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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69897	An essay upon the probable methods of making a people gainers in the ballance of trade ... by the author of The essay on ways and means.	Davenant, Charles, 1656-1714.	1699 (1699)	Wing D309; ESTC R5221	132,769	338

Derelict Et primi Occupantis We do not observe it has been so order'd in that Kingdom that both the Body of the People and the Public too are Poor at one and the same Instant their Ministers have not suffer'd the Commonwealth to be consum'd by Usurious Contracts with the Common Lenders and by their Care and Wisdom they have obtain'd such Credit even under a Despotick Power that they have not been forc'd all along to pay above 7 per Cent. Interest for Money lent the King whereas 40 per Cent. has been paid for mighty Sums in one Free Government so that upon the whole Matter 't is evident enough that this Devouring Monster War is to be fed where the Men of Business are Honest Foreseeing and Frugal for the State Mix'd Governments among many other Excellencies have this Advantage that a good Administration may be obtain'd by any one part of the Constitution that will set it self strongly to so good a Work Kings can at all times set things right if the Business of their Wars do not compel 'em to be often Absent Either of the Houses when they have set themselves to inquire into and correct Disorders have been terrible to the most Bold Subtile and most Powerful Statesmen that ever went about to undo a People or to mislead a Prince If in any future Reign the Treasure of this Kingdom should be mis-manag'd and profusely wasted and if Debts hardly to be waded through should be contracted the Representatives of the People may by looking strictly into all these Matters perhaps immediately lessen the publick Engagements at least they may put some Stop to the farther Progress of the Mischief In such a Juncture good Men will think it their Duty to see whether this Debt is not to be lessen'd by reviewing former Accompts they will examine whether the Sums already granted were not sufficient to pay off all the Forces we have had at Land and Sea They will inquire from whence such a high Article of Arrears proceeds They will see how so many Fonds come to be Deficient and whether such Deficiencies have not been occasion'd by some ill Conduct in those who have manag'd the respective Branches They will inform themselves which way the many Millions are gone which the People have paid They will desire to know what Necessities could compel the Men of Business to give such large Premiums and high Interest and whether the Promoters of a Council so pernicious did not lend their own Money and whether they have not been Parties deeply concern'd themselves in all usurious Contracts They will inquire upon what Consideration and for what Services immoderate Grants of Lands and Money have been made and they will do it the more strictly if when such Grants were pass'd it should happen that the Nation was indebted and paid heavy Taxes The Representatives of the People can look into all these things and no Doubt it is a Duty which they owe their Countrey that has trusted 'em with so unlimited a disposal of their Fortunes To prevent Mismanagement in the Revenue of this Kingdom it seems necessary that a Law should be made to put the Lords of the Treasury under such an Oath as the Lord High Treasurer of England takes for it appears an Absurdity in our Government that the meanest Officer concern'd in the King's Revenue should be sworn to a true and faithful Discharge of his Trust and that the Treasury who are trusted with the whole whose Authority is so boundless and who have it so much in their Power to hurt the Nation should be under no Oath at all Some Objections there are against this but he who considers 'em well will find 'em of no weight and that those Necessities which have broken into and over-rul'd the Ancient Course of the Exchequer might have been avoided by Care and Conduct If in future Times England should have any Grounds to doubt that the Treasure of the Public has been Imbezzel'd if prodigious Fortunes rais'd in ten Years by obscure Men who have had no Dealings but with the Court should Minister Occasion of Suspition if Resumptions should be thought fit we mean in Cases where Persons of no Merit have been inrich'd with the Kingdom 's Spoils if it should be thought reasonable to see whether any thing is to be sav'd in an immense Debt out of the unwarrantable Gains which the Lenders have made if it should be judg'd expedient to inquire into any Male-Administration in those through whose Hands the Revenue passes if it should be deem'd necessary Thrift to look into all Pensions if it should be thought reasonable fairly and impartially to state the Accompt of so many Millions given and expended so great and difficult a Work as a Strict Inquiry into all these Matters will prove cannot be enter'd upon and brought to a good Conclusion but by the united Wisdom of the Nation No other Power can face that Strong League which will be made between Fellow Criminals to save one another Ordinary Remedies prevail but little against stubborn and inveterate Diseases If therefore our Affairs should be ever in disorder the Legislative Authority can bring the most effectual Helps to set us right And in such a Case peradventure it may be thought advisable to promote a Bill That such sort of Abuses as have been here described and all other Male-administration of the like kind may be inquir'd into by Committees of both Houses to sit in the Interval of Parliament with all requisite Powers without Salaries and to be chosen by Ballot And supposing past Errors to be too big for Correction yet so Awfull an Authority and the fear that it will from time to time be renew'd may for the future be some Check to the growing Corruptions of the Age. All the Premises consider'd we submit it to better Judgments whether it is not the Duty of such as represent their Country To look narrowly into the Income and Expence of the Kingdom and to examin which way immense Debts have been contracted and how that Money has been dispos'd of which the Nation has already granted Sixthly That They should hold a Strong Hand over the Men of Business calling those to an Account who either through Folly or upon some wicked Design pursue destructive Measures Helvidius Priscus after the Example of his Father-in-law Petus Thrasea in the Philosophy he made use of to fit himself for the Service of his Common-wealth follow'd the Opinion of the Stoick who plac'd all Good and Evil in Honesty or Dishonesty accounting the Gifts of Fortune such as high Birth Power and Wealth to be but things indifferent towards the constituting of Happiness which they define to be internal only in the Mind But tho' Aristides Socrates Phocion Publicola Cinciunatus Attilius Regulus and many others have been great Men under a constant and willing Poverty yet without doubt Nobility and Riches help good Spirits on of their way and set 'em forward He that is high

they who heretofore thought the best way to preserve their Civil Rights was to keep the Purse and to have always something to give should be for settling such an immense Revenue on the Crown as may make Parliaments unnecessary If they who were so careful in King Charles's Reign not to burthen the Nation with Taxes should give away the Peoples Wealth as if England were a Mine of Treasure never to be exhausted If they who have ever asserted that all Rents and Payments to the Crown were the Kingdoms Revenues and not Alienable but by Authority of Parliament should in a short space of Time come to Alienate all the Crown Land and to leave the King hardly a Turf of Ground either in England or Ireland If they who formerly thought it sufficient Matter of Impeachment for a Lord Treasurer or any Other intrusted by the King to pass large Grants from the Crown to Themselves should give to their Creatures and share among one another in a few years of Crown Lands near to the Value of two Millions If the very Men who have Asserted and Claim'd it to be their true antient and indubitable Right and that it ought to be esteem'd allow'd adjudg'd and deemed That the Raising or keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with the Consent of Parliament is against Law If they who once believ'd this Eagle in the Air