all the Forces of England and France as constantly paid by the States In our late Warrs with them notwithstanding the extraordinary supplyes imployed upon that occasion and the losses sustained by the Dutch incomparably more than were the English yet this Nation by experience found that the Dutch upon the Account of their Trade supported the Charge of the Warr against all difficulties The Bounds set by Warr are Towns Forts and Castles whereas neither Land nor Ocean put any Period to the Jurisdiction of Trade The English and Dutch have of late by a furious Warr contended who should enjoy her but whilest these Covetous Combatants contend so fiercely for her the French King by all the Modes of France Courts her for himself yet this though Covertly carryed was perceived by some of the jealous Combatants who had rather enjoy her neither can tell how than wholly lose her to their Powerful and Courtly Neighbour But Warr is not the Mean by which this Lady may be won for though she be pleased to be Guarded by Arms yet will she never admit to be governed by them therefore if either English or Dutch had subdued other yet should not Trade have longer continued with either than
men observe the Rules and Method by which it may be advanced more than in any other Place which hath equal conveniences If this Lady were to choose an habitation in all the known World she could not find any so capable of her reception as England I had almost said and Ireland whether it be in regard of the Multitude Excellency and Conveniency of our Ports Abundance of Wool better than in any other place of the World but Segovia and from us they had it Cattle of all sorts equal if not superior to any other place More Horses and more serviceable in Trade than any where else Timber for shipping the best in the World Lead Tin Seacoal and Fullers Earth not to be found out of England so much or so Good and capable of all other things but Wines and we were better without them which may any ways conduce to the supplying the necessities or adorning the convenience of Humane life equal with any other place The Coast enriched with a shore more worth than the King of Spains West-Indies The Inhabitants stout and valiant accompanied with a lively wit and healthful constitution and generaly disposed to her service One would think it strange I might say monstrous that the Dutch Nation who are denied these advantages and are of a more dull and heavy constitution than the English should out-wit us in that wherein God and Nature have given us all the Prerogatives we our selves can desire But we undo our selves by banishing this Lady we so desire and contend for she is already so farr withdrawn that we neither know where to find her nor much better how to recover her Though this beloved Lady is become very Coy to us by Land yet in reason we hope to prevail upon her by Sea In our application we tell her the Swelling Ocean every day beats round about our Shores to invite us to the enjoyment of her and that by a long and uninterrupted series of Ages we have been possessed of her before ever the Dutch Government was formed into States We have moreover in the year 1662. contributed several considerable sums of Mony toward the Advancement of the Fishing Trade but how the Monies have been disposed of and whether the Monies Collected be not yet in the Collectors hands unaccounted for may be worthy Consideration especially considering how great a discouragement it will be to all Publique undertakings when such benevolences are diverted from their designed end Many men not understanding the Reason of this Ladies strangeness to us of late have ascribed it to two causes viz. that we Import more than we Export and that men generally live above their Estate but neither of these though true are Reasons of the decay of Trade for the Dutch we see Import all yet thrive upon Trade and the Irish Export eight times more than they Import yet grow poorer And Trade if it be well managed no where thrives better than where men spend above the ordinary means of living We have lost the Trade upon the matter by Sea and Land at home but before we demonstrate from what causes or propound any Expedients by which we may be relieved let us see how it stands abroad We have lost the Trade to Muscovv and so have that to Greonland the Trade to Norway possessed by the Norwegians and the Reasons given in to the Parliament last Sessions The Trade to Guinney driven by a few and exclusive to other men The Spanish and Turkey Trades abated and in danger So that unless it be in the French and Canary Trades wherein we undo our selves we are making hast to betake our selves to our Plantations only yet shall not be long able to continue that Trade for want of shipping It is true indeed that England of late under King James By what accident England of late became so rich but more especially under King Charles did flourish by Trade and was more Rich than any other Kingdom in these Western Parts of the World but this was by an Accident of the Times not to be again hoped for For the Austrian Family under Maximilian the Second and Philip the Second attained to that Power and Riches when the Netherlands made their defection from the Crown of Spain that it was not only formidable to the Great Turk but to all the Christian Princes of Europe Queen Elizabeth therefore and the French Kings successively openly assisted them in their defection But Philip the Second dying and Queen Elizabeth soon after King James and Philip the Third in the beginning of their Reigns made Peace which continued neer 40 years with little Interruption During which the Warrs continued between the United Netherlands and Spain with little Intermission whereby the English became Proprietors of the Trade with Spain and by consequence great sharers in the Wealth of the West-Indies And this Benefit moreover the English reaped by these Warrs that the Merchant supplied the Spanish Netherlands with Commodities and both Spanish and United Netherlands were supplied with Souldiers