any forrein Government becomes subject to the Government of it not to the Religion of it and though God often punished the Jews for not observing the Religion and Ceremonies he prescribed them yet for conservation of Society and Commerce does he often pronounce great Judgments to them if they oppressed the Stranger in the Land though perhaps in less than paying Strangers duties Nor did I ever read of any forrein people who in any Country where they enjoyed a Religion they were bred in did make any disturbance upon the account of it But suppose which I do not grant that liberty of Religion to the Natives of a place be necessary for inlarging Trade and Commerce yet is this more tolerable in a Monarchy than a Commonwealth For Monarchy is one and Indivisible and therefore diversities or Factions in Religion can make no Confusions in it whereas Popular Governments being compounded of many are easily obnoxious to both Nor is it necessary that Trade and Commerce should only flourish in Popular Governments but within such places where it is more free and men are more secure their Interests may be better advanced This is evident in that the State of Genoua imposing 16 per Cent. upon goods imported made the Trade uneasie and the Duke of Florence who is as absolute a Prince as any with whom the Pope has to do taking the advantage of this Imposition by the States of Genoua did make Legorne a free Port whereby it is now under a Prince become the most flourishing place of Trade within the Streights And I have it from a good hand that when the French King about seven years since made Marseilles a free Port the Jews in Legorne considering that Marseilles was a better Harbour and France a nobler Country for Trade than Italy resolved to leave Legorn and establish themselves at Marseilles The Duke of Florence hereupon made an Edict That in case any Christian bought a Jews house it should be forfeit and this kept the Jews constant to Legorne where as in England if a Jew buys a house it is forfeit to the King I now desire my Reader to consider me in manifold respects and to bear with the Imperfections which I or it may be any other man may be subject to in a work of much less moment than one of this kinde For the Introduction of any business is more difficult than the progress And I do not know of any which has made an attempt upon this Subject in the differing parts of it before me I am also assured these Treatises will encounter many difficulties and discouragements Difficulties in being opposed by the Ignorant and Interessed for many particular persons may be interessed to the publick Detriment and these are known and many whereas in contending for the Publique I know not one who will be my Second Besides no man can so establish any Humane Action or Learning but he must submit the ends he designes to Gods Blessing which in a Luxurious and Effeminate Age cannot reasonably be expected yet I am assured no man can justly accuse me of any private designe of mine or reward I propound to my self other than if it pleases God now or hereafter to bless me so that these Treatises or any part of them may be useful to my Country or any one in it I may thank God I have not spent all my life in vain PETITIONS 1. MOney is Treasure 2. The Admission of forreigners to purchase Lands in England will add so much money to that of England as is expended therein 3. The admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will cause so much greater numbers of people in England as the Purchasers are more 4. The admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will cause so many less numbers of those in other places who may be Enemies of England as the Purchasers are more 5. Vnwrought Wools are Principles in Woollen Manufactures 6. The unwrought Wools of England and Ireland are more than are wrought in Woollen Manufactures in England 7. Tin and Iron are Principles in the Manufactures of Tin-plates 8. Lead and Potters Earth are Principles in many sorts of Earthen Manufactures 9. The Tin and Iron of England are more than is used in the Manufactures of Tin Plates 10. The Lead and Potters Earth of England are more than are used in Manufactures in England 11. The French and Dutch may have the Wools of Ireland Lincoln-shire Kent Sussex and Hampshire cheaper than the Wools of Ireland Derby-shire Nottingham-shire and other Midland Countries of England can be had at Colchester and Norwich 12. The free admission of Forreigners to work Woollen Manufactures in England will add so many more Agents therein as the Forreigners are more 13. The free admission of Foreigners to work Tin Plates in England will add so many more Agents in them as the Forreigners are more 14. The free admission of Forreigners to worke Earthen Ware in England will add so many Agents therein as the Forreigners are more 15. Forreigners may work Woollen and other Manufactures in England with less charge than in France or the United Netherlands viz. by the height of the Kings Duties upon Salt and Wine c. and the height of the Excise upon all sorts of Commodities consumed in the United Netherlands 16. Forreigners are more safe in working Woollen Manufactures in England than in France or the United Netherlands 18. The free admission of Forreigners to work Woollen and other Manufactures in England will cause so many more people in England as the Forreigners are more 19. Employment of people is a mean to encrease Trade 20. The free admission of Forreigners to instruct the Natives of England in Woollen and other Manufactures may more instruct the Natives of England 21. The free permission of the Natives of England to work Woollen and other Manufactures in the Corporations of England may so much more Employ the Natives of England as the Permission is more free 22. Corporations are the most convenient places in England to increase Trade 23. The free admission of Forreigners to work Woollen and other Manufactures in England will cause so much greater numbers of people in England as the Forreigners are more 24. The Crown Church State Laws Trade and Liberties of England are protected by the strength of England 25. The buying the Woollen and other Manufactures of England is a mean to vend them in forreign Trade 26. The Pre-emption of Freemen of Corporations restrains the buying our Woollen and other Manufactures to the Free-men of Corporations 27. Freedom in Trade is a mean to vend our Woollen and other Manufactures in forrein Trade 28. Trading in Companies exclusive to other men restrains the freedom of Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures to such Companies 29. Exchanging forrein Goods for our Woollen and other Manufactures is a mean to have a Domestick Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures 30. The Act of Navigation restrains the Importation