frighted all Motions towards Liberty If they who heretofore thought Armies in time of Peace and our Freedoms inconsistent If the same Men should throw off a Whig Principle so fundamental If they should become the open Advocates for standing Forces and even submit to Troops compos'd of F●reigners If in this manner the Old Whigs whose Foresight and Courage has hitherto preserv'd England should quite change their Minds and go thus retrograde from all their former Speeches Actions and Councils If they should thus come to cloath themselves with the Foul Ridiculous and Detested Garments of the Tories and give into the worst of their Measures And if all that has been here discours'd should happen then would the Constitution of this Country be utterly subverted For Men finding themselves thus forsaken by the Antient Friends to Liberty would believe they were bought and sold They would imagine that there was no such thing as Virtue and Honesty remaining in the Kingdom They would think all Pretensions to the Public Good to be nothing but Designs of Ambitious Persons to lift themselves up to high Honours upon the Shoulders of the People And when Nations have before their Eyes an Arm'd Power to Fear and none in whom they can put any Trust they seldom fail of submitting to the Yoak Free States yield to Slavery when the Men best esteem'd and most in Vogue are generally thought to be corrupted This was the Condition of Rome under Augustus as Tacitus finely describes it Vbi Militem donis Populum Annona Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit insurgere paullatim Munia Senatus Magistratuum legum in se trahere nullo adversante cum ferocissimi per acies aut proscriptione cecidissent Ceteri Nobilium quanto quis servitio promptior opibus ac Honoribus extollerentur ac novis ex rebus aucti tuta praesentia quam vetera ac periculosa mallent neque Provinciae illum Statum rerum abnuebant suspecto Senatus populique imperio ob certamina potentium avaritiam magistratuum invalido legum auxilio quae vi ambitu postremo pecunia turbabantur When the best and noblest Spirits were all extinct and when 't was seen that the Remainder were contented with Wealth Titles and Preferments the Price of their Submission the Romansthought it their safest Course to commit all to the Care and Wisdom of a Single Person In the same manner If in times to come it should happen that our Nobility and Gentry should be more sollicitous to get a small Employment than to keep a great Estate If the Persons of Note and Figure shou'd be sway'd by their private Interest without any Regard to the Public Good If it should be visible to the Counties and Burroughs that Men covet to be chosen not for their Country's Service but in order to serve themselves If it should grow apparent that neither Side is at bottom better principled than the Other that Court and Country Party Whigs and Church-men are nothing but the Factions of Those who Have and Those who desire Preferment If in this manner the whole Mass of Blood in the Body Politick should be corrupted the Nation will throw off that Reverence to Parliaments which has hitherto preserv'd our Liberties and like the Neighbouring Countries either terrify'd or allur'd they will by degrees submit to unlimited Monarchy And so we shall lose one of the best Constitutions that was ever set afoot for the well Governing a People Handling as we do the Methods whereby a Nation may Increase in Wealth and Power we thought it necessary to describe those Parties and Factions which probably hereafter may come to influence in its Councils And this has been done in order to incite Good Men to watch over their Growth and Progress and such Good Men chiefly as design to engage on neither Side but to bend all their Care that no Side may be able to hurt the Commonwealth And if it should be ask'd Why the Care of Liberty and preserving our Civil Rights should be so much recommended in a Paper relating to Trade We answer that herein we follow Machiavel who says That when a Free State degenerates into a Tyranny the least Mischief that it can expect is to make no farther Advancement in its Empire and no farther Increase either in Riches or Power but for the most part it goes backward and declines This deep Statesman has a saying in another Place well worthy of eternal Remembrance That the Prince who aims at Glory and Reputation in the World should desire a Government where the Manners of his Subjects are corrupted and depraved not to Subvert and destroy it like Caesar but to rectifie and restore it like Romulus than which the Heavens cannot confer nor Man propose to himself greater Honor. It may be objected that in France where all Thoughts of Liberty are extinguish'd Trade and Riches have of late Years very much increas'd But this admits of an easy Answer An absolute Prince with great Abilities and Virtues by Care and Wisdom may make his Country flourish for a time However if his Successors are weak or wicked all shall be soon unravell'd and go backward and Poverty shall soon invade the same People which before began to thrive for to make a Nation very Rich and Powerful there must be a long Succession of good Princes which seldom happens or a long Succession of good Laws and good Government which may be always had in Countreys that preserve their Freedom And without doubt 't is on this Accompt that Machiavel has asserted That no

they either fall short and so run the Publick into an immense Debt or they light so heavily upon the Poorer Sort as to occasion insufferable Clamours and they whose proper Business it was to contrive these Matters better have been so unskilful that the Legislative Power has been more than once compell'd for the Peoples ease to give new Fonds instead of others that had been ill projected This may be generally said That all Duties whatsoever upon the Consumption of a large Produce fall with the greatest weight upon the Common Sort So that such as think in new Duties that they chiefly tax the Rich will find themselves quite mistaken for either their Fond must yield little or it must arise from the whole Body of the People of which the Richer Sort are but a small Proportion And tho' War and National Debts and Engagements might heretofore very rationally plead for Excises upon our Home-Consumption yet now there is a Peace it is the concern of every Man that loves his Country to proceed warily in laying new ones and to get off those which are already laid as fast as ever he can High Customs and high Excises both together are incompatible either of them alone are to be endur'd but to have them co-exist is suffer'd in no well govern'd Nation If Materials of Foreign growth were at an easie rate a high Price might be the better born in things of our own Product but to have both dear at once and by reason of the Duties laid upon them is ruinous to the inferior Rank of Men and this ought to weigh more with us when we consider that even of the Common People a Sub-division is to be made of which one part subsist from their own Havings Arts Labour and Industry and the other Part subsist a little from their own Labour but chiefly from the Help and Charity of the Rank that is above them For according to to Mr. King's Scheme The Nobility and Gentry with their Families and Retainers the Persons in Offices Merchants Persons in the Law the Clergy Free-holders Farmers Persons in Sciences and Liberal Arts Shop-keepers and Tradesmen Handicrafts Men Naval Officers with the Families and Dependants upon all these altogether make up the Number of 2,675,520 Heads Brought over 2,675,520 Heads The Common Seamen Comon Soldiers Labouring People and Out-Servants Cottagers Paupers and their Families with the Vagrants make up the number of 2,825,000 Heads In all 5,500,520 Heads So that here seems a Majority of the People whose chief dependance and subsistance is from the other Part which Majority is much greater in respect of the Number of Families because 500,000 Families contribute to the support of 850,000 Families In Contemplation of which great Care should be taken not to lay new Duties upon the Home-Comsumption unless upon the extreamest Necessities of the State for tho' such Impositions cannot be said to fall directly upon the lower Rank whose Poverty hinders them from consuming such Materials tho' there are few Excises to which the meanest Person does not pay something yet indirectly and by unavoidable