from England whereby many of them on both sides especially Officers acquired much Wealth But the Nation not content to enjoy Peace Riches and Plenty From what cause it lost its Riches above any other Nation brought upon itself all the miseries and Calamities incident to a Civil Warr so that Regal Power as to the exercise of it for neer 20 years together was suspended during which in the year 1648. the Dutch made Peace with Spain and Oliver in the year 1654. brake with it which was a folly never to be forgiven in his Politicks nor the losses this Nation susteined thereby ever again to be repaired whereby the Condition of the English and Dutch in reference to the Trade with Spain became quite inverted and this continuing neer seven years the Dutch are so good Masters of Trade that little hopes is left the English of Enjoying it as before From hence it is which being past cannot be helped and for the Reasons in this Discourse which may be helped and for other Causes which only God in his goodness can help From hence it is I say that this Kingdom becomes decayed in Trade and must every day degenerate into worss unless some such Reformation be made with Gods great blessing upon it as may uphold the Riches and Glory of it REASONS OF THE DECAY OF THE English-Trade PART I. Definitions What is Trade Def. 1. Trade is an Art of Getting Preparing and Exchanging things Commodious for Humane Necessities and Convenience Annot. So as Trade happens three ways 1. By acquiring or getting things commodious which are called Growths 2ly By Preparing them which are called Manufactures 3ly By Exchanging these Growths and Manufactures for Mony or other Growths and Manufactures And Trade is twofold viz. Native and Forein 1 Native when the Growths or Manufactures are got Prepared and Exchanged upon the place 2ly Forein when Growths and Manufactures are exchanged in Forein Places What is Mony 2. Mony is the
Standard by which all things in Trade are valued What is Navigation 3. Navigation is an Art of Conveying things upon the Body of the Waters from one place to another Who are the Dutch intended in this Discourse 4. Those who are subject to the States of the Vnited Netherlands Who are the English 5. Those who are born in Subjection to the Crown of England Who is a Dutch Merchant 6. One who Trades under the Protection of the States of the Vnited Netherlands Who is an English Merchant 7. One who Trades under the Protection of the English and born in Subjection to its Crown Who are the Dutch States 8. They who govern Trade in the Vnited Netherlands and all places subject to them Who are the Council of State in England 9. They are those Persons with whom the King pleases to Advise and Consult in State Affairs where no Provision is made by Municipal Laws What are Corporations in Trade 10. They are men who in Trades where they are incorporated by Civil Power exercise those Trades excluding all others Memorand It is lawful to assume all things and places in Trade under those names by which they are usually called Petitions Pet. 1. The Dutch freely entertain men of all Nations in Trade and grant them equal Priviledges with the Natural Dutch Pet. 2. The English Nation consumes all the Commodities of France imported into it Pet. 3. The French Commodities Imported into England do Exceed in Value the English Commodities Exported into France Annot. Mr. Fortrey a Gentleman of the Kings Privy Chamber in his Treatise of England's Interest and Improvement pag. 22 says That the excess is above 1600000 l. a year which did appear to the now King of France upon a design he had to forbid Trade between England and France and gives the Particulars pag. 22 23 24. whereupon the King of France finding how much it would prove to his loss to forbid the Trade laid it by but raised the Custom of some of our English Commodities whereby the vent of them is much hindred Pet. 4. England before it had the accession of our American Plantations wanted men to Improve the Growths and Manufactures of it and also the Fishing Trade Annot. Sir Walter Rawleigh takes notice in his observations upon Trade which he dedicated to King James that this Kingdom in 55 years lost above 25 Millions of Pounds besides other incredible advantages which would have accrued to this Kingdom in Strength and Trade by the Dutch Dressing and Dying our White Clothes I will not dispute whether it had been good policy to have restrained the Exportation of our White and Undrest Clothes I only affirm that England could have better and cheaper Maintained and Imployed those men in Dressing and Dying them than Holland and Amsterdam having no excise upon our Commodities and Fullers Earth better and cheaper than in the United Netherlands Besides England could then better and cheaper have maintained all those men who in the United Netherlands so much desired our Wooll Lead and Tin in their Manufactures Sir Walter Rawleigh further takes notice that in four Towns in the East Countries whithin the Sound Queensborough Elbing Statten and Dantzick were yearly vented between 30 and 40000 last of Herring by the Dutch at 15 or 16 l. the last which amounts to 620000 l. and by us none To Denmark Sweden Lifeland Rivel Narne and other Ports within the Sound there are Carried and vented by the Dutch above 10000 Last of Herrings at above 15 or 16 l. the Last which amounts to about 170000 l. Into Russia the Dutch sent about 1500 Last of Herrings sold at 30 s. the Barrel which amounted to 27000 l. and we about 20 or 30 I am sure we send none now To Stoad Hamborough Bream Embden upon the River Elb Weaser and Embs were carryed and vented of Fish and Herring 6000 Last which at 15 or 16 l. by the Last amounted to 100000 l. by us none To Clevleand Gulickland and to Germany up the Rhine and Maine were vented by the Dutch 2200 Last of Fish and Herring sold at 20 l. the Last which comes to 44000 l. by us none Up the River Maze Leigh Mostrick Vendlow Zutphen Daventer Campen Swell and all over Lukeland is carried and vented 7000 Last of Herring by