hath cost me many Years Labour and Study to consult all sorts of concern'd Persons besides my own Experience about it but also because it is so hard to convince People of the meanest Capacity and some of the wiser sort how to cure this dismal Malady which some despairing of have rather thought of setting up some other Manufacture in lieu of endeavouring to prevent the Exportation of Wool and manufacturing that at Home as that of Linnen c. which is in my Judgment a great Mistake for other Countries have the Advantage of England in that but not in this of Cloathing and it will be found that all or most Trades in England wholly distinct from this of Cloathing bring not the Tythe of Advantage that this doth And to confirm my Sentiments herein tho' so long ago writ I crave leave to add the Opinion of a late Author who sayâ— Divine Providence that appoints to every Nation and Country a particular Portion seems to allot to England which was the first Acceptable Sacrifice to his Omnipotence that of the Flock the Produce of which is the most Vniversal Covering of all Civilized Countries of the World Our Wollen Manufacture is a Talent which no Nation hath to that perfection as we have this hath been for many Ages the Support of the Nation imploying the Poore at home and our Men and Ships at Sea Now to decline this and set up another Manufactory looks like an Extravagant Mechanick who by his Improvidence hath lost his own Art and thinks to retrieve his Misfortune by taking up that of another Mans This is condemn'd in particular Persons and therefore much more to be so in a Community But it will be said There is not Imployment for the Hands of the Nation in the Wollen Manufactory and since Linnen carries away so much of our Money it seems the Interest of the Nation to imploy idle Hands in that which will keep Money in the Kingdom Now tho' both these Assertions have too much Truth in them yet neither of them have weight enough to enforce the Conclusion That the Linnen Manufactory is the only Remedy If we search into the Bottom of our Distemper we shall find another cause of our Disease It is not because there is less Wollen Manufactory used in the World than formerly that our Trade declines nor yet because we make more than formerly Nor is it altogether to be assigned to the late War For that our Trade decay'd in the latter part of King Charles the Second and all the Reign of the Late King The Reasons then for our Decay in the Wollen Manufactory seem to be these 1. The Growth of Course Wollen Manufactory in Germany with which the Venetians Trade to Turkey 2. The Prohibition of our Wollen Manufactory in France 3. The Increase of the Wollen Manufactory by our Neighbours with the help of our Wool so that in some things they out-do us in the Price they can sell at 4. By the great Wearing of East-India and other Silks and the Vse of Calicoes which was formerly supply'd by our Tammies and Says 5. The Want of the Consumption of Ireland c. Now if there be any thing in all I have said it seems reasonable to consider well before the Nation gives up its Staple and long-continued Trade for a Shadow as I take the Linnen Manufactory to be For although I believe it can never come to effect yet so far it may go as to injure that of the Wollen by diverting some that are now in it and so raiseth price of Spinning than which nothing can be more prejudicial for as I mention'd before nothing can retrieve our lost Trade abroad but underselling our Competitors So then we must labour to make ours as Cheap as we can and not set up another Manufactory To bid who gives most for Spinners is a ready way to ruin the Cloathing Trade of England but not to set up the Linnen Let us consider besides what hath been said before of injuring the Wollen Manufactory How it will affect the Kingdom in the two Pillars that support it That of the Rents of Land and the Imploying our Ships and Men at Sea which are thought the Walls of the Nation For the Rents of the Land they must certainly fall for that one Acre of Flax will employ as many Hands the Year round as the Wool of Sheep that graze twenty Acres of Ground The Linnen Manufactory imploys few Men the Wollen most Weaving Combing Dressing Shearing Dying c. These eat and drink more than Women and Children and so as the Land that the sheep graze on raiseth the Rent so will the Arable and Pasture that bears Corn and breeds Cattel for their Subsistance Then for the Employment of our Shipping it will never be pretended that we can arrive to Exportation of Linnen there are others and too many before us in that And the Truth is he that cannot thrive at his own Trade will hardly do it in that of anothers If we are beat out of our Inheritance the Wollen Manufactory by Forreigners over whom we have such Advantages in our Wool Fullers-Earth and long Continuance in the Trade it can be nothing less than a Miracle for us to take from them their Linnen Manufactory in which they have so much the Ascendant over us I shall end this part of my Discourse with the Answer of a West Country Man to his Neighbour that ask'd what Voyage he had made in a Fishing at New-found-land that proved not good I have made said he a brave Voyage as you may guess for I have sold my Bible and bought a Tobacco-Box Would it not be so to this Nation if we should change the Noblest Manufactory in the World for the poorest and most despicable So are those People in all parts of the World that are imployed in the Linnen Manufactory which only thrives where the Country is crowded with Poor and Bread not to be had at the Charge of the Parish where the Tenant is but a Vassal to his Lord and there is no power in any to relieve but in the Lord who is strange to the Practice It is a Mistake in them that believe the Linnen Manufactory in Holland to be the Product of their own Country It is only the easier part that of Weaving and Whiting most of the Thread comes from Saxony Thus much for this Author from whence we may Conclude That if the Riches and Strength of England were first of all begun from our Wollen Manufacture by King Ed. 3d. and brought to a greater Perfection in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth we also ought to take the same care in its preservation Otherwise we may be reduced to that mean Condition England was in when Land and other Commodities was of no Value till about the Time of that Famous Princess Queen Elizabeth whose Long and Prosperous Reign had raised this Nation to that Riches and Strength as elsewhere is enlarged and Sir Walter