Dutch in so much worse a condition to have made War against either Prop. 3. Theorem 3. Woollen Manufactures may be so much encreased in England as the unwrought Wools of England and Ireland are more Subject Woollen Manufactures Question Whether they may be encreased in England c. I say they may 1 Ax. 3. For things may be so much encreased as the Principles are more than are used 5 Pet. 3. But unwrought Wools are Principles in Woollen Manufactures 6 Pet. 3. And the unwrought Wools of England and Ireland are more than are used in Woollen-Manufactures in England Therefore Woollen-Manufactures may be encreased in England Annot. If we encrease our Woollen-Manufactures in England these Benefits will accrue to the Nation First If one pound of Wooll worth one shilling made into one piece of Cloath or Stuff becomes worth ten shillings then is the Manufacture nine times more valuable to the Nation than the Land on which it is renewed and ten times more people are employed therein than the Shepherds and Clippers of the Wooll are And this Employment not only at one time of the year as the Shearing of Sheep is but always Secondly This would be a great comfort and encouragement to the Country Farmer to pay his Rent and maintain his Family whereas now the Wools of England not being wrought at home and so the Farmer not finding a Market at home becomes undone and not able to pay his Rent and if he seeks a Market abroad with it to sustain his Family and pay his Rent he commits Felony by the Law made 14 Car. 2. 18. Thirdly The working the Wools of Ireland in England would be ninefold more beneficial to England than the Wools to Ireland whereas by Transporting our Wools other places get so much benefit to our loss Corollary 1. By the same Reason the Manufactures of Tin-Plates may be encreased in England 7 Pet. 3. For Tin and Iron are Principles in the Manufactures of Tin-Plates 9 Pet. 3. And the Tin and Iron of England are more than is used in the Manufactures of Tin-Plates Annot. If we wrought the Manufactures of Tin in England the Nation would not only gain so much as the Manufacture becomes more worth than the Principles in Forreign Trade but we might employ many thousands of poor people who are and will be a Burthen to the Nation and also preserve all that Treasure which is expended by buying them of the Dutch and Hamburger Coroll 2. By the same Reason many sorts of Earthen Manufactures may be encreased in England 8 Pet. 3. For Lead and Potters Earth are Principles in many sorts of Earthen Manufactures 10 Pet. 3. And the Lead and Potters Earth of England are more than are used in Manufactures Annot. It is almost incredible what sums of Money are yearly sent into Holland for Earthen-ware though it be evident they have their Lead and Potters Earth from England whereby we do as much inrich them as impoverish our selves by not working them in England But our Manufactures both in Tin and Earthen-ware are so inconsiderable in England that Lead and Tin is Transported paying the King some Duties but by reason of the benefits which accrue to the Nation by Woollen-Manufactures Wooll is totally prohibited to be Transported whereas if the Manufactures of Lead and Tin were established in England the Reason against Exportation of them would be the same as of Wooll Prop. 4. Problem 1. How the Dutch and French may and do work Woollen-Manufactures made of the Wools of Ireland and the Eastern and Southern parts of England cheaper than the English at Colchester and Norwich Agents Are the Dutch French and English Question How the Dutch and French may and do work Woollen Manufactures c. cheaper Construction By the 11 Pet. 3. the Dutch and French may have Wools from Ireland the Coast of Lincoln-shire Kent Sussex and Hampshire cheaper than the Woolls of Ireland Derby-shire Nottingham-shire Lincoln-shire c. can be had at Norwich or Colchester by Water and Land-carriage I say the Dutch and French may work the Manufactures cheaper 2 Ax. 3. For things may be so much cheaper done as the Principles may be cheaper had 5 Pet. 3. But Wools are Principles in Woollen Manufactures 11 Pet. 3. And the French and Dutch may have the Wools of Ireland and Lincoln-shire c. cheaper by Water than they can be had at Norwich and Colchester by Land and Water-carriage Therefore the Dutch and French may work the Manufactures cheaper Annot. Though the smalness of the difference of the Prices of Land and Water-carriage from Ireland and the Midland-parts of England to Norwich and Colchester more than the Water-carriage from Ireland Lincoln-shire c. to the Ports of France or the Vnited Netherlands seem inconsiderable yet in the prospect of the consequences of it in reference to the Forrein Trade of them it is very considerable For if it be better as it is for any Nation to earn one thousand pound more or less by the employment of People as in the Vnited Netherlands than to have one thousand pound gotten to a Nation and the People not employed in it as in Spain And if two in the hundred charge in any place more than in another not subject to it may gain the whole hundred pound where otherwise they Trade upon equal terms then the whole hundred pound as it will be lost to that place will be gain'd to this It is true indeed if we had a Monopoly of Vending our Manufactures in Forrein Trade small charges were inconsiderable but now the Swede Silesians the Elector Palatine and other Princes of Germany have established Woollen Manufactures in their Countries and the French Dutch and Venetians have enlarged their Forrein Trades of Woollen Manufactures we are only secure of a Forrein Trade of our Woollen Manufactures so long as we can supply the World cheaper and better than they can Having so often given instances in the former and this Treatise of the Subject Agent Act and Question of every Prop. for the future we shall omit repeating them Coroll By the same Reason the English may work Woollen Manufactures made of Irish wooll in the Western parts of England and Wales and also Woollen Manufactures made of the Wools of the Midland Eastern and Southern parts of England cheaper than the French or Dutch 5 Pet. 3. For Wools are Principles in Woollen Manufactures 12 Pet. 3. And the English in the Western parts of England and Wales may have the Woolls of Ireland cheaper than the French or Dutch 13 Pet. 3. So the English may have the Wools of the Midland Eastern and Southern parts of England cheaper Annot. And as they have the Wools cheaper so may the Wools of Ireland be wrought in the Port-Towns of the West of England and Wales And the Wools of the Midland Southern and Eastern parts of England may be wrought in Port-Towns or places where the Manufactures without much Land-carriage of the Wools and