the Dutch at 140000 l. by us none To Roan were carried 5000 Last of Herring by the Dutch and sold at 20 l. the Last which came to 100000 l. by us not 100 Last To Gelderland Artois Henalt Brabant Flanders were carried between 8 and 9000 sold at 18 l. the Last which came to 171000 l. by us none Sir Walter Rawleigh left out Spain and France except Roan and the Dutch Trade of Fish into the Streights and what they consumed among themselves which Questionless was and is now very considerable yet were all these Fish caught upon our Coast and no question if we had had the Hands we might much better and cheaper have maintained them and caught and cured them having many more and much better and more convenient Ports than they Pet. 5. Mony is a convenient mean to improve Trade Pet. 6. Forein Trade is the only mean to Inrich this Kingdom Pet. 7. Multitude and Concourse of People Advance Trade Pet. 8. Scarcity of People Diminish Trade Pet. 9. The Law against Naturalization permits no man of any other Nation to have equal Freedom and Priviledge in Trade with the natural English Pet. 10. The Law of Navigation Intituled Shipping and Navigation Encouraged made 12. Car. 2. 18. and continued 13. Car. 2. 12. restreins the English in Navigation to Ships English built and to be sailed by 3 4 English and Forein Commodities to be Imported by English in Shipping so built and sailed and to the Natives of the Place Pet. 11. The rents of Lands are valuable as the Trade of the Place is Pet. 12. Stock is a convenient mean to advance Trade Pet. 13. Men are necessary to improve Trade Pet. 14. Timber is a necessary mean to build Ships Pet. 15. Ships are necessary means in Navigation Pet. 16. The Timber of England was wanting even before the Act of Navigation made 12. Car. 2. 18. and confirmed 13 Car. 2. 14. this appears by the Acts of 35. H. 8. 17. and 35. El. 11. Pet. 17. The means ordained by the 1. Eliz. 13. and 35. El. 11. to supply the Timber of England before wanting and decaied is interrupted by the Act of Navigation Pet. 18. Before the Act of Navigation we wanted Shipping this appears by the title of the Act which is an Act for the encouraging and encrease of Shipping and Navigation for if we had not wanted Shipping the encouraging and encreasing thereof had been vain and superfluous Pet. 19. The loss and decay of the Ships of England must not in Navigation be supplied by acquiring any Forein built Ships for by the Act of Navigation if any English man Trades in any Forein built Ship to any of our
are excluded Pet. 13. But men are necessary to improve Trade and Pet. 5. mony is a convenient mean to improve Trade and Pet. 12. stock is a convenient mean to improve Trade Therefore the Trade of England and the Fishing Trade are so much hindered by how many men and so much mony and stock as are excluded by Corporations Which was to be demonstrated Annotations So as the Trade of England and the Fishing Trade are diminished by our American Plantations by the re-peopling Ireland and the late great Plague and our late Forein and intestine Wars It is hindered by the Act of Navigation in Forein Trade abroad and the greater Trading part of the world are excluded from Trading with us at home and the greater part of the Nation excluded from Trading at all unless it be upon such terms as they cannot be any ways encouraged in it whereas in the mean time Supernumeraries of Solicitors Bankers Scriveners and Userers who instead of Trading divert all the means of improving Trade and engross I am confident above six times as much mony as is imployed in Trades beneficial to the Nation and I believe are more than the free Trading part of the Nation For my part as I desire the good of the Nation in what I have said free from any passion or affection to any party or person so do not I intend the prejudice but good of every Corporation for if men mony and stock be the only means to enrich and strengthen any place then every Corporation is so much more capable of Riches and Strength by how many more men and so much more mony and stock is imployed in Trade The Dutch who of all the world are the most considerable and richest and most mighty by Trade understand this and therefore Amsterdam of all other places the most famous for Trade is now designed to be enlarged â…– with free liberty for all the world to Plant and Trade with them In or about the years 1636. and 37. about 140 Families out of the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk forsook us and went into Holland where the Dutch did not only entertain them but in Leyden Alkmert and other places planted them Rent-free and Excise-free for seven years Corollary By the same reason Forein Trade will be so much hindered by how much the means of Transporting mony in it are excluded Pet. 13. For mony is a convenient mean to improve Trade Annotations The Dutch Venetians and Florentines who understand this and have no mony of their own freely permit the Exportation of mony in Trade and grow rich thereby and the King of Spain who hath all the Treasure of the West-Indies upon the penalty of Death c. forbids the Exportation of it grows poorer and can keep none Mr. Mun a man of excellent knowledge and experience in Trade in the 4th Chapter of Englands Treasure by Forein Trade affirms he knew a Prince in Italy of famous memory Ferdinando the First great Duke of Tuscany who being very rich endeavoured thereby to enlarge his Trade by issuing out to his Merchants great summes of mony for very small profit He himself had of the Duke 40000 Crowns gratis for a whole year although the Duke knew it would be sent away in specie for the parts of Turkey to be imployed in Wares for his Country Afterwards Mr. Mun affirms he knew Legorn so much increased that of a poor little Town it was become a fair and strong City being one of the most famous places for Trade in all Christendom And yet it is worthy observation that the multitude of Ships and Wares which come from England the Low-Countries and other places have little or no means to