Raleigh as a Wife States-man and Lover of his Country as many if not most of that Queen's Council were had began well to promote Englands Interest but was in the Reign of King James the First undermined by the Interest of Spain which was then so prevailing that that unfortunate Knight was taken away But in the latter End of that Reign and the whole of the three Last Kings instead of the Spanish the French Interest has so much prevailed amongst us that we are now under the sad Effects thereof and that King about the Year 1661. upon a Design he had to have forbidden the Trade between France and England supposing the Value of English Commodities sent into France did surmont the Value of those that were transported hither The following Particulars were laid before that King viz. Â l. 1. There were then transported out of France into England in Velvets Sattins Cloath of Gold and Silver yearly to the Value of 150000 2. In Silks Taffaties Ribbons c. to the Value of 300000 3. In Silks Ribbonds Galloons Laces Buttons to the Value of 150000 4. In Serges c. to the Value of 150000 5. Beavors Demy-Castors and Felt-Hatts 120000 6. In Feathers Belts Girdles Hatbands Fans Hoods Masks Gilt and Wrought Looking-Glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Tabulets Bracelets 150000 7. In Pins Needles Box Combs Tortoise-shell Combs 020000 8. In Perfum'd and Trim'd Gloves 010000 9. In Paper 100000 10. Iron-monger Ware 040000 11. In Linnen Cloth 400000 12. In Houshold-stuffs Beds and Hangings 100000 13. In Aqua-Vitae Syder Vinegar Vergis 100000 14. In Wines 600000 15. In Saffron Castle-saop Honey Almonds Olives Capers and Prunes 150000 Besides Five or Six Hundred Vessels of Salt yearly amounting unto all about 2600000 And all the Commodies exported hence at that time amounted but to 1000000 So that by this Act the Ballace on the French came to 1600000 Upon which the French King soon laid aside his Design of Prohibition and instead thereof increased the Duties laid upon all our Wollen Manufacture imported into his Dominions of what was imported in the Year 1654. and 1660. about which time we exported more Goods especially of our Wollen Manufactures to France then was imported from France into England in those Years But the great Increase of French Commodities imported into England was after the Arrival of King Charles the Second And we may rationally conclude that the Duties paid to the French King when the aforesaid Goods valu'd at 2600000 l. were exported together with the Freight and what was paid for Custom when imported as also the Profit to the Merchant and Retailer and by the Advance of Price by our Fancies the said Summ of 2600000 l. may be rationally increas'd to 3000000 l. so that the Consumers of the French Commodities advanced the French Interest and impoverished our selves but then after this time in 1662. the French having got vast Quantities of our Wool to encourage that Manufacture greater Duties were imposed on our English Commodities in the Year 1664. and further increased in the Year 1667. not only on our Wollens but on all our English Commodities even great Duties upon our Shipping that I my self having occasion to go to Lille in Flanders could not land at Dunkirk tho' I had no Commodities in the Vessel without paying Tunnage but thi was not all but the French King restrain'd and confin'd the Importation of our Wollen Manufactures to his Ports of Callice and Diep and other Goods to some other inconvenient Ports By which means and by the Encouragement of the Consumption of the Cloths Stuffs c. made by his own People it amounted to a Prohibition of our Commodities in many cases And by the way it hath been examin'd that in the Year 1674. or thereabouts there was imported from France Silks to the Value of 300000 l. and in Linnen Cloth 500000 l. and Wine and Brandy 217000 l. where we may also Note that if such a Quantity was legally enter'd there was some of all those Commodities run as it 's called viz. Stolen and paid no Duties besides all sorts of Lace when in that Year our Exports to France amounted but to 171020 l. and it was further Observed that in the Year 1675. the Importation of Wine and Brandy was almost doubl'd of what it was before and at the latter End of the Reign of King James it was much more increased viz. the Importation of French Wine and Brandy The great Loss of the Trade we formerly had with France of near 1500000 l. per Annum which we exported of our Wollen Manufacture to that Kingdom occasion'd that Famous and Worthy Sir Matthew Hale late Lord Chief Justice to say that our Populousness which is the greatest Blessing a Kingdom can enjoy is become the Burthen of our Nation The uneasiness of this Burthen upon us these late Years hath occasion'd many unusual Remedies and Attempts many New Acts of Parliament in the Reign of King Charles the Second being once misled our Uneasiness made way for a further Design upon us as a Man being out of his way will be ready to listen believingly unto almost any Direction In the 15th Caroli 2. there was an Act made for the Encouragement of Trade in its Title whilst the Body of the Act was no more than to encourage the Exportation of Corn the low Price thereof being as before occasion'd by so many thousands want to Employ and could not have Money to buy Corn and to give Liberty to carry away our Bullion which help'd one step forward In the next Place followed the Act against importing Cattle from Ireland which was a Cure like the rest that led to farther Inconveniencies this was in the 17th Caroli 2. After which a free Liberty was given to Export Leather which was in the 20th of that King's Reign directly contrary to former Statutes successively And to compleat the whole Design in the 25th Caroli 2. there was an Act made to take off Aliens Duties upon all Commodities of the Growth Product and Manufacture of our Nation except Coals which fully answer'd their End All the Priviledges of England were given away by wholesale whilst all those Acts proved but turnings in a Feavor which gave ground to the Distemper upon us no way affecting the true cause and this not matter of choice if any other way proposed the Countrey Air was soon thought best viz. the Parliament sent home such was our Case in those Reigns c. Of which Acts I shall by and by more enlarge upon but to speak more of the Trade of France and the Consequence thereof for as we lost the great Advantage that formerly we had by the prohibiting of our Wollen Manufacture in that Kingdom during most of the two last Reigns so the unequal Duties laid upon the German and Flanders Linnens the Product of our Wollen Manufacture and by the small Duties laid upon the French Linnen and East-India Calicoes and Muslings purchased with our Money