may be Transported to Forrein parts by Water As if Staples of Woollen-Manufactures were erected at Nottingham Gainsborough Lincoln Boston Stamford Bedford Cambridge Lyn Oxford or Abbington Ware or Hartford Windsor and Winchester whereas the bringing the Wools of Gloucester-shire Lincoln-shire Leicester-shire Oxford-shire Warwick-shire Northampton and Rutlandshire c. being by a tedious Land-carriage and commonly in the depth of Winter to Colchester and Norwich the charge by Land is above treble to the Water-carriage from Lincoln-shire to Holland or from Kent Sussex Hampshire or Dorset-shire into France This is one Reason to many more which makes our people more miserable in working them than the Dutch or French Prop. 5. Theorem 4. The free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen-Manufactures in England may encrease them in England 3 Ax. 3. For if things may be encreased they may be encreased by more Agents 3 Prop. 3. But Woollen-Manufactures may be encreased in England 12 Pet. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen-Manufactures in England will add so many more Agents as the Forreigners are more Therefore it may encrease Woollen-Manufactures in England Annot. By free Admission here I mean in all places of England where these Manufactures may be most conveniently wrought and the Wools cheapest bought and if hereby Forreigners would be invited to work them these benefits would among many others accrue to the Nation First Every Forreigner which improves Woollen-Manufactures tenfold more or less above the value of the Wooll in Forreign Trade gains so much to the Nation but if he so instruct our Youth that more be so instructed in any Manufacture this will be infinitely so much more as the Youth instructed is more The Walloons whom Edw. 3d invited into England and taught our English the Mystery of working the Manufactures of Cloath were very inconsiderable in numbers to those who now work them so were the Walloons Queen Elizabeth permitted to work in Norwich Colchester and places thereabout the Stuffs Bayes and Sayes c. which are now wrought in them And if this permission obtained by Jumps in the Reigns of these two Princes as prudent as any who ever swayed the English Scepter had been constantly continued the Dutch and French would not have supplied so many other places and themselves with Woollen-Manufactures our Wools Fullers-Earth and all things else conducing to the Instruments of Woollen-Manufactures being so much cheaper and better here in England As the Improvement of Woollen or any other Manufacture would thus be infinitely beneficial to the Nation as the Improvement is more so the losing of Woollen or any other Manufacture in England will be equally mischievous to it In the years 1636 37 and 38. when Ecclesiastical discipline was so severely exacted about two hundred Families left the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and planted themselves at Leyden Alkmare and other places of Holland where they instructed the Dutch in the Woollen-Manufactures of Norfolk and Suffolk And I have heard Sir Charles Harbord a person of great Wisdom and Insight in Forrein as well as the Interest of this Nation say that if all the Bishopricks of England were sold and given to the Nation it would not neer compensate the loss the Nation sustained thereby Coroll By the same Reason the free Admission of Forreigners to work the Manufactures of Tin-Plates may encrease them in England 1 Cor. Prop. 3. For the Manufactures of Tin-plates may be encreased in England 13 Pet. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to work Tin-plates in England will add so many more Agents in them as the Forreigners are more Annot. If Forreigners by this freedom or further encouragement could be invited to work the Manufactures of Tin here in England the benefits which would redound to the Nation hereby would be the same as in the increasing our Woollen Manufactures Herein this difference happened that those most Excelling Princes Edward 3d and Queen Elizabeth gave encouragement to Forreigners to instruct our Natives in Woollen-Manufactures but no King of England ever did it to Forreigners in the Manufactures of Tin whereby though we have Tin in England in greater aboundance than any other place has and as I am told the Iron made in England is more temperate and pliable than any other for making Tin-plates yet to this day we know not how to make one Coroll 3. By the same Reason the free Admission of Forreigners to work all sorts of Earthen ware may encrease the Manufactures of them in England Cor. 2. Prop. 3. For Earthen Manufactures may be encreased in England 14. Pet. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to work Earthen Ware in England will add so many more Agents as the Forreigners are more Annot. As no Prince ever permitted or gave encouragement to any Forreigner to instruct the Natives in the Manufactures of Tin so neither have they in the Manufactures of Earthen Ware though our Lead and Potters-Earth be more plentiful here in England than elsewhere And the Dutch have little Lead or Potters-Earth for all those incredible quantities of Earthen Ware which they vend here and in other Countries and also supply themselves with but what they have from us So that we are but their Drudges to seek Mines and work them for their enriching and employment of their people Nor do we more enrich them hereby than impoverish our selves for we pay above sixfold to them for the Manufactures more than we receive for the Principles In this Discourse I desire the Improvement of the Manufactures which proceed from our own Principles more than those which proceed from Forrein as of fine Linnen and Silks c. for these Reasons First We may cheaper employ our people on them than Forreigners can be in other Countries so much as the Principles are cheaper had here whereas we must have the Forrein Principles dearer Secondly We are more secure of our Employments having the Principles in our own power whereas in cases of War or Interest it is in the power of other Princes whether our People shall be employed or not in any Manufacture whose Principles are in their power Even here in England though we be at Peace with all the world yet we permit not our Woolls to be exported to any part of the world And how mischievous it must be to any place to have People bred to an Employment and to want matter to work on I leave it to others to judge Prop. 6. Theorem 5. Forreigners may cheaper encrease Woollen Manufactures in England than France or the Vnited Netherlands 1 Ax. 3. For things will be so much cheaper done as done with less charge 3. Prop. 3. But Forreigners may encrease Woollen Manufactures in England 15 Pet. 3. And Forreigners may work Woollen Manufactures in England with less charge than in France or the Vnited Netherlands Therefore they may cheaper encrease them Annot. If Forreigners did cheaper encrease the Woollen Manufactures in England which the Dutch supply Hamburg