make returns from thence but only ready mony See more herein in the said Chapter Though Trade may be maintained by barter of Commodities yet he who Trades in mony and barter shall have a vast advantage Proposition 9. Theorem 9. In the Trade of England with France the English Nation loses so much as the value of the French Commodities imported exceed the English exported which Mr. Fortry affirms to be above 1600000 l. yearly Subject is The English Nation Question Whether it loses so much by the Trade with France as the value of the French Commodities Imported exceed the English Exported I say it does Ax. 7. For where the consumption of things Imported does exceed in value the things Exported the loss will be as the excess is Pet. 2. But the English Nation consumes all the Commodities of France imported Pet. 3. And they exceed the Commodities of England Exported 1600000 l. a year if Mr. Fortry hath truly computed it Therefore the English Nation loses so much as the excess is Which was to be demonstrated Annotations upon this Proposition Nor is this all the loss the English Nation sustains by the Trade with France for Trading for French Wines in the perillous Months for Navigation of September October November and December we lose more Shipping and Sea-men in acquiring of them than in all our other Trades besides and in our immoderate drinking of them we more than ordinarily dispose our bodies to the Strangury Fevers Gout and Stone when they are pure and to so many more Diseases as when they are so many ways sophisticated and adulterated by Vintners so that instead of drinking Health to the King of England we drink Sickness to our selves and Wealth to the French King So that Reader thou mayest understand what vast Revenues the English and the Dutch much more than the English yearly bring into France by their Trade with it For though the Dutch Trade for Reasons hereafter specified be not managed to the loss of the Dutch as the English is yet I am confident and have it by good Authority that if a true estimate were made of it it would appear to be above sixfold more beneficial to France than the English Trade is Sir Walter Rawleigh takes notice that the Dutch Trade into all Ports and Creeks of France we chiefly into 5 or 6 and in those the Dutch have 4 times the Trade we have So that if the French King can establish a Spice Trade wherein he is wonderously industruous being King of a Flourishing Country he will have but little occasion to Export any Treasure nor need he fear but the English and Dutch will still continue carriers of all the Wealth they get by Spain and other places into France Consequences From hence it is that the French King becomes so rich above any other Prince or State in Christendom and being Prince of a noble and brave Kingdom which abounds with most things conducing to the benefit of Humane Life and very fruitful of men as well as other things and having few considerable Plantations to exhaust his men he becomes not less Potent and formidable to all Christendom than Rich and Glorious Nor can I ever hope the Pride and Luxury of the English and the necessities of the Dutch are
and Dane will have in their own Dominions and the Dutch may have down the Rhine Maze and Scheld out of Germany Liege and Lorrain such Quantities of Timber as between any of them and us will be no proportion and what the fatal consequence hereof will be to this Nation if no care or provision be had I almost tremble to consider Proposition 3. Theorem 3. The Building Ships in England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Subject is the Building Ships in England Quest Whether it be diminished by the Act of Navigation I say it is Ax. 3. For if the means of doing any thing be wanting that thing will be so much hindred as the means of supplying it are diminished Pet. 16. But the Timber of England before the Act of Navigation was wanting for Building Ships in England Pet. 14. And Timber is a necessary mean to build Ships Prop. 2. The Timber of England is diminished by the Act of Navigation Therefore the Building Ships in England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Which was to be demonstrated Annotations upon this Proposition It is agreed upon by all men that the Timber of England is of all other the best for Building Ships but then it must be understood that like choice may be had in England as in other places and so long as we had as good choice in our English Timber as the Dutch Dane and French we built better Men of War and stronger and more durable Merchants Ships than any of them But now all the choice Timber of England is wasted and consumed the Dutch Dane and French bave equal choice as before it is much to be feared that for the future we shall not long enjoy this Advantage but not be able without excessive charge to build so good Ships as any of them Proposition 4. Theorem 4. The Ships of England are diminished by the Act Navivigation Subject is the Ships of England Question Whether they he diminished by the Act of Navigation I say they are Ax. 3. For where the doing things are hindred and the less and decay of those things not otherwise supplied these things will be diminished Prop. 3. But the building Ships in England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Pet. 19. And the loss and decay of Ships of England must not be supplied in acquiring any Forein Ships by the Act of Navigation Therefore the Ships of England are diminished by the Act of Navigation Which was to be demonstrated Annotation I do not understand how this Law makes good the title of it For I am confident at this day is not one half of the Shipping in England take prize ships into the reckoning which I guess to be above 4 times more than the Englesh lost in both the late Dutch wars In Ispwich are somewhat above one third of what were when the Rump instituted this Law At Woodbridg not one third and at Alborough Dunwitch Walderswick and sould not one fourth as were before this Law And I wish some man would take pains to make