make us think And if we did so I believe we might yet be the greatest People for Trade and Navigation in the World and were rightly possest of that we need not fear the Power of all the World Our Element is the Sea our Business is there nor are we Masters of our Possessions on the Land longer than we command the Sea and that is not to be done only by Ships of War it is our Fleets in Trade that are the Nursery of our Fleets in War We are an Original in every thing and that I take to be our Misfortune as it might have been our Happiness for certainly no Civilized People in the World would make so little of such Inestimable Funds as we have to work upon what would the Dutch and to our shame we may now bring in the French do if they had our Mines of Lead and Tin our Fleeces of Wool c. And to compleat all an Industrious and Ingenuous People to manufacture and improve them Can any one believe the Councils of Holland or France would credit a few Merchants and Retailers that should tell them notwithstanding these mighty Advantages you have above the World you shall sell none of them if you will not wear the Livery of the Indians and that you must purchase with your Money not with Commodities but them you must sell to all Nations and having turn'd them into Money send it to the East-Indies There must certainly be some wonderful Charm in this matter to make Men fear that all the Nations in the World will combine against us if we wear not the Manufactures of the Indies Money can no way be brought into the Kingdom but by the Export of our Manufactures so that nothing but our ill Conduct can hinder us from full Supplies of Gold and Silver We account no Man poor that hath Flocks and Herds tho' he hath not Money and the same Reason holds for a Country that abounds with Natural and Artificial Commodities that are as Necessary for Forreign Vse as our Flocks and Herds at home and are not for Luxury and Luxurious Effeminate Expences but are Vtensils of Life and Society which a great part of the World are supplied with In the Year 1669. was laid before King Charles the Second an Account by what ways the Trade and Riches of England was begun and also how it was undermin'd and afterwards at several times Proposals conducing to our Preservation was also laid before that Prince c. And in the Year 1677. was published in Print by divers Persons and more particularly by Mr. Andrew Marvyl what Evil Consequence the Exportation of our Wool to France was to England and that there had been for some Years near Twenty thousand Packs annually imported into the Town of Callice and much of it from Kent that before such Quantities of Wool were exported there was a considerable Trade of the Wollen Manufacture in that Country but it 's now almost lost and yet some Persons of that Country favouring the Exportation of Wool in their Prints seem to be pleased that they have the less poor in their Country thereby it 's necessary for such to consider what they would do with the Sheep and Bullocks brought up to London if all other Countries now employed in Wollen Manufacture brought up thither which is the grand Wheel that carries on Trade were as much depopulated as Kent Give me leave to compare Profit and Loss suppose Kent was the only County in England which produced Wool and that 6000 Packs were yearly grown there and put the Rate of 10 l. per Pack which amounts to 60000 l. and so exported rough but if that Wool was manufactur'd in Kent and then exported it would amount to 720000. so take out the 60000 l. for the Wool Kent would have gain'd 660000 l. but now France hath got it and as they have tasted the sweetness and found the sinnes of our Trade so they have not spared any Cost to gain it from us by getting our Wool either by Craft or Force for there was not more Art and Skill used by King Ed. 3. in bringing home the Wollen Manufacturers at first to the Wool than hath been of late to export it to France the Consequence of which is not only injurious to us in the loss of what we formerly exported of our Wollen Manufacture thither but also by their supplying Forreign Markets with the Manufacture made with our Wool much cheaper than we by reason of the cheap Workmanship in France the which is three or four times the Value of the Wool which if the French had not our Wool they could not make any considerable Quantity of the Wollen Manufacture viz. Worsted Stuffs and Stockings which is now a Considerable Part of our Wollen Manufacture But this is not all but we have been imposed upon by the Consumption of the French Manufactury in our own wearing all the Reign of the two late Kings which was very great before the late War but since by the great Encrease of East-India Commodities the French have been undersold So that from the whole matter we have not only lost a great part of the Export of our Wollen Manufacture and in a way to lose all but much of the Consumption of our own wearing the Evil Consequence of which I fear we shall too sensibly feel and to take Notice what is already past as is very well Observed by Mr. Tho. Smith in a Tract printed the last Year which he hath also published another Intituled Profit and Loss As to the First The ruin of the Tammy and Greensay Trade setled in Suffolk and Norfolk for many years the Use of these Commodies was for our Home Consumption which betwixt Twenty or Thirty Years agoe the East-India Company brought over such Quantities of Callicoes stain'd c. which wholly turn'd those of our Commodities out of doors not only the Wear here but the Export of it to Ireland Scotland and our Plantations and the People employed forced to leave their Houses which standing empty where Tradesmen inhabited Landlords abating 20 l. per Cent. of their Rent nay offering large good Houses to any that would keep them in repair which did also affect the Counties of Lincoln Leicester Northampton and Warwick by the Fall of the price of Wool at that time The next Instance is in Spittle-fields there was first the Walloons and since by the English a very large Silk Manufacture setled till the East-India Company sent Patterns and Workmen unto the Indies and by that means beat the English out of that Trade A third Instance is the Glocester-shire Cloth exported by the Turkey Merchants which brings home Silk and Grogrin Yarn in return which by the means of the East-India Commodities the said Merchants Effects lye upon their Hands and instead of Exporting 30000 Cloaths in a Year now 5000 serve the turn The last Instance is the miserable Condition of the Manufacturers of Canterbury these People are Weavers