Sweden Poland Muscovy Spain Italy and Turky with and which the French supply Spain Italy and Turky with and with which the French and Dutch cloy our Markets here in England we might then so far as the Woolls of England and Ireland would permit not onely cheaper supply all those places which the French and Dutch do but also so much better as our Woolls and Fullers-Earth is better in England than in France or the Vnited Netherlands And also conserve all that Treasure in the Nation which is expended in buying the Dutch Blacks French Druggets and other Woollen Manufactures of those Countries An ingenious Gentleman not long since said that the Dutch supplied Sweden with course Woollen Clothes for the Souldiery and poor people of Sweden and that by order of the Councel of Trade there I wish such a thing might ever be heard of in England many people attempted without Success and much loss to make these Clothes in Sweden But about four years since the Lord Landscroone of a Merchant made one of the Nobility of Sweden and a Member of the Council of Trade propounded the working these Manufactures in Sweden in case the Council would represent it to the King when he came to his Majority as an acceptable service and that for some time the Council would take of the Manufactures at the same terms the Dutch supplied them The Council assented to both and a piece of those Clothes was divided and the Arms of Sweden and of the Lord Landscroone stamped upon both that the Goodness of the future Cloath to be made in Sweden might be compar'd with the Dutch Hereupon Landscroone at his own charges hires Artificers from England and Holland who so well plied their business that last year Sweden was supplied with these Clothes by the work of the Natives and upon the same terms the Dutch supplied them And for the future the Lord Landscroone expects to be a considerable gainer as he well deserves I am sure the Kingdom of Sweden will be much more Prop. 7. Theorem 6. Forreigners may more securely encrease Woollen or any other Manufacture in England than in France or the Vnited Netherlands 5 Ax. 3. For things may be more securely done where the Agents are more safe in doing them 6 Prop. 3. But Forreigners may encrease Woollen Manufactures in England 16 Pet. 3. And Forreigners are more safe in working them in England than France or the Vnited Netherlands Therefore they may more securely encrease them in England Annot. After mens Interest they consult their Security and herein as Forreigners may encrease Woollen Manufactures cheaper and better in England than France or the Vnited Netherlands so are they more secure in working them than in either or any other place upon the Continent by reason they are more secure from the Invasion of Forreign Princes and States It is true indeed that one great reason of the encrease of the Strength and Trade of the Vnited Netherlands was the security men apprehended there as well as Freedom For the great Power of the Dutch by Sea was such as was not to be controuled by any or all other Princes except the King of England and the weakness of the bordering Princes by Land was such as the States gave Laws to them at pleasure But the terrour of the French Invasion in 1672 has much abated the opinion the World had of their Security in the Vnited Netherlands And now the Marquiss of Brandenburg the most powerful of all the Princes in Germany has recovered the Dominion of Wesel Rees Emrick and Orsoy which Commands the Rhine and is possessed of Skinkersconce which Commands the Rhine and Wael the opinion of this Security is not only much abated but the Dutch Trade to Germany and other places up and down the Rhine must be precarious as the Marquiss pleases Nor will the Dutch easily free themselves from the Neighbourhood of the French in Maestricht Maseike and other places Prop. 8. Theorem 7. The free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen or other Manufactures in England will so much encrease Trade in England as the Forreigners are more 2 Ax. 1. For in every thing the effects will be as the causes are 4 Pet. 1. But greater numbers of People encrease Trade 18 Pet. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen and other Manufactures in England will cause so many more People in England as the Forreigners are more Therefore it will so much encrease Trade in England Annot. This is evident as hath been said in that every one of these must wear Hats Shooes Clothes and many other necessaries whereby Trade and Employment of other people would be so much more as these Forreigners by this free Admission shall be more Prop. 9. Theorem 8. The free Admission of Forreigners to instruct the Nation of England in Woollen and other Manufactures may so much encrease Trade in England as the Natives Instructed in those Manufactures are more 7 Ax. 3. For things may be so much encreased as the Means are more 19 Pet. 3. But Employment of People is a mean to encrease Trade 20 Pet. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to Instruct the Natives of England in Woollen and other Manufactures may so much employ the Natives as the Natives instructed are more Therefore it may so much encrease Trade in England Annot. So that this Admission of Forreigners to work and instruct the Natives of England in Woollen and other Manufactures doubly encreases Trade in England viz. In the persons of the Forreigners but much more by instructing the Natives whereby they may be enabled better to maintain themselves and Families with all sorts of Conveniencies than if they were worse employed or not employed which is worst of all for then they become a Charge and Burden to the Nation The numbers of the Walloons which Edw. the 3d and Queen Eliz. invited and permitted in England and who first instructed the English in Woollen Manufactures were very inconsiderable to the numbers of the Natives of England who are now employed in them and by that means only are enabled to provide for themselves and Families to the encrease of Trade to those people from whom they are supplied So that that saying That there is but such a Trade in the world is only true by accident not necessarily for many thousands of people might encrease Trade in the world if they had means which being denied they cannot do Corollary By the same reason the free admission of the Natives of England to work Woollen and other Manufactures in Corporations in England may so much encrease Trade in England as the Natives so Admitted are more 19 Pet. 3. For Employment of People is a mean to encrease Trade 21 Pet. 3. And the free admission of the Natives of England to work Woollen and other Manufactures in the Corporations of England may so much more employ the Natives as the admission is more free Annot. If five pounds given with