Consequences they are rather more affected by high Duties upon our Home-Consumption than the Wealthier Degree of People and so we shall find the Case to be if we look carefully into all the distinct Ranks of Men there enumerated First As to the Nobility and Gentry they must of necessity retrench their Families and Expences if excessive Impositions are laid upon all sorts of Materials for Consumption from whence follows That the Degree below them of Merchants Shop-keepers Tradesmen and Artizans must want Employment Secondly As to the Manufactures high Excises in time of Peace are utterly destructive to that principal Part of England's Wealth for if Malt Coals Salt Leather and other things bear a great Price the Wages of Servants Workmen and Artificers will consequently rise for the Income must bear some proportion with the Expence and if such as set the Poor to work find Wages for Labour or Manufacture advance upon them they must rise in the Price of their Commodity or they cannot live all which would signifie little if nothing but our own Dealings among one another were thereby affected but it has a Consequence far more pernicious in relation to our Foreign Trade for 't is the Exportation of our own Product that must make England rich to be Gainers in the Ballance of Trade we must carry out of our own Product what will purchase the Things of Foreign Growth that are needful for our own Consumption with some Overplus either in Bullion or Goods to to be sold in other Countries which Overplus is the Profit a Nation makes by Trade and it it s more or less according to the natural Frugality of the People that Export or as from the low Price of Labour and Manufacture they can afford the the Commodity cheap and at a rate not to be under-sold in Foreign Markets The Dutch whose Labour and Manufactures are dear by reason of Home-Excises can notwithstanding sell cheap abroad because this disadvantage they labour under is ballanc'd by the Parsimonious Temper of their People But in England where this Frugality is hardly to be introduc'd if the Duties upon our Home-Consumption are so large as to raise considerably the price of Labour and Manufacture all our Commodities for Exportation must by degrees so advance in the prime Value that they cannot be sold at a rate which will give 'em Vent in Foreign Markets and we must be every where under-sold by our wiser Neighbours But the Consequence of such Duties in times of Peace will fall most heavily upon our Woollen Manufactures of which most have more Value from the Workmanship than the Material and if the Price of this Workmanship be inhanc'd it will in a short Course of time put a Necessity upon those we deal with of setting up Manufactures of their own such as they can or of buying Goods of the like Kind and Use from Nations that can afford them cheaper And in this Point we are to consider that the Bulk of our Woollen Exports does not consist in Draperies made of the fine Wool peculiar to our Soil but is compos'd of course broad Cloaths such as Yorkshire Cloaths Kersies which make a great part of our Exports and may be and are made of a courser Wool which is to be had in other Countries So that we are not singly to value our selves upon the Material but also upon the Manufacture which we should make as easie as we can by not laying over heavy Burthens upon the Manufacturer And our Woollen Goods being two thirds of our Foreign Exports it ought to be chief Object of the Publick Care if we expect to be Gainers in the Ballance of Trade which is what we hunt after in these Inquiries Thirdly As to the lower Rank of all which we compute at 2,825,000 Heads a Majority of the whole People their principal Subsistance is upon the Degrees above them and if

World because one Part could not then help another for which Reason the Northern Nations heretofore when their People multiply'd too fast did disburthen themselves by sending out numerous Colonies to seek out new Dwellings in apprehension that by a scarce Year they might be distroy'd at home but England with any moderate Care is not liable to such a Fear tho' its present Numbers should even be doubled because we have every where the Sea to Friend and in such an Extremity our Wants may be supply'd from other Nations And our Matter leading us into it it may not be unnecessary here to take Notice That Countries not over-stock'd with Men and tho' Situate so as to be reliev'd by the Sea may suffer greatly and be reduc'd very low for want of Corn unless they make some due Provision against such a Calamity The value of the Wheat Barly and Rye necessary for the Sustenance of England amounts at least to six Millions of Pounds per Annum at the common Rate from whence 't is apparent That if a long Dearth should happen here such as they lately had in France tho' we may be supply'd upon more easie Terms than France was and tho' we might still keep our People alive yet that a Disaster of this kind would exhaust more of our Mony than a War of ten Years continuance Suppose which God forbid that for two or three Years successively the Season should prove so bad as to deprive us of half our usual Crop to supply such a Want what immense Summs must be carry'd out of the Kingdom And it may be made evident that such a Scarcity did very much drein the French To provide against a Calamity of the like Nature is no doubt of the highest Consequence That we have been deficient in this point of Polity is too Notorious tho' Providence has taken more Care of us than a Negligent People deserve However we have had outragious Famines in England and in Edward the 3ds Reign Corn did once rise to 13 times the common value this indeed can hardly happen again because there are more different sorts of Soils improv'd and manur'd now than in that Age but at several times we have suffer'd Wants of this kind very afflicting and sometime or other our Negligence in a Matter of such concern to the People's Welfare may come to be more severely punish'd By the best Accompts we are able to procure from such as have look'd into these things we find that in England in a plentiful Year there is not above five Months stock of Grain at the time of the succeeding Harvest and not above four Months Stock in an indifferent Year which is but a slender Provision against any Evil Accident We enjoy the benefit of such different Soils viz. High Lands and Low Lands where one hits when the other fails that now a-days we seldom see Corn above treble its common Rate which however would be fatal if it should at any time continue so long as to make large Supplies from abroad necessary to us 'T is observ'd That but 1 10 defect in the Harvest may raise the Price 3 10 and when we have but half our Crop of Wheat which now and then happens the remainder is spun out by Thrift and good Management and eked out by the use of other Grain but this will not do for above one Year and would be a small help in the succession of two or three unseasonable Harvests For the scarcity even of one Year is very destructive in which many of the poorest Sort perish either for want of sufficient Food or by unwholsome Diet. We take it That a Defect in the Harvest may raise the Price of Corn in the following Proportions Defect   above the Common Rate 1 Tenth Raises the Price 3 Tenths 2 Tenths 8 Tenths 3 Tenths 1. 6 Tenths 4 Tenths 2. 8 Tenths 5 Tenths 4. 