of Silk the Foundation of which Trade was laid in the time of Queen Elizabeth when the Nobility and Gentry of England were in earnest to advance the Nation when the Trades of Norwich Colchester London Exon and Canterbury had their Original and greatly encouraged And this of Canterbury I shall particularly mention what fell out betwixt the Years 1697 and 1698. The Traders in Canterbury upon some prospect of Trade provided Quantities of Goods for the English and West-India Markets but the coming in of Indian Damask in the Fleet Frigot the said Canterbury Men were ruined unless they could have metamorphosed their Tabbies made of very rich Italian Silk that came in Exchange for English Serge into Indian Silk they must leave Trading or sell at 30 or 40. per Cent. loss By which means half the Workmen of that Town of the weaving Trade are now running up and down the Nation seeking Bread and their Families left to the Parishes to maintain and the Trade by which that Town hath been upheld for an Hundred Years come to nothing These are some of the past Effects of the East-India Trade with respect to the English Manufactury and who shall pay the Damage The next Thing to be consider'd is what further Mischief this Trade may do to the other Manufactures of England and this is to be Evidenced upon what they have begun and tryed upon and partly upon this Supposition that whatever Commodity is made in England of Wool may be imitated and in many respects exceeded in Cotton manufactured in India and be afforded cheaper than our English Tradesmen can afford theirs and be New and Odd and so pleasing that it will be the Interest of the Indian Traders to encourage such Trades They have already brought over great Quantities of double Callicoes used in the room of English Flannels for Shifts and other Uses besides great Quantities of Cotton Stockings which are both worn here and exported to the West-Indies As for Stuffs they have brought already great Quantities of Cotton Stuffs dyed stripped plain mixed Colour in the directest opposition to Wollen Stuffs As for Silk and Cotton mixed it were almost Endless to give an Account how many sorts of Norwich and London Stuffs that are made of Silk and English Wool they have imitated and outdone as to Price in Silk and Cotton but we may Note that the New-Drapery so called is much more than Old But suppose all those Manufactures should be ruin'd sure they cannot hurt the Cloth Trade say the Agents of the East-India Company In Answer Why may not a Commodity made of Cotton put down Cloth Cotton is as fine and soft as Wool it may be spun as small or as large it may be mill'd and dress'd dyed and stained and when the English Merchant shall send over Cloth-weavers c. I question not but we shall have Cotton Cloth and Knaves to make it a Fashion and Fools enough to wear it and though those Calamities are upon us and many more in view though nothing but employing our People can preserve this Nation yet that Trade must be free tho' it brings the Nation in Bondage whereas formerly a Million at least were employed in the Wollen Manufacture who were Instrumental in distributing near Four Millions per Annum for Bread and other Necessaries which the Graziers and Farmers Tennants to the Nobility and Gentry received which Persons also did bear part of the Taxes which supported the Government and therefore in all reason one would think deserves Consideration and the greatest Encouragement Yet on the contrary we find by sad Experience that many are more fond of the East-India Commodities than ever so that that is encreasing as may more evidently appear by a Printed List which was this Year given to the Parliament of the Number of Ships sent out and return'd in Two Years last past with several Remarks and Queries and Observations thereupon an Abstract of which I have here recited and is as followeth viz. That there hath sailed for the East-Indies and China 52 Ships since the 10th of February 1697. the Account of their Cargo of 26 of their Ships amounts to 1 114 933. The Cargoes carried out by the Captains c. 111 993. Total of 26 Ships amounts to 1 226 426. Note By the Rule of Proportion 52 Ships must carry out besides what is taken in at Cadiz which is very considerable 2 452 852. Note Of this great Sum not a 40th part consists of our Wollen Manufacture and that they send out does prevent a greater Quantity which would be sent out by the Turkey-Company which would return raw Silk to carry on that Manufacture in England Note That according to the usual Account of the Sales by the Candle the Goods amount to treble the first Cost if so the whole Cargoes brought in will come to 7 388 556. These sold by the whole sale Buyer to the Retailers allowing 10 per Cent. Profit to such Whole-sale Buyers comes to 738 855. Total Value in the Retailers Hands 8 127 411. Memorandum When the Profit the Retailer makes of this great Sum paid for by the Consumer must of course encrease the said Sum which is a Loss to the Nation Note That by a Computation of our Wollen Manufacture made in England in one Year comes to but and the East-India Goods comes to near that Sum by the Rule of Proportion according to their present Trade 4 850 558. Memorandum That in the London-Gazette of the 25th of January last that a Ship belonging to the French-India Company is arriv'd at Diep from Surrat 't is said her Cargo is worth near 200000 Crowns and that great part of her Cargo consists in Gold and Silver which she brought from the Isle of Bourbon Note The Difference of this Ships Cargo ours bring over Wrought Goods to the Destruction of our Manufactures at the Expence of our Silver the French brings over Gold and Silver to support their Government and Trade Query Whether the Difference may not proceed from the Discouragement that the French put upon the East-India Manufacture some Years since as appears by the Decree which followeth A Decree of the French King's Council of State concerning Callicoes printed in East-India or printed in the Kingdom and other China and India Silks Stuffs and Flowered with Gold and Silver Given the 26th of October 1686. THE King being informed That the great Quantities of Callicoes printed in East-India or painted in the Kingdom and other China and India Silks Stuffs and Stuffs flower'd with Gold and Silver have not only given Occasion of Transporting many Millions but also have diminished the Manufactures of Old Established in France for making of Silk Wollen Linen and Hemp-stuffs and at the same time the Ruine and Destruction of the Working People who by want of Work having no Occupation or Subsistence for their Families are gone out of the Kingdom the which being needful to provide a Remedy for and for that Effect to hinder