Linnen Salt and other Commodities of France and so much lessen the Manufactures of France as he encreases his Navigation But the Dutch War is but an accident of the time and it is probable when the French King pleases he may make Peace with the Dutch and so restore the Dutch Navigation again to the trade of France But alas who can ever untwist the Treefold Cord of the Law against Naturalization the Act of Navigation and the Freedom of Corporations here in England Each of these is more mischievous to us here in England than the Dutch-War is to France for France as it is a Kingdom above threefold greater than England so in that proportion it is doubly more peopled and therefore may much better endure the Sequestration of the Dutch Navigation and establish it upon the account of the French than we can our Coast being almost desolate and so poor that they can scarce maintain their poor and so have neither Men nor Means to conserve the little Trades they have much less to encrease them and the Country scarce half Inhabited and so the Lands of England not half improved and at this day I believe the Nobility and Gentry have above twenty thousand Farms in their hands and to take these from Husbandry to people our Coast and encrease our Navigation will leave so many fewer in the Country yet to Eternity for ought is known we must continue in this Condition Coroll 1. By the same reason the free permission of Forreigners to sell Timber Pitch Tar Rough Hemp and Flax and many other sorts of Forrein Commodities in England may so much enrich the Nation as they may be made more valuable by the employment of our people 36 Pet. 3. For Timber Pitch Tar c. may be made more valuable by employing our people in building and their Manufactures as they are more and cheaper 37 Pet. 3. And the free permission of Forreigners to sell these in England may make them more and cheaper Annot. Though Trade where the Commodities are consumed to loss becomes so much more prejudicial and impoverishes any place so much as such consumption is And therefore as all beneficial Trades ought to be made free and by all means encouraged so it may seem reasonable that destructive Trades where things are vainly consumed and the employment of our people hindred thereby as are our Trades to France and Spain for Wines and to France for fine Linnen Lace Points and the importation of Dutch Black Clothes and French Hats and Druggets whereby the employment of our people is hindred and so much of the Treasure of the Nation exhausted as is spent in our consumption of them ought totally to be prohibited yet neerly looking into it such prohibition will prove dangerous to our Trade at home and abroad and also to the Peace of the Nation For first as every man stands in need of being supplied by another so does every place and therefore if we should prohibit the Importation of the Commodities of France though it be evident the Nation consumes them all to loss except Salt and Sails yet we cannot then but expect the French will likewise prohibit the Importation of our Welch Frizes and Exeter Carseys Leather Gloves Ribbons and several other Commodities whereby the employment of all our Artificers in them being taken away they become miserable and the Lands on which the Wools and the Cattle were renewed become less valuable The reason is the same if we prohibit the Importation of Dutch Black Clothes who take off many of our White Clothes and other Manufactures of England Secondly If we prohibit the French Hats Druggets and Dutch Black Clothes we put our selves and the World upon the Monopoly of having only such as the English make who will soon know the prerogative they enjoy hereby and make the English pay more for worse work than they did before and make them so dear and bad that we shall establish the Forrein Trade of such things to the French and Dutch whereas the Importation of these will be an Awe upon the English to make ours so good and cheap as to supply us and the world better or they will lose their employment And Lastly Such Prohibition causes Haâ—red and Heart-burning between Princes whereby oftentimes Wars ensue though under other pretences Therefore if my opinion were worthy to be admitted no Goods of any sort should be Prohibited but if any be imported which are Luxuriously consumed with little or no employment of the people as the Wines imported are they should pay the King the full value in their consumption but little or nothing if they could be again Transported for the importation is beneficial to the Nation by improving the Rents of Houses the employment of People in Lading and Ualading and in vending our Corn and Provision to the Importer But if an employment may happen to the People of the Nation if things were not imported as in fine Linnen Lace Points Blacks and Druggets encouragement should be given to all people to instruct ours in those Manufactures and such duties for some time imposed on the Importation that better hopes might be expected here than otherwise in working them Prop. 19. Theorem 18. The free permission of Forreigners to Import Timber rough Hemp and Flax all sorts of Dying-Stuffs and all sorts of Forrein Goods will so much conserve the Treasure of the Nation as they are cheaper sold 12 Ax. 3. For things will be so much conserved as they are less expended 38 Pet. 3. But less Treasure will be expended in Norway-Timber Pitch Tar Forrein Hemp and Flax and all sorts of Dying-Stuffs and all other Forrein Commodities if they be cheaper vended 39 Pet. 3. And the free permission of Forreigners to import Forrein Commodities will make them cheaper vended Therefore it will so much conserve the Treasure of the Nation Annot. Mr. Mun observes in his 4th chap. of England's Improvements by Forrein Trade that as Legorne is the most flourishing part in the Mediterranean in Trade so the Inhabitants have little Trade but for Goods imported by the Dutch and English which they buy for ready Money and that the Great Duke lent him 40000 Crowns for a year gatis though he knew it would be presently sent out of Italy into Turky to buy Commodities the Great Duke well understanding the returns would be profitable to him and his Subjects yet not by Manufactures which is the most profitable by employing people but by vending them and that by Land-carriage to Milan Piedmont and other places in Italy But if by reason of the Freedom of Legorne wrought Goods imported by Forreigners and bought with ready Mony be so profitable to the Duke of Florence and his Subjects I am sure the free Importation of unwrought Goods into England by Forreigners might be much more profitable to the King and his Subjects by employment of the English in their Manufactures And if that Permission which Oliver dispensed to the
ever well attain their ends by forceable means against the Nature and Order of things Money is that by which all Commodities are valued and is of no other use if therefore a man should give me 100 l. never to make use of it I should scarce thank him for it The most profitable use of money is so to buy as to sell to profit So that in forrein Trade the best use a Merchant can make of his Money is so to buy as to sell again to profit But if the Goods the Merchant thus buys be sold again in forrein Trade to profit a double benefit hereby accrues to the Nation as well as Merchant This appears in the East-Indie-Trade by our East-Indie-Company where though the Company send great quantities of Treasure to the East-Indies yet the returns of them in the Trade to Spain and other places produce greater quantities of Treasure Though I can give but one instance hereof in our Trades I believe Instances hereof might be given in all the Trades the Dutch drive in the World It may happen that many places of the world stand in need of our Commodities and some people of those places have Commodities to exchange for ours others have Commodities which they will not exchange for ours to the Merchant's profit but will sell for ready Money so that the Merchant may make profit of them and so a Merchant may fraught a ship so as to make profitable returns but