5 Tenths So that when Corn rises to treble the Common Rate it may be presum'd that we want above a third of the Common Produce and if we should want 5 Tenths or half the Common Produce the Price would rise to near five times the Common Rate We dwell the longer upon this Subject being convinc'd in Judgment that nothing in the World can more impoverish a Country nor tend more to set it back with other People in the Ballance of Trade for a long while than such a Calamity 't is indeed the Scourge of God but improvident States are more liable to it than wiser Nations The Hollanders cannot nourish their People from their Territory and must always seek for Assistance from abroad but in Prospect that the Harvest may be bad now and then in some and even in all those Places from whence they fetch their Corn whereby in scarce times they would be impos'd upon They take care to have Granaries and Store-houses where in plentiful Years they lay up vast Quantities of all sort of Grain against a dearer Season by which good and prudent Oeconomy those Dearths which in their turn have afflicted most other Countries fall but lightly upon their Common People On the contrary when such a Calamity happens they are able from their Stores to assist other Nations and tho' we cannot go so high as Sir Walter Raleigh who is over large in his Computations of this Nature and reckons the Dutch to get an Immense Sum by this sort of Trade yet 't is apparent That they are very great Gainers from time to time by selling us our own Corn dear which they had bought cheap and that they make us pay very largely for its Store-room A Nation that will get by Foreign Traffick must carefully watch all these things and the Instance we have here given is a great pull-back in the general Ballance of Trade and what the Dutch in this manner Gain is a dead Loss to England But this Evil is without doubt capable of a Remedy If they can afford to let their Mony lie dead for a time pay Freight backward and forward and Store-room and yet be Gainers by selling us our own Commodity in a dearer Market why should not we think it worth our while to build Granaries and publick Store-houses within our own Dominions We take it That Freight backward and forward in such a bulky Ware as Corn is does over Ballance the difference in the Interest of Mony here and there So that we seem to be impos'd upon in this important Matter meerly through that Negligence of which Wealthy Nations are but too Guilty It may therefore be worth the Consideration of such as study the good of England whither it would not be adviseable and for the publick Welfare to settle a Fond for the erecting in every County Granaries capable of containing such a quantity of Corn as may nourish the People for a certain time upon any emergent occasion and as may hinder us at all times from purchasing at a dear Rate our own Product from our more wary Neighbours This

lessen'd what is commonly call'd the New Draparies have increas'd consisting in Bays Serges and Stuffs So that upon the whole infinitely more of the Material of Wooll has of late Years been wrought up for Foreign use than in former Times and herein our Merchants have been only forc'd to follow the Modes and Humor of those People with whom they deal and the Course they have persued has hitherto not been detrimental to the Publick Nor is there any Cause to apprehend but that we may increase from time to time in the general Manufacture of Wooll tho' the Exportation of particular Commodities may now and then vary For upon the whole our Material is better and fitter for all uses than that of most Countries 'T were better indeed that the Call from abroad were only for the fine Draparies because then we should be in a manner without a Rival no Country but England and Ireland having a Soard or Turf that will rear Sheep producing the Wooll of which most of our Draparies are made 'T is true the Wooll of Spain is fine above all others but 't is the wear only of the Richer Sort and of Spanish Cloaths not above 9000 Pieces are sent abroad Communibus Annis And even in the working up of this Wooll perhaps it may be made out that our very Climate gives us an Advantage over other Countries The Learned Prelate who has oblig'd England with that Noble Work his History of the Reformation Discoursing once upon these Matters with the Writer of this Essay did urge a thing of which the Philosophy seem'd very sound and right and upon which we have since reflected often He said That Nature had adapted different Countries for different Manufactures that cold and moister Climates are fitter for the working up of Wool because there the Sun does not exhaust its natural Moisture nor make it brittle which would render it ill to work and bad to wear That hot Climates are best for the working up of Silk because the Matter is there more dispos'd to imbibe the Dye and to take a more durable impression of it the Sun helping at the same time both to preserve and to give it Lustre That we have many natural Advantages over all Foreign Nations who shall pretend to set up Looms is beyond all dispute but 't is a very great Question whither there are not weighty Reasons to apprehend Neighbours of another sort we mean the People of Ireland The Country is very large it abounds in convenient Ports 't is excellently Situate for Trade capable of great Improvements of all kinds and able to nourish more than treble its present Number of Inhabitants It s Soil Soard and Turf are in a manner the same with ours and proper to rear Sheep All which Considerations beget a reasonable fear that in time they may come to rival us in our Darling and most Important Manufacture That they should increase in People that their Land should be drein'd and meliorated that they should have Trade and grow Wealthy by it may not peradventure be dangerous to England For 't is granted their Riches will center at last here in their Mother-Kingdom And Colonies that enjoy not only Protection but who are at their Ease and Flourish will in all likelyhood be less inclinable to inovate or to receive a Foreign Yoke than if they are harrass'd and compell'd to Poverty through the hard Usage of the People from whom they are deriv'd For tho' there are now and then Instances of Countries that rebel wantonly yet most commonly great Defections proceed from great Oppression It seems therefore a Point of the highest Wisdom to give the Planters of Ireland all Encouragements that can possibly consist with the Welfare of England For 't is an Out-work to the Seat of Empire here if it should be gain'd by any Neighbouring Power the Sum of Affairs would be put in danger 'T is to be preserv'd but by a Numerous Army or by its own proper Strength How far the first way may affect our Liberties is not difficult to determin it follows then that the safest Course must be to let them thrive by Husbandry and some Trade whereby the Natives and Inhabitants will not only have the Means but an Interest to defend themselves If through a mistaken fear and jealousy of their future Strength and Greatness we should either permit or contrive to let them be dispeopled poor weak and dispirited or if we should render them so uneasie as to incline the People to a desire of Change it may invite Strangers to look that way and if brought to be naked and defenceless they must be a Prey to the first Invader This will be avoided if they are suffer'd to prosper and not only so but Strength thus added to one Member will make the Body-Politick much the stronger For as all the Blood with a swift Motion passes frequently through the Heart so whatever Wealth out Countries acquire circulates about coming into the chief Seat of Empire from whence 't is dispers'd into all its Parts and ever since Ireland did improve it can be made appear England has had no small Proportion of its Gains What made Rome so immensly rich Her Citizens but little minded Arts or Handicraft War was their chief Employment 'T was counted Ignoble in a Senator to exercise Merchandize nor indeed was the Genius of the People adicted to it but being the Head of that large Dominion the Fountain of Law and the Spring from whence all Power Honors and Magistracies were deriv'd thither all Men resorted some for Pleasure others upon Business So that what was got by the Sicilians Rhodians Cretans and by the Trading Cities not only of Greece but Asia came at last to center there But this holds more strongly where the Seat of Dominion is in a great Emporium for such a City will not only be the Head of Power but of Trade governing all its Branches and giving the Rules and Price so that all Parts thereon depending can deal but subordinately to it till at last 't is found that Provinces work but to enrich the Superior Kingdom That what has been here said is true in our present Case appears manifestly from this That all People agree there is not in Ireland above 500,000 l. in current Cash notwithstanding their large Exportations for many Years which could not be if they had not some constant Drein whereby they are exhausted 'T is true improving Countries lay out a great Stock in Foreign Materials for Building c. so that they seldom abound much at first in the Species of Mony but allowing for this yet in the natural Course of Things they ought to have more Species if what they got elsewhere had not been spent here and return'd hither by Bills of Exchange from Holland France Spain the West-Indies and other Places But tho' we are ready to agree That hitherto their Gains both at home and abroad have chiefly center'd here yet in process