This in my Judgment being impartial viz. not concern'd in Interest must in reason be the main Occasion at least a Foundation for Germany and Flanders to encourage the Wollen Manufactury in those parts And it 's well Observ'd by the Author of a little Tract Intituled The Interest of England consider'd Printed in the Year 1694. viz. The fine Linnens of Flanders and Germany have come in competition these many Years with the Calicoes and Muslings of the East-Indies and the fine Dowlace and Gauses of France one the Effect of our Manufactory the other of our Bullion and yet you will find upon the Book of Rates if I mistake not all the Linnen of Flanders charged with about three pence an Ell Custome and the fine Dowlace of France not at one half penny and the Callicoes of the East-Indies but at two pence a piece Now as that unequal Trade was carried on all the time almost of the two Late Reigns so the Necessity in the late War in doubling the Duties upon Flanders Linnen which is almost half the Value of much of their said Linnen and the unseasonable timing of the Lace Act which did as was lately affirm'd in a Committee c. occasion a Flanders Merchant then in London dealing much in Lace to go over to Flanders and put the States upon the prohibiting our Wollen Manufacture And tho' this occasion'd the said Prohibition yet considering the Little Quantity of Lace at least visibly brought into England in comparison of the Linnen imported formerly from Flanders cannot be the Original tho' it may be the Instrumental Cause as before hinted Hereby it may appear how we have lost our Trade and how insensibly our Treasure was exhausted and our Nation beggar'd whilst we neglected our own Interest and Strangers such as proved our great Enemies were diligent to make their Advantage by us but most of those Evils might have been prevented had we really assum'd our Ancestors regard to our Wealth and Grandeur But leaving Particulars let us be more general for tho' we are agreed that Trade is the main Spring from whence Riches flow yet we do as much differ in the Method of acquiring thereof and there is certainly as much need of Regulation in Trade as of Laws to secure one Man's Right from being invaded by another for it 's now become as necessary to preserve Government as it is useful to make Men rich And notwithstanding the great Influence that Trade now hath in the Support and Welfare of States and Kingdoms yet there is nothing more unknown or at least that Men differ more in their Sentiments than about the true Causes that raise and promote Trade The Merchant and other Traders who should understand the true Interest of Trade do either not understand it or else lest it might hinder their private Gain will not discover it Some Writers about Trade do in their Treatises better set forth the Rule to make an Accomplish'd Merchant than how it may be most profitable to the Nation And those Arguments every day met with from the Traders seem byassed with private Interest and run contrary to one anothers as their Interest are opposite And how fair and convincing soever their Premises may appear for the Enlarging and Advancement of Trade the Conclusions of their Arguments are directly opposite The Reasons why many Men have not a true Idea of Trade is Because they apply their Thoughts to particular Parts of Trade wherein they are chiefly concern'd in Interest and having found out the best Rules and Laws for forming that particular Part they govern their Thoughts by the same Notions in forming the great Body of Trade and not reflecting on the different Proportion betwixt the Body â—nd Parts have a very disagreeable Conception and like those who having learnt to draw well an Eye Ear Hand and other Parts of the Body being unskilful in the Laws of Symmetry when they join them together make a very deformed Body Therefore whoever will make a true Representation of Trade must draw a rough Scetch of the Body and Parts together which though it will not entertain with so much Pleasure as a well finish'd Peice yet the agreableness of the Parts may be as well discern'd and thereby such Measures taken as may best suit the Shape of the Body The Reason why I use this similitude is from the Experience we have of the miserable Effects we now and may more hereafter feel of this separate Trades that have been carried on in this Kingdom viz. that some few Persons gain great Estates when the Nation in general decays as in many Particulars may be instanc'd viz. the French Trade all the Time of the two late Kings that such Merchants who imported vast Quantities and some that run their Goods and paid no Customs of such Commodities that were purchased with Money and tended to debauch the Nation then the East-India by both those Countries this Nation hath lessen'd the Employment of near Five Hundred Thousand Persons for by such a Number of Persons out of Employ or double that Number but half Work it 's all one the Nation must be greatly impoverished thereby For before that time when People were fully imployed some Families could earn in the Cloathing Trade by spinning and weaving Twenty and some Thirty Shillings per Week tho' some less others more which was most spent by them and laid out with the Farmer and Grasier who was thereby better able to pay their Rents to the Nobility and Gentry by which means the Value of Lands were kept up but when such a Number of Persons beforementioned had no Employment it 's not probable the Commodities can be sold which necessarily sunk the Rents of Lands and this was the Occasion of the Irish Act as that before of Corn to prohibit the Importation of Cattle supposing that would be a means to support the Value of Lands in England But the Mistake is now so manifest that we have by it lost a great part of our Trade and laid a Foundation to loose all and it was well Observed by Mr. Tho. Manly a Justice of Peace in Kent shortly after that Act past upon another Occasion about the Exportation of Wool viz. If the Irish Wool enables the Forreigners to carry on that Manufacture hurtful to us we have small reason to assist them further least we imitate those good Men who break the Pot because their Wives break the Pitcher and ruin our selves because Ireland hurts us For if it be true as is by some affirm'd and by Demonstrations made good that England gain'd by the Trade with Ireland before and in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second Two Millions per Annum It is plain that Act laid the Foundation of our ruin for before that Act was in force the Irish contented themselves with Trading only with England by which Trade we received so great an Advantage but since the Irish have been necessitated to seek for a