in case the Merchant be prohibited the Exportation of Money this may hinder the forrein vent of all the Manufactures which otherwise might finde a Market Coroll 1. By the same reason the free Returns of Commodities exchanged in forrein Trade for our Woollen and other Manufactures may encrease the forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures 50 Pet. 3. For returns of Commodities exchanged in forrein Trade for our Woollen and other Manufactures is a mean to encrease a forrein Trade of them 51 Pet. 3. And the returns of Forreign Commodities exchanged for our Woollen and other Manufactures may be so much more as the returns are more free Annot. To the encrease of the forrein Trade of our Woollen Manufactures by this free return which I understand to be by all ways whereby they may be as cheap imported into England as into Hamburg or any of the Ports of the Vnited Netherlands may be added another forrein Trade of these Commodities and of the returns of those Commodities into the Ports of England and of those again and so infinitely The Dutch we see have no other Principles of Trade but the Fishing Trade upon the Coasts of England and Scotland to Groenland and of late to Iseland and Westmony fishing yet from these Principles by their cheap Navigation and smalness of Duties imposed upon the returns of their Fish and other Commodities imported were enabled to manage a more considerable and profitable Trade in the World than all the Princes and other States of the World could do Whereas all these Fishing trades especially for those caught upon the Coasts of England and Scotland might cheaper and more conveniently be managed from the Ports of England as shall be shewed And we have the Principles of our own growths and Manufactures and also of our Plantations to establish a forrein Trade upon and ten times more and better Harbours than those of the Vnited Netherlands to secure the returns of them and establish another Trade into other forrein parts of the World upon the account of them Prop. 52. Problem 2. How Woollen Manufactures may be cheaper more conveniently and safely vended in forreign Trade from the Ports of England than those of France or the Vnited Netherlands Const By the Coroll Prop. 4. the Woollen Manufactures of England may be cheaper wrought in England than in France or the Vnited Netherlands and may be vended in forrein Trade from the next Ports I say Woollen Manufactures may be cheaper more conveniently and safely vended in forrein Trade from the Ports of England than those of France or the Vnited Netherlands 19 Ax. 3. For if more be added to more the whole will be more Const But Woollen Manufactures may be cheaper wrought in England than France or the Vnited Netherlands 22 Prop. 3. And Woollen Manufactures may be more conveniently and safely vended in forrein Trade from the Ports of England than those of France or the Vnited Netherlands Therefore they may be cheaper more conveniently and safely vended from the Ports of England than those of France or the Vnited Netherlands Annot. As the Wools of Ireland may be cheaper wrought in Wales and the Western Ports of England so may the Wools of the Midland Southern and Eastern parts of England be cheaper wrought upon Navigable places in England than in France or the Vnited Netherlands And as the Ports of England are more better and more convenient and safe than those of French or the Vnited Netherlands so the Eastern Ports of England stand more apposite and conveniently for the Trade to Hamburg Norway Muscovy and into the Sound than those of the Vnited Netherlands and nearer than those of France And as our Western and Southern Ports are more better more convenient and safe than those of France so are they nearer than those of the Vnited Netherlands in all Trades to the South South-East Western and South-West parts of the world But since Woollen Manufactures may be cheaper wrought in England than France or the Vnited Netherlands what reason is there the Wools of the Midland and other parts of England should by a tedious Land-carriage be brought to Norwich and Colchester and when they are wrought into the Manufactures of those places by another Land-carriage almost equal to the charge of carriage of the Wools be brought to London and then none but pre-emption and Free-men buy them To what purpose are the Western Clothes under the same Charge and Restrictions brought up to London and then by a Navigation twice as dear as from our Western and Southern Ports vended in Spain and Portugal Why after all these Charges and Restrictions must they be vended in forrein Trade in Ships neer double as dear built sailed with neer double the charge of the Dutch and other Nations Why do we deny our selves the benefit of compounding Fraughts in forrein Trades with our Woollen Manufactures as hath been often demonstrated And why do we impose above twentyfold Charges upon their returns more than if imported to Hamburg or Holland For these are the Reasons the French and Dutch are well maintained in Woollen Manufactures and our People miserable in it and that they supply many places of the world better than we do and even cloy our Markets at home with them And since our Ports are so much better and convenient for forrein Trade than those of France or the Vnited Netherlands why must the Turkie East-Indie and Guiny Trades and for ought I know the Trades to Hamburg Muscovy and into the Sound be driven
as the Purchasers are more Act. The Admission of Forreigners to purchase Land in England Question Whether it would so much encrease the Valuable Trades of England I say it would 2 Ax. 1. For in every thing the Effects will be as the Causes are 2 Pet. 1. But greater numbers of People encrease Trade 3 Pet. 3. And the Admission of Forreigners to Purchase Lands in England will cause so much greater numbers of people in England as the Purchasers are more Therefore it will so much encrease the Valuable Trades of England which was to be demonstrated Annot. Greater numbers of People encrease Trade This is evident as hath been said in the Nature of Man in that every man stands in need of being supplied by another Every one of these Forreigners and of their Family will wear Clothes Stockings Shooes and other necessaries and furnish their Houses whereby so much a greater Trade must ensue as the Forreigners are more and so many poor people employed by them who otherways can have no Employment By the Rule of Contraries then so many People as leave the Country to encrease other places so much decreases the Trade of the Country and encreases it in those other places And I appeal to any man who hath been conversant in the Country these last twenty years whether he hath not found this to be so by Experience Coroll By the same Reason the Admission of Forreigners to Purchase Lands in England will so much encrease the Value of the Lands of England as the Purchasers are more 6 Pet. 1. For Lands are valuable as the Trade of the place is Prop. And the Admission of Forreigners to Purchase Lands in England will so much encrease the valuable Trades of