the Publick That Taxes make Mony circulate That it imports not what A pays when B is to receive it But we hope to show that they who argue in this manner are very much mistaken We have formerly touch'd upon this Matter in the Discourses on the Revenues and Trade of England to which we refer the Reader but the Necessity of our present Argument compels us here to handle this Point something more at large All Nations have a certain Annual Income upon which the People live and subsist out of which Taxes of all kinds arise which Income we take to be since the War In England 43,000,000 l. per An. In France 81,000,000 l. per An. In Holland 18,250,000 l. per An. And we must beg leave to repeat in this place something which we have laid down in those Tracts That to nourish the Mass of Mankind as to their Annual Expence in the Way and Form of Living practis'd in each of the three Countries such an Innual Income is necessary as is set down in the foregoing Scheme By Annual Income we mean the whole that arises in any Country from Land and its Product from Foreign Trade and Domestick Business as Arts Manufactures c. And by Annual Expence we understand what is of Necessity consum'd to Cloath and Feed the People or what is requisite for their Defence in time of War or for their Ornament in time of Peace And where the Annual Income exceeds the Expence there is a Superlucration arising which may be call'd Wealth or National Stock The Revenue of the Government is a part of this Annual Income as likewise a part of its Expence and where it bears too large a proportion with the whole as in France the common People must be miserable and burthen'd with heavy Taxes That part of the Prince's Revenue that nourishes his own Person is very little but in great Monarchies where numerous Armies large Fleets and pompous Courts are maintain'd there the Expence swells high insomuch that to the Maintenance of the Governing part viz. the Prince his Officers of State Military Power c. which are not in time of Peace above one 26th of the whole there is required near the Ninth Penny of the Annual Income And in such Countries the Governing part are Rich or at their Ease but the other 25 parts who are the Body of the People must be oppressed with Taxes as may be observ'd in the French Dominions And this holds more strongly where the Publick Debts make the Payment of a sixth part of the Annual Income necessary which for some time is like to be the Case of France To explain these Assertions shall be the Subject of this Section whereby it will appear how much the Ballance of Trade may be affected by our Payments to the Publick We shall endeavour to show in the last Section That the Wealth of a Country does in a great measure proceed from a right Administration of its Affairs However it may happen sometimes to increase in Riches where Things are in the main ill administer'd as England did to the Year 1688 in the two Reigns that preceeded this but whoever looks carefully into the true Reason why we grew so fast in Wealth during those Eight and twenty Years will find it was because we paid all that time but small Taxes and Duties to the Government comparatively with other Nations For in 1688. our gross Payments to the Publick in which Charge of Management was included did not exceed 2,300,000 per Annum Which was but little above one 20th Part of the then 44,000,000 An. Inc. But our Case is very much alter'd now and since that Year a great many new Revenues have been erected We still pay the old Excise the Customs and Post-Mony besides which there is laid Additional Duties upon Beer Ale and other Liquids Additional Customs the continued Acts and Joint Stocks Duty on Marriages c. double Duty on Stamp'd Paper Duty on Hackney Coaches on Malt. The double Tonnage the former and last Duties upon Salt The Duty on Windows upon Leather Paper and Coals The Old and New Impositions of all kinds reckon'd together and including the new Poll and the 3 Shillings Aid it will be found that there was collected from the People about 5,500,000 Last Year Which is above one eighth part of our present 43,000,000 An. Inc. During all the War there has been levied here great Sums every Year and many of the foremention'd Fonds are to continue so long that it will be several Years before our Annual Payments can be considerably diminish'd And there is such a difference between a Twentieth and an Eighth or indeed a Tenth or a Twelfth Part which yet we shall not come at in some time as must inevitably affect the Nation 's Trade and the whole Body of its People When there was rais'd no more than about a Twentieth Part there were great Sums of Mony to circulate in Foreign Traffick and to employ in enlarging our Home-Manufactures which two Fountains of our Wealth must be dry when the Springs that heretofore fed 'em are diverted and let into another Channel There is scarce any of these new Revenues which do not give Trade some desperate Wound The Additional Duties on Beer and Ale and the Tax upon Malt are apparently a Burthen upon the Woollen Manufactures affecting the Carder Spinner Weaver and the Dyer who all of them must be rais'd in their Wages when the Necessaries of Life are rais'd to them The Consequence of which will be That our Woollen Goods must come at a heavy and disadvantagious Price into the Foreign Markets There is no Man will pretend that High Customs are not pernicious to our Commerce abroad A Nation is not Gainers in the general Ballance of Trade by the Dealing of a Few who are able to employ in it great Stocks such may make to themselves an Immense Gain but they go but a little towards inriching the whole Publick which seldom thrives but when in a manner the Universal People bend their Thoughts to this sort of Business when every one is ready with his small Stock and little Sum to venture and rove about the World Of these some prosper and others are undone however in the way of Merchandize Men who do not thrive themselves may yet contribute very much to make their Country Rich which gets by the Dealings of all and does not suffer by the unfortunate Conduct of here and there a Merchant But when the Customs are High all these under Dealers who all along in England have made up the chief Bulk of our Trading Men must hold their Hands tho' in Skill Industry and inventive Parts and Wit they may exceed Merchants of more Wealth and of a higher Rank Nor is it indeed practicable for Men of but a moderate Fortune to Deal at all when more than treble that Sum is necessary to have ready now to pay the King which formerly would set up a Substantial

Trader and maintain him in sufficient Business But of all the new Impositions none are so dangerous to the very Being of Trade nor so hurtful to all its Parts and Members as the high Duties lately laid upon Salt First They affect the Common People in the whole Course of their Living whose chief Nourishment is Bacon and other Salted Flesh so that this Excise has an universal Influence upon all our Manufactures whatsoever But Scheme H. A SCHEME of the Naval Trade of England and the National Profit arising thereby Calculated for the Year 1688. Exported Value here Value abroad Value upon the Ballance Gain by Freight c. l. l.   l.   l. By our Selves 3,310,000 4,120,000 Value abroad 4,120,000 To our Selves 810,000 By Foreigners 1,000,000 1,250,000 Value here 1,000,000 To Foreigners 250,000   4,310,000 5,370,000   5,120,000   1,060,000 Imported By our Selves 5,570,000 2,870,000 Value abroad 2,870,000 To our Selves 2,700,000 By Foreigners 1,550,000 1,150,000 Value here 1,550,000 To Foreigners 400,000 Gross Imports 7,120,000 4,020,000 Gross Imports 4,420,000 Gross Imports 3,100,000 Gross Exports 4,310,000 5,370,000 Gross Exports 5,120,000 Gross Exports 1,060,000 In all 11,430,000 9,390,000   9,540,000   4,160,000   Val. abroad   Val. abroad So he Exports by our own Shipping being 4,120,000 In all 6,990,000 Imports by our own Shipping 2,870,000 National Gain by our Shipping in the Ballance of Trade 1,250,000   Value here   Value here And the Imports by Foreign Shipping being 1,550,000 In all 2,550,000 Exports by Foreign Shipping 1,000,000 National Loss by Foreign Shipping in the Ballance of Trade 550,000   9,540,000 Place this Scheme p. 147. the general Prejudice it may bring to Navigation is yet of much a higher Consequence Mr. King in his Computations of the Naval Trade of England Anno 1688. and the National Profit then arifing there-by reckoning what Proportion was Navigated by our selves at that time and what by Foreigners is of Opinion That with Relation to the value of our whole Trade here at home our own Navigation was somewhat more than three fourths and the Foreign Navigation near one fourth But reckoning the value of the Foreign Navigation at the Market here and of our own at the Markets abroad then the Foreign Navigation seems to have been at that time in Proportion to our own as one to two three fourths and with respect to the Tunnage of Ships our own Navigation seems to have been at that time two thirds and the Foreign Navigation one third according to the following Scheme Vide Scheme H. From whence he Concludes   l. That our Gain upon the Ballance by our own Shiping being 1,250,000 And our Loss upon the Ballance by Foreign Shipping being 0,550,000 The Increase of Money or Adequate Treasure by the Ballance of Trade in General might be Anno 1688. 