Trade elsewhere which they have found to be our Loss And tho' the late Act about the Wollen Manufacture in Ireland was well intended to encourage our own yet as things now stand I am not without my Fears that it will not be so advantagious as was expected and as it might have been done another way I would be glad if I am deceiv'd in my Fears Before I pass Ireland I would crave leave to insert a part of a Discourse writ by Mr. Andrew Marvyl and printed in the Year 1677. viz. The fall of Rents and cheapness of Wool and decay of Manufacture in England being suggested to be principally occasion'd by Ireland the Irish Cattle were thereupon prohibited by an Act of Parliament and declared to be a publick Nusance Admitting that some of those Counties might be be prejudiced by the Importation of Irish Cattle yet whatsoever Profit accrued to others by it did upon the mutual Necessities of all settle into the Common Stock of the Nation And it seems but reasonable that whatsoever private Obligation a Parliament Man hath to the Place where he is Elected yet when once he comes to sit his Trust and his Mind is enlarg'd and he does no more consider himself as the Politician of a Shire or the Patron of a Burrough but as a Representer of the Vniversality Whereas otherwise if any County one or more chance to be more fertile than other in Members of Parliament and they act by such narrow Measures the decision would be by Multitude not by Reason And notwithstanding if we were to tell Counties those that are not advantaged and are really agrieved make the greatest Plea for if we account like Merchants by Profit and Loss all the Profit that can be made and that very small by this Act returns to such Counties which are proper for breeding and that small profit is lost to them if not much more by their Corn for want of Trade by it and the whole Nation hath hereby lost in great measure the vent of it's Home and Forreign Commodities to Ireland and the increasing Product to England in General by Irish Cattle in Specie But as to the Political Point you did herein as much as in you then lay to cut off all that strong as more natural Dependance of Ireland upon England and to govern it rather by force of Authority than by the influential Benignity of Interest And tho' I am no Polititian dare say in General that it concerns you to use us kindly and to indulge us in all things that tend to civilize cultivate and people this Nation Memorandum This was written by Mr. Marvyl under the Notion of a younger Brother in Ireland to an Elder Brother in England the reason was that it might not be thought his Writing because he was not willing to disoblige the North Country Members being his Friends they being for that Act. The next Act was about Leather the Effect of which hath lessen'd the Employment of many Thousands in that Manufacture so that Act hath given Advantage to Forreigners contrary to the design of the said Laws and more particularly one lately made in the 12th Year of Car. 2. as by the Preamble of that Act may appear wherein 't is Evident that the Design thereof was for 1. The setting on work the Inhabitants of this Realm 2. The Improving the Native Commodities of this Country to it 's best fullest and utmost Use 3. And that the Advantage accrewing hereby might redound to the Subjects of this Kingdom and not the Subjects of Forreign Realms Wherefore these three Designs were either good and sufficient Motives for the Prohibition therein exprest or not if Good and Sincere then whatsoever is contrary must be to the prejudice of England So that if those Acts before-mentioned are contrary to the true Interest of England and notwithstanding have produced Effects contrary to Expectation we ought to consider whether it be proper that the said Acts should still remain in force And then we added another Mistake upon a Supposition that if Forreigners had a liberty equal to our English Merchants it would unavoidably encourage and encrease Trade and therefore Aliens Duties were taken off the Effect of which hath instead of that laid a Foundation to loose the Freedom of the English Merchant and let Strangers into the Mystery and Advantage of our Manufacture as well as ruin many of the Wollen Manufactures of this Kingdom for when those Forreigners have got some Credit they have engrossed vast Quantities of the said Manufacture and then leave the Kingdom So that all those Acts before-mentioned instead of promoting have tended to destroy our Trade and had not the late War fell out as it did which occasion'd the Consumption of so much Flesh and Corn in the Fleet and Army it had been much worse than now it is for the Farmer and Grazier Besides the General Decay of our Trade which we should e're this time been more sensible of I say again had not the War came on at that time we had not only lost our Trade but the Liberty of Free-born English Men. And now we have Peace generally speaking there is much cause upon another Account to be afraid we shall bring Destruction upon our selves by the Methods used now to promote a forreign Interest as we did France in the Two late Reigns and tho' we are daily told of our Danger yet we will not credit those Cautions given us Which brings to my Mind the History of the Jews who tho' they were often told of their Destruction that would certainly come upon them if they continu'd to go on in those ways in which they were then walking and tho' this Warning was given 'em with the greatest Compassion that a Man cou'd express and all imaginable pains taken to convince them of the certainty of those Evils that were coming upon them yet they rejected all good Counsel and slighted all the Reproofs that were given them by their Prophets until at last Destruction came upon them to the uttermost and there was no Remedy I would also crave leave to instance in the Case of the Grecian Christians at Constantinople that notwithstanding the many Warnings given them of the Designs of the Turks against them yet how careless and insensible they were and wou'd not make that provision for their Defence which was required of them and therefore the Effects of that Carelesness was felt by them when the Turks came to possess that great City For at the taking of it by Mahomet the Great At which time the Riches of the Conquer'd was no better than Poverty and Beauty worse than Deformity but to speak of the hidden Treasure there found passeth credit the Turks themselves wondering thereat Whereof if some part had in time been bestowed upon the Defence of the City the Turkish King had not so easily taken both it and the City But every man as now we here was careful how to encrease his private Wealth