further inspection herein to prove me mistaken Proposition 5. Theorem 5. The Navigation of England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Subject The Navigation of England Question Whether it be hindred by the Act of Navigation I say it is Ax. 2. For the doing things will be so much hindred as the necessary means of Doing them is Diminished Prop. 4. But the Ships of England are diminished by the Act of Navigation Pet. 3. And ships are necessary in Navigation Therefore the Navigation of England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Which was to be demonstrated So as we can neither build ships nor can we buy Annotations Nor must any English man navigate any English built ship to trade to any part of England Ireland or any of our Plantations unless she be sailed by ¾ English at least under no less penalty than loss of Ship Goods Guns Ammunition and Tackle though it be evident the Coast of England be desolate and almost uninhabited and the Country as well as Coast is so thin of People that it is not half peopled By the Act of 1 Eliz. 13. It was free for all men as well strangers as Natives to import Pitch and Tar which Law stands yet in force yet if by the Act of Navigation any English man unless in English built ships and sailed by ¾ English import any or any stranger not Natives whether the Natives have Ships or not import any the Ship Goods Guns Tackle and Ammunition are all forfeit So by the 1 Eliz. 13. All men might import hemp and cordage paying strangers duties Now if any English ship import any hemp or cordage and be not sailed by ¾ English at least she is forfeit c. nor must any stranger not Native upon any less penalty Yet it is evident that the Inhabitants of Leifland from whence the best hemp if not all is to be had trade not with us at all Consequencies From whence it came to pass that in two years after the Rump making this Law the building of ships became one third penny dearer and Sea-mens wages so excessive that we have wholly lost the Trades to Muscovy and Greenland thereby and from hence it is that all Forein Commodities imported into England except in the Turkey Trade and some Trifles from Guiney and the East-Indies are consumed in England whilst thereby we give the Dutch and other Nations a power of driving the Trade of the World where the Commodities are not English or subject to the Crown of England Proposition 6. Theorem 6. The Trade of England and of Fishing into Forein Parts is hindred by the Act of Navigation Subject The Trade of England and of Fishing into Forein parts Question Whether it be hindred by the Act of Navigation I say it is Ax. 4. For the doing things will be hindred so much as the necessary means of doing them are hindred Pet. 20. But Navigation is the only means of vending the Growths and Manufactures of England and Fishing in Forein Trade unless it be in Scotland Prop. 5. And the Navigation of England is hindred by the Act of Navigation Therefore the Trade of England and of Fishing into forein parts is hindred by it Which was to be demonstrated Annotations Nor must any Forein ship or vessel trade to England with any forein Commodities unless in ships or vessels of that place or Country and Navigated by the Mr. and ¾ Mariners of the place at least whether they have ship or not So as now we have neither ships nor Mariners sufficient for our Trade we upon the Matter exclude the Trading Part of the World from Trading with us from whence these Consequences follow Consequences 1. That the Growths and Manufactures of England to be exported in Forein Trade are reduced to a few English Merchants who may take what they please and at what terms they please and leave the rest upon the poor Natives hands without any other
little purpose By the first Proposition The multitudes of the English diverted into our Plantations hath diminished as well the Fishing Trade as the Trade of our Native Growths and Manufactures which is more diminished by our re-peopling Ireland since the late War and Massacre there and so much more diminished by how many extraordinarily died of the late great Plague and by the 6 Proposition the Growths and Manufactures of England in Forein Trade are diminished by the Act of Navigation and multitudes and entercourse of Foreiners are excluded by it whereby the Trade of England is every way interrupted and diminished And since the Rents of Land are valuable as the Trade of the place is It is from hence that the Rent of Land is so abated and fallen all over England but much more since the Act against Importation of Irish Cattel so as the end designed by the Law which was the raising the Rents of Land is so far from being attained that from these Reasons the Trade of England being more diminished by this Law the quite contrary hath ensued One of the Reasons alledged by the Act intituled An Act for the Encouraging of Trade made the 14 Car. 2. for the excluding Foreiners to Trade to our Plantations is to hold a greater kindness and nearer Correspondency between the English Nation and them which reason of mutual kindness I am sure will hold stronger between the English Nation and Ireland for if we lose them or any of them we lose no more than the Subjects in them who unless it be in reference to Trade are of no use to England whereas if by reason of this Act we lose Ireland or any part of it the safety of this Nation will be endangered thereby If the Importation of Irish Cattel had abated the Rents of England one half and thereby the Commodities of England had been reduced to half the price the Nation had not been poorer thereby however the Nobility and Country Gentlemen who were in Debt and the Poor Tenants who had Leases of their Farms would have been damnified and undone thereby but in General Navigation and the Trade of the Nation would have been advantaged by it The Reasons in the Act of Navigation are good for England against Foreiners Trading into our Plantations and so is the restraining them from the Trade of Ireland for otherwise other Nations especially