England as the Purchasers are more Annot. As these Forreigners would employ so many more people in supplying their Necessities as the Forreigners are more whereby those people would be enabled to pay for what they buy of the Country-Farmor so would the Forreigners themselves eat drink whereby the Farmor's Vent would be still encreased and so the Lands both ways become more Valuable It is an old saying and true That Plenty makes Cheapness Wheresoever therefore that Lands are plentiful in Proportion to the People there the Lands are Cheap And wheresoever the people are plentiful in Proportion to the Lands they are Dear I may give an instance herein in Ireland and the Isle of Ely and many other places of England where though the Lands themselves be fruitful yet by reason of the Thinness of People and little Trade they are of little Value Whereas the Lands of the Province of Holland not so good by reason of the multitudes of People and greatness of Trade were lately at 40 years purchase Mr. Mun in the 5th Chap. of England's Treasure by Forrain Trade affirms it to be the onely mean or expedient to improve the Value of the Lands of England whereas from the Reasons in this Coroll the Admission of Forreigners to Purchase Lands in England will more certainly and securely do it though it be onely upon the account of the encrease of Our Domestick Trade Thus we see that Lands which lie near places where great Markets and Fayrs are kept though upon things in our Domestick Trades are so much more valued as the Markets and Fayrs are greater If Lands be only Valuable as the Trade of the places is It is unreasonable then to have so many Courts of Judicature in reference to the Title and Security of the Lands of England and none for the Trade of it whereby they onely become Valuable Coroll 2. By the same reason the Admission of Forreigners to Purchase Lands in England will so much encrease the Value of the Revenues of the Church of England as the Purchasers are more 7 Pet. 1. For the Revenues of the Church of England are valuable as the Lands are valuable Cor. 1. And the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will so much encrease the value of the Lands of England as the Purchasers are more Annot. And so would this Admission encrease the Revenues of the Crown not only in the value of the Crown-Lands but in the consumption of all Exciseable Commodities which will be so much more as the Purchasers are more Coroll 3. By the same reason the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will so much encrease the Strength of it as the Purchasers are more 4 Pet. 1. For greater numbers of People encrease Strength 3 Pet. 3. And the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will cause so much greater numbers of People in England as the Purchasers are more Annot. The Glory Majesty and Grandeur of every Prince consists not in the greatness of their Territories but in the number of their Subjects and good government of them but the Subject must first be before they can be well governed From hence it is that the Vnited Provinces dare oppose two so great Monarchs as the King of Great Britain and the French King by Sea and Land though their Territories be above three hundred times greater more Healthful and better seated for Trade And I think that though the Countries of Norway Finland Lapland and Muscovy be above ten thousand fold more yet the one Province of Holland was more considerable for Strength and Wealth than all of them for though the numbers of those People be above one thousand fold more than them of Holland yet by reason of the vastness of those Territories the people are Thin in proportion to the Lands and therefore neither for Strength or Commerce scarce useful By the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England we Conquer without a War we make no man miserable or impose any unwilling subjection upon any man we run no hazard of uncertainty we impose no Taxes and by it we encrease the Treasure and Trade of the Nation the value of the Lands of the Nation and of the Revenues of the Crown and Church and of the Strength of the Nation Coroll 4. By the same reason the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will so much diminish the strength of those who may be Enemies of England as the Purchasers are more 5 Pet. 1. For lesser numbers of People diminish strength 4 Pet. 3. And the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England will cause so many less numbers of those who may be Enemies of England as the Purchasers are more Annot. So that the Admission of Forreigners to purchase Lands in England is doubly beneficial to it not only in strengthning of it but in diminishing the strength of them who may be the Enemies of it I believe no man thinks but if the Progenies of so many Progenitors of English and French as were born in the Vnited Netherlands when they supported them against the Spaniard were now in England and France but that England and France would have been much more able to have opposed them and the
Theorem 12. The pre-emption of Freemen of Corporations endangers the vent of Woollen and other Manufactures in Forrein Trade 10 Ax. 3. For things will be so much endangered as the means of doing them is restrained 25 Pet. 3. But the buying our Woollen and other Manufactures is a mean to vend them in Forrein Trade 26 Pet. 3. And the pre-emption of Freemen of Corporations restrains the buying our Woollen and other Manufactures to the Freemen of Corporations Therefore it endangers the Forrein Trade of them Annot. So long as this pre-emption is continued the best the Nation can hope for is that the Inhabitants of the Nation cannot expect any further Employment than the abilities of these Freemen can arise to So that it will be impossible to enlarge our Forrein Trades of Woollen and other Manufactures beyond their abilities or to conserve the Forrein Trades we now enjoy of them if by War or other accident their abilities become less And as the Retailers in Corporations neither Labour nor take care in labouring for the production of our Woollen and other Manufactures but only how to impose upon the labourer and those they sell to So these pre-emption-men neither labour take care in Labouring or to bring the Manufactures of England to their Corporations yet not only the Artificer must be at their mercy in buying but all the world in selling No question then but these men will thrive though the Nation and all the world suffer Yet I would be glad to be instructed in any one particular what need the Nation or World hath of any one of these men I cannot tell for France but am confident not one of this kinde of men can be found in the Vnited Netherlands In truth I have often admired the German Empire and Kingdom of Poland should give protection to Hamburg and Dantzick for no member of the Empire or Kingdom is permitted to be supplied with Forrein Commodities or to vend the Commodities of Germany or Poland in either place but as they buy of or sell to the Burgers of them which are Impositions as injurious as can be imposed upon