few or none regarding the publick State it 's still our case until in fine every Man with his private Abundance was wrapped together with his needy Neighbour in the self same common Misery and who knows what may fall out of the same kind hereafter yet the security of the Constantinopolitans was such that tho' they were always environ'd with their mortal Enemies yet had they no care of fortifying so much as the Inner Wall of the City but suffer'd the Officers which had the Charge of it to convert the greatest part of the Money into their own Purse I dread to name my Fears if England which for many Generations hath been so Famous to all the World should now be given up to ruin and be a prey to our Neighbours and thereby a Scorn and a By-word to the World by the Evil Practices of it's own Natives but were we unanimous and true to our real English Interest we need not fear all the World but on the contrary if we persist in that destructive Practice of private Interest what Misery may not justly be expected by us when we are so insensible of the Train that has been so long laid to blow up those good Foundations which have been so many Ages agoe established by our Noble Ancestors of all our English Liberties and Properties For I know no Nation under Heaven as at this Day enjoying those Priviledges we do It 's thirty Years agoe there was a Tract published Entituled England's Glory as a Caution to us against the Designs of its Enemies which I now fear is departing from us I will not say as Phineas's Wife at the taking of the Ark The Glory was departed from Israel tho' I may say I fear it I would not forestale Providence nor anticipate the evil Day yet if I could be any ways instrumental to awaken us out of that General Lethargy we are fallen into I should greatly rejoyce however I shall endeavour to quiet an uneasie Mind by discharging it this way in giving some Account of that which hath occasion'd my Fears This Nation is hitherto own'd a Free People but now long that Freedom may be enjoy'd no Mortal can conclude for if we do as we ought seriously reflect on the condition of most Parts of the World and more particularly many of our neighbouring Nations how they have lost their Liberties and Priviledges they formerly enjoyed and consider how we at present are upheld and the Dangers we are in by our own Folly and if we did but a little deny our selves tho' suppos'd present self-denial and really pursue our real and true English Interest viz. if I as a private Person or in Company carry on a Trade that may be advantagious to my self and Company which may not only be prejudicial to a greater Number but tend to the destruction of the whole Kingdom and peradventure my self at last I therefore in such a case ought to deny my self in my private and suppos'd profit and by this happily preserve the rest from Destruction For if through the Loss of our Manufacture some Hundreds of Thousands have no Employ Hunger breaks through all Laws we may not forget what happened not many Years since of the Weavers in Spittle-fields and if that was so dangerous in one branch of Trade then failing and but part of this City of London what may we not fear when it shall be the General Complaint of the whole Nation which I fear we shall be more sensible of by feeling than by my writing And tho' at present those Persons before-mentioned are some of them remov'd and others by turning their Hands another way which doth and will affect not only the City of Norwich but the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge and Lincoln and some other Counties yet when it becomes a General Complaint I cannot see where we can then have Relief I would not Omit the Collection of some Things I observe in a small Tract printed in the Year 1697. under the Notion of a Letter to a Parliament Man who says I have hitherto given my Observations and Thoughts in general how all Nations have acquir'd their proportions of Gold and Silver and that they have most who depend least on their Native Product Art and Labour are the only Philosophers Stone that turns the Product of the Earth into Gold You see I have all along in this Discourse shewn that it is by Labour and Manufacture Bullion is brought into any Country Now if this be so then we have that Foundation left us by which all the Treasure of the World is purchas'd But if we lose our Manufactures we at the same time destroy our Navigation it being our Manufactures which send our Ships abroad and they likewise invite them home again with Oyl and Dying Stuffs c. If we make a right use of our present Exigences we may turn them to the Advantage and Enlargement of our Manufacture Necessity we say is the Mother of Invention and there seems reason to believe it will be the Father of our Riches and if it had no other effect but to abate our Forreign Expence it might in a few Years fill this Kingdom with Gold and Silver it is not commonly considered how much saving multiplies Treasure And sure this must be of mighty Advantage to us when we abate our Forreign Expence and encrease our home upon that which will bring us in Bullion It is said the Fair Sex are shewing us the way how to save and enrich these Nations may they be the Happy Instruments of doing so great a Good Vives in his Book of a Christian Woman tells us that he heard it reported when he was a Boy that in a City of Spain the Young Men abounding in Wealth gave themselves up to Excess and Extravagancy which the Ladies observing and forseeing that it would be the ruin of the City united in a Resolution that they would abate in their own and despise and turn their Backs on all Men that were Extravagant and Gay in their Cloaths The present Circumstances we are under alters not my Opinion which I have given in another place That the Parsimony of the Rich is the Ruin of the Poor and in Truth in some cases Damage to themselves But what I say here of the Expence of our Gentry relates to Forreign Manufactures such as are more for Curiosity than Vse and had it not been for our Excess in them the Reign of King Charles the Second had loaded this Kingdom with Coin and Bullion Would it not then be our greatest Wisdom to retrieve that in this Reign that we lost in that I mean our Senses as well as Money both which run a Tilt while we exceed our Old Character of being Apes of Imitation and become Apes of Invention our Great Masters of Trade sending Patterns for Indians to work out the Money of the Nation from the Rich and the Bread out of the Mouths of the Poor perhaps our present Necessities may