the Dutch would have reaped more benefit by them than we should have done but without question our Plantations and Ireland too would have been much increased and inriched by a Free Trade more than by this restraint and by like Reason the Trade of England too would have been much more and the Nation much more enriched than now if no restraint had been put upon the Trade by the Act of Navigation For by the Act of Navigation the greater Trading part of the World are excluded the Trade of Ireland and by the Act against Importation of Irish Cattel upon the matter the Trade between England and Ireland is interrupted and destroyed and here let us see the Consequences hereof Consequences The Imaginary Reason that the Importation of Irish Cattel caused the abatement of the Rents of England is truly caused by the Act in the Southern and Eastern parts of England for the Northern People Welch and Scots taking advantage of this Law have raised the price of lean Cattel so excessively that very small or no profit arises to the Graziers when they are Fatted So as before the Act we bought cheap and sold cheap which was but reasonable whereas now we buy dearer and sell cheaper which is intolerable 2. Before the Act we could Victual Ships with good and substantial Food cheaper than the Dutch and upon all occasions the Dutch and French and other Nations when they were in our Harbours did take a very considerable quantity of our Provision whereas since the Act the Dutch and French Victual much cheaper in Ireland than we can do in England and in Holland and Zealand Irish Beef I am told by Traders thither is sold for a peny a pound so as having as the case stood but one advantage above the Dutch besides the excellency and conveniencies of our Harbours in Navigation by this Law we have given the Dutch a greater advantage over us than we had over them 3. Before this Act the Eastern and Southern parts of England did in a very considerable manner supply Flanders France Portugal and Spain with Butter which now we have interrupted the intercourse of Trade between England and Ireland we have thereby put the Irish upon necessities of making Butter which they do so much cheaper than is possible to be done in England notwithstanding the abatement of our Rents that they supply Flanders and France much cheaper than the English can whereby our Trade for Butter and Cheese is become much worse than that of Grazing of Cattel and now the Irish have established these Trades much more advantageous to them than their Trade was to us with their lean Cattel I understand no remedy hereof but they will increase their advantages and we must yet more continue losers 4. Besides the abatement of our Native Growths and Manufactures caused by the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel as England was the Storehouse for all sorts of Commodities coming from our Plantations and other Forein Goods as all sorts of Dying stuffs Hides Fruit Sugars Tobacco's and of all sorts of Silks as well wrought as unwrought Ribbands Gold Silver and Silk-Lace so the Trade with Ireland was driven by Commutation of the Product of the mony for their Lean Cattel which being now interrupted this Trade of England with Ireland for these becomes proportionably lestened and diminished Whereas now they transport their Beef into France Holland Zealand and Flanders they make returns in the Growths and Manufactures of those Countries whereby the Irish Trade is become as beneficial to them as it was formerly to us 5. His Majesties Custom for the Lean Cattel is quite extinguished 6. The Shipping and Mariners imployed and built for this Trade are by this Act neglected and made useless about 100 Ships being before imployed in this Trade only 7. That as before English Shipping was generally imployed in the Trade with Ireland so the returns out of Ireland in Hides Tallow Wools and Yarn into Forein parts was in English Shipping whereas now we have not only lost the Profitable Returns of these Commodities but Forein Ships are only imployed in these Trades Proposition 8. Theorem 8. The Trade of England and the Fishing Trade are so much hindred by how many men and so much mony and stock as are excluded by Corporations Subject The Trade of England and the Fishing Trade Question Whether they be so much hindered by how many men and so much mony and stock as is excluded by Corporations I say they are Ax. 6. For any business will be so much hindered by how much the means of improving it
our Plantations have exhausted our men whereby our Trade and strength is abated and diminished so the Law against Naturalization debars any future supply of other men from Planting with us and the Law of Navigation excludes much the greater Trading part of the world from Trading with us from abroad and our Corporations restrain our Trade to as few at home so as Trade which ever flourishes in multitude and freedom is by us by all imaginable ways circumscribed taxed and reduced to a few While we are contriving newer and more severe Laws against the Exportation of Wool and neglect the careful inspection and management of our Woollen Manufactures whereby they have lost their Reputation abroad we put the world upon necessities of supplying themselves elsewhere and especially from Ireland whereby the Dutch not only partake with us in our Turkey Trade and up the Elb but the Dutch and French in our own Markets in England have a free and open Trade in Woollen Cloths and Stuffs and in the mean while our Wool becomes a Drug and of no price or esteem at home whereby notwithstanding the severity of all our Laws against the Exportation thereof great quantities are exported and so will be until we establish such a Trade in our Woollen Manufactures that men shall be better encouraged to work them here than elsewhere for all men will rather venture their lives than lose their means of living We neglect to give any encouragement in assisting Ingenuous and Industrious men in any undertaking for the Publick good I give one instance in the County