700,000 And that the Advantage to Foreigners Trading to England in their own Ships might be at that time in General thus   l. By Freight or Advance of the Price of our Commodities Exported by them above the value here 250,000 By Freight or Advance of the Price of their own Commodities Imported here above their value abroad 400,000   In all 650,000   l. Brought over 650,000 Besides the Increase of Goods Imported to their own Countries over and above their own Exports according to the value of them in their own Countries 100,000   In all 750,000 Upon the whole He Concludes   l.   First That the General Increase of our Mony or Adequate Treasure and of Wares and Commodities over and above the value of our Gross Exports was Anno 1688. 2,810,000 And the Gain made by Foreign Nations with England in their own Shipping was 750,000 So that the Naval Trade of England was at that time generally profitable to our Selves and Foreigners in all 3,560,000 Secondly That the National Profit to England by Foreign Trade was then at least 1,700,000 Whereof in Mony or Adequate Treasure 700,000 1,700,000 And in Wares or Commodities Treasur'd up or applied to the Increase of the National Stock besides what we consum'd our selves 1,000,000 Whoever considers these Computations will find 'em very Judiciously made and that Mr. King has done as much as could be performed meerly by the Strength of Numbers To come to an exact Knowledge in this Matter and such as would be almost beyond Contradiction the Books of the Customs should be look'd into and from thence might be drawn an Accompt of all the Exportations from London and the Out Ports to every distinct Country and also of all the Importations to London and the Out Ports from every distinct Country and what might at that time be the value of those Goods being computed by able Merchants And this to be done for some competent Number of Years by reasonable Mediums it may be very nearly guess'd from such a View how the Ballance of Trade stood from time to time But where a thing so much within their Reach and which the French Ministers are said to do in their Exports and Imports has not been done by the Men of Business here there is no way of knowing how the Ballance stands but by considering the Numbers of the People and their probable Consumption of our Home Product and of Foreign Materials from whence a Judgment may be form'd not indeed perfectly demonstrable but very near the Truth Mr. King observes That by how much the Nation does not consume of its Imports but either lays up or increases the Stock of Gold or Silver or other Adequate Treasure or of durable Commodities in Specie by so much at least does the Nation gain by Foreign Trade besides all other Advantages of Navigation 'T is difficult to know how our Navigation has proceeded for these ten Years last past but 't is to be feared That the Gain which Foreigners have made by fetching and carrying in their own Bottoms has been much greater of late then it was heretofore which must be a very considerable Prejudice to England and highly tend to set the Ballance of Trade against us Reckoning long and short Voyages together the principal Expence of fitting out a Trading Vessel is Drink and Meat The Excises and Duty upon Malt without doubt make Drink sufficiently dear to the Freighter And the Duty upon Salt makes Victualling a very heavy Burthen upon him all which must end in lessening our Navigation from time to time for undoubtedly Foreigners observing how dear Freight is with us will Trade in their own Ships as much as possible In Barrelling up Beef and Pork we heretofore made use of St. Martin's c. or Oleron and English Salt mixed together and with these Materials the Flesh was best prepared both for wholsomness and long keeping our own Salt without Foreign Mixture being fiery corrosive and very Scorbutick As we are informed the St. Martins and worser sort of French Salt from 1676 to 1688 was delivered in London at about 2 l. 5 s. per Tun and forty Bushels to the Tun.

a large part of what the Publick is now Indebted 'T is alledged that Gains unwarrantable in Law and not to be justified by any Necessity whatsoever have been made in several Contracts with the Crown if all this were look'd into very probably something might be sav'd towards discharging the Nations Debts There is one piece of Management which the Writer of these Papers is very much surprized at and it relates to the Exchequer Bills   l.   l. The first Subscription at 10 per Cent was for 400,000 Premium 40,000 The second Subscription at 10 per Cent was for 700,000 Premium 70,000 The third Subscription at 10 per Cent was for 500,000 Premium 50,000 The 4th Subscription at 8 per Cent was for 400,000 Premium 32,000 The fifth Subscription at 4 per Cent was for 1,000,000 Premium 40,000 Total Subscriptions 3,000,000 tot Prems 232,000 Besides these Premiums there is a Current Interest upon the Bills of above 7 ½ per Cent And 't is likewise observable that the whole struck into Exchequer Bills is but 2,700,000 l. to circulate which there has been a Subscription of 3 Millions so that the Engine which carries is heavier than the weight it bears which seems but clumsy Workmanship besides 't is remarkable that there is yet sunk of these Bills but 1,250,000 l. And of the Exchequer Bills a vast Sum are become Specie Notes at the Current Interest tho Mony now lies or ought to lie for their discharge There is likewise another piece of Oeconomy after which sometime or other it may be worth while to make Enquiry The Old East-India Company offer'd to raise the two Millions then wanted and to deposit 200,000 l. to make good their Proposal nor did they propose or expect any Premium or Deduction whatsoever Yet their Offer was discouraged and rejected by some of our Men of Business and the same Persons have thought it reasonable to alow to the New Company a Premium of 62,500 l. which was defalk'd out of the first Payment of 200,000 l. part of which Premium is contrary to the Express direction of the Act of Parliament 'T will cost England a large Tax to raise the Sums lavish'd in these two Instances but we shall say no more upon these Particulars leaving the Reader to make his own Comment upon such unaccountable Proceedings When the Affairs of a Private Man are in disorder he sinks faster towards the later end than in the beginning The same thing holds in a Government whose Revenues are entangled the further it goes the more the Debt swells unless such as are concern'd in the Administration resolve before it be too late to enter upon Wise and Thrifty Measutes Where the King's Person is belov'd where his Virtues are rever'd and where the Government is of the Peoples own Forming and Election the Subjects will seldom fail to exert themselves strongly and are very willing to stretch their Purses in order to put the Publick Revenues into such a posture that the Administration may be easie and that the Kingdom may be protected but they must be invited to this by seeing that what they give is Frugally managed and not Profusely wasted and by observing that their Mony goes to Support the State and not to Enrich Private Persons Men when they are worn out with Diseases Aged Crazy and when besides they have the Mala Stamina Vitae may be patched up for a while but they cannot hold out long