AN ALARUM TO ENGLAND To prevent its Destruction By the Loss of Trade and Navigation Which at this Day is in great Danger Submitted to Consideration in time By W. C. LONDON Printed by K. Astwood for Mary Fabian at Mercers-Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE KING's MOST Excellent Majesty May it please Your Majesty AS the Multitude of your Subjects is an Honour to Your Majesty so the Employment of them is both Your Safety and Riches Great Sir These few Lines do therefore Humbly crave Your Majesties Perusal because they make it appear That the Trade and Manufacture of this Nation supports the Government and consequently the Revenue of the Crown in each Branch thereof which is Humbly submitted to Your Princely Consideration by Your Majesty's Most Obedient and Dutiful Subject and Servant W. C. THE PREFACE T IS certain that Trade in General is a Great Benefit to and a Main Support of any Nation and the Wollen Manufacture of this in particular Therefore 't is of Great Concernment to endeavour by all means possible to preserve and increase it But to our Sorrow we have our Ears fill'd with daily Complaints of the great Decay of it and the most effectual means to find out a Remedy is to enquire into the Cause I did in the Year 1669. express my Fears to King Charles II. of a great Decay of our Wollen Manufacture by what I Observ'd then and by woful Experience we have found it come to pass I have in the following Papers endeavoured to represent the Causes of it And the General Cause I have observ'd to be the Trading into those Parts whither but little of our own Manufacture is exported and the Returns of Forreign Commodities to us are made by purchase with our Money The Particulars of which I have instanc'd in our Trade with France which during the Two Last Reigns gave them the Advantage of near Four Millions per Annum of our Money while but little of our Manufactures was exchang'd for theirs The like is instanc'd in the East-India Trade which is mainly carried on by our Money and the Callicoes c. which are imported from thence not only hinder our own Manufactures at Home but lay a Foundation of the Loss of our Trade in the Wollen Manufacture both with Flanders and Germany This Mr. T. Smith has hinted in a Sheet he wrote the last Year concerning the East-India Trade shewing how prejudicial it was to our Silk and Wollen Manufactures which at present are well setled among us It tends to our Impoverishment by taking away the Employment of our Poor depopulates the Nation lessens the Value of Lands and Houses and exposes us thereby to the Contempt of our Neighbours An ALARUM c. IN the Preface of a Discourse Intituled Awake Sampson Printed in the Year 1696. I hinted that that was intended to be a Preparatory for a General Alarum Since we were told in the Year 1678. that there was then a Design to subvert the Frame of our English Government the Destruction of the Protestant Religion and to adulterate the Coin and had we took that caution given us timely we had prevented many of those Evils which we have so sensibly since felt And since the Designs of our Enemies have been variously exercised viz. to destroy Trade to invade Property to alter on Religion and to adulterate the Coin of the Nation which hath cost us so much lately to retrieve let it be a caution to us in other cases for the Future It may seem to some to be needless now to talk of an Alarum seeing we are at Peace yet the following Discourse will evidence that in the Subject I insist upon we have more need to be call'd upon now then in a Time of War The Reasons are many but in General we know in War Watches are set and People do never sleep secure from Noise but in a Time of Peace Persons are apt to be too secure I presume there is no just Occasion to make an Apology for waking a Person in danger of a Fire tho' he is forc'd to it against his Natural Disposition and that such a Person would not be offended if pull'd out of his Bed when the Flames are about him tho' he do not see it his Eyes being shut and he in a sound sleep It is the Condition of England at this time We have been oft in Danger and the Fire as oft quench'd and tho' generally speaking we have had very many and great awakening Providences sounded in our Ears Yet we have been like the deaf Addor that stoppeth her Ears and will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers tho' charming never so wisely and do not consider a Secret Train is laid to blow us up and tho' we have hitherto been preserv'd almost to a Miracle yet whether we have any grounds to expect it always I cannot tell my Faith is weak But on the contrary tho' we in this Age do not pretend to Prophetick Inspiration nor do I as little to Prognostication yet by Common Observations any Man may predict what Conclusions necessarily follow such and such Premisses or in a more familiar way of speaking we know if we keep a certain Road on Shore or steer our Course at Sea whither at length it will bring us How we have taken our Course these Forty Years is too Notorious and for which the Land mourns I would be glad to be deceiv'd if my Fears are groundless that it may vomit out many of its Inhabitants at least some of us fall short of our Expectations And had I not made some Observations of the wonderful Goodness of God to this Nation as before hinted I should have despair'd of any hopes of being saved from an utter Destruction for the Dangers we are now in are so great that tho' we are at present Blessed be God at peace yet when I consider the many thousands that have lived comfortably in the Trade of our Wollen Manufacture and which have contributed to the Support of the Government and Maintenance of the Poor are now and like to be more reduced to want themselves having no Employment by reason that many of those Countries that we have formerly supplied with those Goods do make not only for their own Use with our Wool but sup 〈…〉 other Forreign Countries also and not only so but that we have cut off as it were and disobliged both Ireland and Scotland in some late Acts I am not without my Fears what the Effects may be besides our Domestick Consumption of Forreign Manufacturies and hindring our own c. But if it be said by some as it is that if we loose our Woollen Manufacture we may employ our poor in a Linnen Manufacture c. I must answer as I did on a like Occasion about the Year 1669. in a Tract Entituled England's Interest by the Benefit of the Woollen Manufacture viz. I am the more large in the Demonstration of this Affair not only because this