of Suffolk and here in Clerkenwel The English during the late Dutch and French War did betake themselves to Weaving Poldavies or Buck which they did make into double Buck being two threds spun together and made of our English Hemp which Ipswich and Woodbridge men affirm to be better than any East Country Hemp for this use which made better Sails than any other and did manage a considerable Trade thereby to the great benefit of Suffolk but now the Dutch and French Buck is sold somewhat cheaper the English not being as yet so much Masters of the Trade as the Dutch and French This Trade begins to decline again and to be neglected for want of some small Encouragement which might be done by some small Imposition for some time upon the French and Dutch Buck until we should be enabled to work it as cheap as it is in France and Holland As we give no encouragement to our industrious Natives so we utterly discourage all industrious Foreiners from improving and increasing Trade I need not here repeat the discouragement put upon the Silk-throwers by the Corporation and Company of London wherein near 20000 people are imployed though the first introduction of Silk-throwing was by a Foreiner the worthy Father of Sir Thomas Chamberlain now a worthy Citizen of London because the Wisdom of Parliament hath provided security for the Silk-throwers But though the Weaving Silk be as much or more advantageous to the Nation yet certain ingenuous and industrious French Artificers who endeavoured to exercise their Trades last Summer in the Suburbs of London were Indicted at Hicks Hall by certain of the Yeomanry of the Company of Weavers Commissionated by the Bailiff Warden and Assistants of the said Company and committed to the New-Prison in Clerkenwel though the difference between the said Company and the Protestant Strangers using manual Occupation was upon the Address of the French and Dutch Churches depending before his Majesty and Council Nor could any relief herein be had though his Majesty in Council the 29. of October last referred the business to the Lords of the Committee of Trade until his Majesty in Council the 10th of November last was pleased to discharge them I need not here recite the benefits the Nation at this day reaps by the permitting the Walloons to establish their Trades at Canterbury Norwich Colchester and other places the Nation at least the Southern and Eastern parts know they are the best Trades we have now left Yet I cannot but take notice that within the memory of man the returns of Maidstone Market did not amount to weekly above 30 l. whereas since admitting about 60 Families of Foreiners in the thred Trade the returns are weekly now above 1000 l. to the incredible benefit of the Lands as well as all sorts of people adjoyning How pernicious this practice of excluding Foreiners must needs be to the Nation as it now stands if it be continued is understood by his Majesty And the French King so well understands how much it will conduce to the advantage of France to encourage the freedom of Trade by entertaining all sorts of Forein Artificers that in contradiction to all the Ecclesiastical Powers opposing it he hath granted free liberty to all sorts of Forein Artificers and Merchants to exercise their Consciences in all Ports and places in his Dominion and to have Churches allowed them with equal or more Priviledges than his natural Subjects Sure now it will be no ways prudent in us so to discourage any herein as to be entertained by the French King as well as Dutch So that all the good and beneficial ends designed by Trade viz. of imploying all sorts of Impotent People Women and Children of Strengthning and enriching our selves by Trade are quite inverted by us For the Fishing Trade and the Trades of Making Dying and Dressing our Cloaths and Stuffs wherein all sorts of poor people might have been employed is lost and neglected by us whilst we intend the Newcastle Trade the French Canary Turkey East-India Trade and to our Plantations wherein only lusty men are imployed and the Impotent People Women and Children are exposed to beggery and the publick charge Secondly Ireland and our Plantations Rob us of all the growing Youth and Industry of the Nation whereby it becomes week and seeble and the Strength as well as Trade becomes decayed and diminished I and the Law against Naturalization Bars us of any future supply And thirdly Our Affluence Luxury and irregular management of Trade renders us poorer and in a worse condition than if we had no Trade at all So as here Reader thou mayest understand the reason of the decay and falls of the Rents of Lands in England for by the 11 Petition the Rents of Lands are valuable as the Trade of the place is the Trade of England therefore being diminished the Rents of the Lands in England are consequently fallen and diminished in proportion to it REASONS OF THE INCREASE OF THE Dutch-Trade PART II. Wherein is Demonstrated from what causes the Dutch govern and manage Trade better than the English whereby they have so far improved their Trade above the English Petitions 1. MEN labour more industriously in Trade and upon easier terms in the Vnited Netherlands than in England 2. The Dutch have down the Rhine Maez and Scheld out of Germany France Lorrain Flanders and other Spanish Provinces greater