for Life tho' it is shortned by Irregularities is not to be extended by any Care beyond such a Period But it is not so with the Body-Politick by Wisdom and Conduct that is to be made long-liv'd if not Immortal Its Distempers are to be cured nay its very Youth is to be renew'd and a Mix'd Government grows Young and Healthy again whenever it returns to the Principles upon which it was first founded The Disorders we labour under are capable of a Remedy and our Difficulties are not such but that they may be master'd Those Payments to the Publick by good Management may be lessened which inevitably must set the Ballance of Trade against us While these Immense Debts remain the Necessities of the Government will continue Interest must be high and large Premiums will be given And what Encouragement is there for Men to think of Foreign Traffick whose Returns for those Commodities that inrich England must bring no great Profit to the private Adventurers when they can sit at home and without any Care or Hazzard get from the State by dealing with the Exchequer Fifteen and sometimes Twenty Thirty Forty and Fifty per Cent. Is there any Commerce abroad so constantly advantagious Will Men who can safely and without Trouble reap such Gains breed their Children to be Merchants Will they venture great Stocks to make Discoveries and employ their Industry to enlarge and extend our Dealings in distant Parts Will they think of building that multitude of Trading Vessels which alone can rear us up a sufficient Breed of able Seamen And if that Tide of Wealth which was wont to flow in Trade be diverted to another Channel and if we mind no other Traffick but that which just supplies our Luxuries must we not in a few Years be Losers in the general Ballance Where Interest is high the Merchants care not to deal in any but rich Commodities whose Freight is easy and whose Vent is certain in corrupted Countries And of these Costly Wares very many carry out Mony and but few bring any back to the Kingdom 'T is the Bulky Goods whose Returns are not of so great Profit that breed most Seamen and that are most Nationally gainful but such Goods cannot be very much dealt in where Interest is high nor can any Laws in the World lower it where great Sums are continually borrow'd by the Government And by these Instances it must sufficiently appear how much our Payments to the Publick may affect the Ballance of Trade And treating upon this Subiect we cannot but take Notice where the Prince is frequently absent from his own Dominions sojourning for a long space of time in a Foreign Country in which He His Court and His whole Retinue are oblig'd to make great Expences That this is highly prejudicial to the Ballance of Trade and without doubt must incline the Scale to that Nation 's Side where the Mony is spent Upon the whole Matter If the Revenues already granted are well look'd after and improv'd if the Accompts of the Fleet and Army are carefully inspected if the Grants are strictly examin'd if the State enters intirely upon Frugal Measures and if we resolve to exert our Selves so as not to let this dangerous Burthen lie long upon us this Great Debt may be clear'd in some moderate time and those large Payments to the Publick will cease which are like so many bloody Issues that emaciate the Body-Politick and render it Hectical and Consumptive and if this Debt were paid we should get rid

That Diversion gave our Neighbour Kingdom opportunity to take Breath and time to recover from the Fright and Amazement which so potent a League had brought upon them The Troops who perish'd so miserably at Dundalk and elsewhere would have been a great Addition to the Confederate Force The Vigor that actuates the Minds of men in their first Proceedings should have been carry'd against France and not have been let to consume itself and slacken within our own Dominions If by good Conduct the Affairs of Ireland had been betimes appeas'd the Power of these three Nations had been united and we might have enter'd the Lists with our Strength intire and a Treasure unwasted which probably would have wrought such Effects and begot such a Terror as might have produc'd long ago as sound and honourable a Peace as we enjoy at present after the Expence of so much Blood and Money This War stood England in 4,128,672 l. 5 s. 3 d. ¼ and both Nations in 4,515,693 l. 0 s. 8 d. ¾ but if we come to reckon the Burnings Waste and Depredation and the irreparable Loss of Men English and Irish by Sickness and in Battel and the Irish damage redounding to us at last it may be safely affirm'd that we are the worse for that War by at least 7 Millions However that fatal Neglect did divert from the War against France above four Millions and did engage in Civil Broils those Arms which were so needful in the beginning to make a strong Impression upon our Enemies abroad But a certain Party of Men were too busy themselves at home for to mind the Nations Foreign Concerns They were dividing the spoil here They were hunting after Places and sharing among one another the Dignities and Offices of the State which took up all their time and employ'd all their Care Besides such an early Coalition and Union of the whole strength of the three Kingdoms might have terrified France too soon and taken away their Hopes of a succeeding War which is the Crop and Harvest of designing Ministers the Field in which they fatten and a Spend-thrift to whom they are Stewards without Accompt If not minding the Affairs of Ireland did hinder the Peace so long then we owe to that fatal Council the Beginning of the Debt which now presses so hard upon us for without the Colour of such a War those immense Summs could not have been consum'd which for these last five Years have been levy'd in this Kingdom When King James went away we were reduc'd to what Mr Hobbes calls the State of Nature the Original Contract being dissolv'd and the Ligaments broken which held us before together The Nation was then a Blank apt to receive any Impression The old Building was pull'd down and the Faults in it before might have been corrected if the Architects had been skilful and such Lovers of their Country as they pretended to be Never men had such an Opportunity of doing Good as they who had the chiefest hand in making the Revolution They had a Prince willing to consent to whatever might set us upon a right Foot if they had met his design of Landing here with equal Virtues The Gentry and People were at that time newly awaken'd from the Lethargy in which they had been for many Years They saw how narrowly Religion and their Liberties had escap'd Their Fears had made 'em Wise and Sober Their Eyes were universally open'd And they were wrought up to a Temper which seldom happens in a whole Nation of being capable to receive good and honest Councils It was in their Power for ever to have banish'd Flattery and Corruption from the Court and from another Place where those Vices are yet more hurtful and when they had chang'd Persons if they had taken Care at the same Instant to mend Things they had wrought a general Reformation in our Manners It was in their Hands to have given us a Sound Constitution They had before 'em the Errors of preceeding Reigns by which they might have corrected their Model They should have enter'd upon a strict OEconomy neither plundering for themselves nor suffering Others to grow Rich at the Public Cost They should have been as careful in the State as their Master was active in the Field they should have begg'd less and done more They should have avoided Bribery than which nothing could be more unseemly in Reformers of a State and which was certain to keep out the best and let the worst Men into all their Business They ought to have known that a new Settlement was to be maintain'd by severer Rules and Methods than perhaps are necessary in a Court where the Prince is born in Purple And lastly They should have made this Reflection That more than ordinary Virtue of all kinds was needful to answer the Peoples Expectations and that more than common Wisdom was requisite to maintain and justifie so great a Change The worst and most unhappy Kings that ever were would have rul'd better had it not been for the wrong Suggestion and wicked Incitements of the Flatterers about 'em But those Pests and Poisons of a Court are yet more to blame when things suceeed not well with Wise and Virtuous Princes That