Rabbi Moses and many others flourished Nor do I know any reason but if Learning were taught Youth in the English Tongue whereby the English might be as learned as the Romans and Grecians but the English Tongue would be in as much esteem as the Greek and Latin The Method of Learning in Geometry and Numbers and in all other Learning is by disposing the knowledge in the Petitions and Propositions before known so the knowledge what was before understood to be eternal and necessary in the Axiom that the question of every Proposition not known before may necessarily be known in the conclusion of the Syllogism But this is impossible to be done by any Authority of Aristotle where are no Petitions or mean knowledge in the Subject and those Principles which he establishes are so confounded that as he makes a Line to be a Proposition Principle so he makes a man Anal. Post to be a Universal lib. 2. c. 19. tit 7. yet a Line is as much a Universal as a man From whence as it is impossible any progress of Learning or Rational Knowledge can follow so such knowledge as this will Universals are every where and cannot be perceived by sense Ana. Post l. 1. c. 31. tit 1. A Man is a Universal Therefore a man is every where and cannot be perceived by sense If it be impossible from Principles thus established to learn or know then must it be more impossible to learn by the vulgar Logick where are no Principles at all and all Rules of Learning inverted in the first Definition as it is called which sayes Logick proves not the Consequences but Principles in its own and other Sciences Consequences From hence then it is that in Geometry is no method observed in Reasoning whereby the study of it is rendred perplexed and difficult which is of all others the most natural and easie The construction of the fourth Proposition lib. 1. is from no antecedent knowledge and if the negative part of that triangular demonstration be true which makes two triangle lines tocomprehend no space then is all the doctrine of Triangles false for if a right lined Angle be not space it is nothing yet nothing but two right lines comprehend it And in the vulgar Arithmetick is no reason at all taught but the learners without understanding any reason are required to divide the Product of the second and third by the first and the Quotient will give a fourth proportional number c. But how this comes to pass is not understood whereby learners take no pleasure in learning and soon forget what was told without any possible means of improving knowledge in any other Proposition So as it is from hence that the nobler and better sort of the Youth of England being bred up in these vain and fruitless Studies of Grammar Logick and Arist and being thereby fitted for no Business or Conversations are disposed to lead idle and debauched lives and the Female Sex though it be of mankinde as well as the Male and endued with a rational soul and therefore accountable to God and their Superiours for their Actions are less bred ingenuously in England than in France Spain Italy Germany and the United Netherlands whereby they may be enabled to govern themselves when Virgins and Widows and to be assisting to their Husbands and Families when Wives I have before often treated by Apology as well became me because the King and Laws to which I am Subject were concerned I need none in what is said upon this Proposition I have equal right here with any man and any man with me The method prescribed is not four lines whereby in Geometry as well as Numbers I will by Gods leave from causes before known demonstrate the question of every Proposition not known before whereas by twenty years learning of Grammar Logick and Aristotle this was never done nor possible to be done Proposition 14. Theorem 7. How Dutch Merchants and their Wives generally may govern Trade better than English Merchants and their Wives Subjects Dutch and English Merchants and their Wives Question Whether the Dutch govern Trade better than the English I say they may and do Ax. 15. For they who understand any business better may govern it better Prop. 12. 2. But Dutch Merchants and their Wives genenerally understand Trade better than the English Therefore may govern Trade better Which was to be demonstrated Annotations From hence it is that Dutch Merchants Wives frequently when their Husbands are abroad in Trade or any other business order and govern their Trades as diligently and discreetly as if they were at home which is a very great advantage both to the State and their Husbands and Families and might be of as much or more to the King and Merchants here in England if their Wives were so educated as to be enabled to do so Epilogue SO as Reader thou mayest understand and that by demonstration in the former Treatise from what causes and by what means the English Nation is become so degenerate in Strength Wealth and Trade In this thou mayest understand by what means and degrees the Dutch in less than 100 years have attained such prodigious Riches and Strength by Trade we have little left but the French and Canary Trades wherein we undo our selves and the Trade of our Manufactures and Plantations And in these two the Dutch may out do the English in Forein Trade if their charge in acquiring them does not exceed their charge otherways And herein they may clearly out do the English if it be true which is said that in them English Factors Trade in their own names yet upon the account of Dutch Merchants whereby it much more comes to pass which Sir Walter Rawleigh long ago observed that our Sea and Land Commodities serve only to enrich and strengthen other Countries against our own If we lose the Trade of England we must lose Navigation if we lose Navigation we lose the Sovereignty of the Seas if the Sovereignty of the Seas then read the condition of the Nation in the Danish Invasion and remember it not long since Notwithstanding the Nation is in this condition yet are we so ingaged in Factions and Dissentions that neither the continued series of Gods manifold Judgments these many years upon it by Wars Intestine and Forein Plagues Fires and Hyrricanoes nor the growing greatness of our Neighbours the French and Dutch does any ways alarm or awaken it I might here Reader proceed to a third Treatise by observing the same method and demonstrate that England is capable of greater Wealth and strength than the Vnited Netherlands or perhaps any Country else and that from those natural prerogatives wherewith God hath endued it the Nation may manage a greater better and more valuable Trade upon much less terms than the Dutch can a less worse and less valuable Trade But it will be to no purpose to proceed herein until Trade be relieved wherein we shewed cause The End