Declaration which the King sent to England before he came over was the Pole Star by which our State Pilots were to steer their Course 'T was well known that to keep the same Parliament sitting so many Years was what had chiefly debauch'd the Gentry of this Kingdom it was therefore expected that in the Act for declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject some Provision should have been made against thta Evil for the future Several Ministers who betray'd their King and Country have gone on to the last with Impunity by keeping Parliaments quite off but more have found a Shelter for their Crimes in Houses which they have long held together and of which they have had the handling for many a Sessions Could Men pretend to be Patriots and not take Care of securing that Post Could our Freedoms be any way certainly lost but by laying aside the use of Parliaments as was design'd in the Reign of King Charles the First or by keeping them so long sitting till a Majority of Members should be under Engagements with the Court as had almost happen'd in the Reign of King Charles the Second Were we not both times upon the very brink of ruin and in hazard of being no more a free People Did it not therefore import that Party which had heretofore made such high Professions for Liberty to provide that England might be no more threatned with the same danger Should not this have been a main Article in our Contract with their Majesties upon their Accession to the Throne who readily consented to all things that might make us safe and happy The King having promis'd in his Declaration To do all things which the two Houses of Parliament should find necessary for the Peace Honour and

and Designing Men may desire to embroyl their Masters affairs only to make him more Dependant upon their Arts hereafter Men of Arbitrary Principles may designedly neglect the Concerns and Care of Foreign Traffick with a Purpose to Impoverish and so to enslave the People In the next Age likewise designing Ministers may take Advantage of the Martial Temper of a Prince and instead of reigning in his High Courage with grave Councils they may disguise from him the true State of his Affairs and push him on to a new War without making right Provisions or without such previous Leagues as may make it tollerable in the Progress or happy in the Conclusion and perhaps they may desire the Semblance of a War only to have a Pretence for a Standing Army For the Benefit therefore of future times it may be proper to show by what steps those Vices and Immoralities that affect the Public first creep into a Country and what Progress they come afterwards to make and to show what sort of Men and what kind of Councils intangle a Princes Affairs But tho this Paper be directed to Posterity and tho 't is nothing but a Caution to future times yet probably it may offend some Persons who are tender in these Matters However we shall venture to affirm that if this Nation should ever be under any great Disorder the truest Course to mend it will be to plant in the Minds of the better sort Morality and the Shame of doing ill to their Country And we shall presume to assert that observing the Rules and Dictates of Virtue does not only lead to Heaven and a blessed State hereafter but is the best way of securing to a People in general Prosperity Peace Safety Power and Happiness in this present World To trace those Men who may design to change this Constitution in all their dark and crooked Ways and to follow 'em in all their Mazes will be difficult however we shall do our best to describe the Persons and to show their Councils that they may be narrowly watch'd by all such as love their Country But to do this we must take a short view of things past and a little consider the Posture of Affairs at the Restoration of King Charles the 2d and how they stood during his Reign and the Reign of his Successor When that Prince was recall'd from Exile by the Voice of the whole People who had been tired with the many Changes in Government that happened from Cromwell's Death to the year 1660 't was almost impossible but that we should run from one to the other Extream And 't was reasonable to fear that Men should readily embrace Servitude who knew not how to make a right use of Liberty Upon which Accompt many have wonder'd why our Antient Form of Government was not at that time alter'd and how it came to pass we did not then embrace Absolute Monarchy But we are to consider that King Charles was a young Prince more inclined to taste the Pleasures of Power than willing to feel its Weight He had undergone many Troubles which he intended to recompence with great Ease and Luxury so that the rugged work of Subverting the Laws suited neither with his Age nor Temper Had he lived longer as Time and Opposition began to sowr his Blood what he might have attempted is very doubtful Besides the unactive Genius of the King there happen'd then another Circumstance very fortunate for England which was that the Services and Merit of the Chancellor Clarendon and the Treasurer Southampton did strongly induce him to put the Administration of his Affairs into their Hands They were both Persons of Age and Experience They had known the former Reign They had seen the Grounds and Rise of the Civil War They understood the Nature of our Constitution They saw what had depos'd one King and found that unlimited Power was hard to compass and difficult to keep And having their Masters Ear and at first a large share in his Affection They kept Him within Bounds The Skill in the Laws of One the Eloquence of the Other the General Abilities of both made 'em esteem'd by the People and awful to their very Prince and this gave a weight to all their Councils They had Authority enough in their Persons to be listen'd to when they spoke bold and necessary Truths having Superiour Knowledge and Desert too to be heard they did not stand in need of saying always what was pleasing which is the miserable and servile Condition of Upstart Weak and Obscure Statesmen But less were they oblig'd to Flatter every Flatterer Having a Foundation of Merit they scorn'd the mean Aid of Parties or to be the wretched Journey-men of any dark Cabal Knowing what was their Masters and the Nations Interest and intending to promote both They gave wholsome Advice without Fear of offending either Prince or People That Kingly Government was then kept within the Limits of the Law That our Constitution was not given up between the Fears of One and the Hopes of the Other Party and that our Civil Rights were still preserv'd was chiefly owing to the Wisdom Courage and Integrity of those two able Statesmen But even then and all along afterwards there were still some among us impatient to make their Master Absolute They consisted principally of such as had large Ambition and Slender Merit who are the best Instruments for any Tyranny These were ever embroiling the King with his Parliament either to protect them or to justifie some of their illegal Actions Sometimes they got him to appear a violent Church-man and at other seasons to favour the Dissenters but at no time to take Care of Religion itself They perswaded Him to extend the Regal Power in every thing They got him to seize all the Charters in order to influence Elections By their Councils He rais'd an Army under Colour of declaring War with France By their Instruments They made him absolute in Scotland at the same time doing what they could to weaken the Protestant Interest in Ireland But their chief Aim was to procure Him so large a standing Revenue as might make Parliaments useless for the future 'T is true they propos'd this Revenue for his Life only but if that first step had been made it had not been difficult afterwards to entail it on the Crown Besides what has been granted to one Prince has been always continu'd to his Successor without any Struggle That these Things were done with a Design to change the Constitution is visible enough And 't is as evident that these Councils were either promoted by Persons who wanted the Sublime Part of Wisdome necessary for the Conduct of Great Affairs and therefore were to form a Government that might subsist by Tricks and Arts or they were forg'd by a set of Men whose Avarice and Ambition no Regular Establishment could satisfie whose Crimes a Free State would look into and whose Arbitrary Proceedings a Parliament would not suffer They