a Conquered Nation And though Hamburg be otherwise a great Trading place to many places of the world by Navigation and very considerable in the Groenland-fishing yet the Town of Dantzick hath little or no Trade but their pre-emption of all sorts of Forrein Commodities wherewith the Dutch and other Nations supply them and they Poland and by pre-emption of all the Commodities of Poland which these Burgers sell again to the Dutch and other Nations For my part as I esteem the City of London to be a great ornament to the Nation and equally with any man desire the Grandeur and Prosperity of it so I wish the Grandeur and Prosperity of it were otherwise founded than by pre-emption of the Commodities of the Nation and such other means whereby the Nation necessarily becomes impoverished which must of necessity be more dangerous to the City than Country For the Country may subsist though poorly without a Forrein Trade or a Trade with the City But if the City loses the Forrein Trade of our Commodities and if the Country by its poverty cannot entertain a Commerce with the City the City cannot subsist at all Whereas if by reason of the cheapness and freedom of vending our Commodities the Country be enriched though this pre-emption were taken away the City being the Head of a Noble Nation and having the residence of the King's Court and all the Supream Courts of Judicature and the best Navigable River of Christendom or perhaps of the World to supply it with Forrein Commodities and to vend our Native it may hold a much better Trade with the Nation than now it does Corollary 1. By the same reason the Trading in Companies exclusive to other men endangers the Forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures 27 Pet. 3. For freedom in Trade is a mean to vend our Woollen and other Manufactures in Forrein Trade 28 Pet. 3. And Trading in Companies exclusive to other men restrains the freedom of Trade of our Woollen Manufactures to such Companies Annot. As the pre-emption of Freemen of Corporations restrains the Forrein vent of our Woollen and other Manufactures by Forreiners to what these pre-emption-men please to sell and at what prices they please to impose So this Trading in Companies restrains the Forrein vent of our Woollen and other Manufactures by the Natives of England to what these Companies please and at what terms they please So that it will be impossible to encrease the Forrein Trade of our Wollen and other Manufactures beyond their pleasures and abilities or to conserve the Trade the Nation now has under them if by War or other accident their abilities become less whereby the Nation loses all the inestimable benefits which might accrue to it by the Forrein Trade of its Manufactures and the wretched People whose Livelyhoods depend upon the Forrein Trade become undone for want of Employment And as by this kinde of Trading we endanger our own Forrein Trade of our Manufactures so we make room for the Dutch and other industrious Nations who are not subject to the charges and restrictions we lie under and fix and establish Trades by these Commodities in other Countries so much more as we charge or restrain ours Heretofore the East-Country-Company above all others was the most flourishing and by Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first termed The Royal Company for it supplied Muscovy Sweden Denmark Poland and Lifeland with our Woollen Manufactures and made very advantageous returns by Treasure especially Hungaria Duckats and the Commodities of those Countries into England This Trade till King Charles his Reign the English solely enjoyed About the beginning of King Charles his Reign the Dutch began to be Interlopers rather than Traders with the English in it But it fell out unluckily that in the years 1636 37 and 38. about two hundred Families of zealous people in Norfolk and Suffolk who would not endure the severe Injunctions of Ecclesiastical Discipline forsook their Habitation and being bred up in the Woollen Manufactures wherewith those East-Countries were supplied from England and planted themselves in Holland they there instructed the Dutch in those Manufactures so that we returned the Dutch a kindness with another sort of people the Dutch did us Afterwards the Fatal Civil Wars ensued so that the East-land-company not so fully supplying the East Country as formerly Consequences The Dutch found an opportunity of encreasing their Trade of Woollen Manufactures and the Polanders giving encouragement to the Silesians who bordered upon them and then only made course Sleses to work Woollen Manufactures in Poland and the Wools of Poland being much finer than those of Silefia these Silesians by themselves and much more by instructing the Polanders have in a great measure so supplied Poland with Woollen Manufactures that whereas before the year 1640 the East-land Company
people at home For it is advantageous in Trades which impoverish and debauch the people to have them driven by few and in Companies and those restrained both to managing the Trades and the prices of the things imported as in the Trades for French Wines and Brandies Italian and Spanish Wines and Fruits and all sorts of fine Linnen Lace and Ribbons c. which are consumed among us for by this mean so much cheaper as they are imported and restrained so much more the Nations Wealth and Stock is preserved Before 1641 the Canary Trade was managed by a Company the Prices were set and the Wines imported were in Barter of our Commodities so as the Nation was not considerably damnified by that Trade But aster that Trade by the Company was left the Vintners in London to get the Flowers as they call them of those Wines outbid one another so high that the prices became near double and rather than lose them they would pay in the Canaries ready Money And so we lost the Barter of our Commodities for them to boor but as well in the Beneficial as Hurtful Trades of the Nation we invert the means by which those may be more improved and these rendred less hurtful For almost all the outward Trades of our Growths and Manufactures are managed by Companies clogged with pre-emption of Freemen But the inward Trades of French Italian and Spanish Wines and Fruits and of fine Linnen Ribbons Lace c. and which are all consumed among us are driven at large by any English or other people of those places who will import them And as by our Monopolizing Trade we restrain the Employment of our people and the Wealth and Strength of the Nation to what the Monopolists please so we had better charge Lands 40 per Cent. than the forrein Trade of our Manufactures two For Lands are only valuable as our Trades especially Forrein are valuable and therefore in case we could doubly encrease the forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures our Lands would be of double the value whereas in case we charge the forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures two per Cent. above another place we endanger the whole and fix the Trade in that other place See more in the Annot. upon the 26 Prop. of this Discourse HOW THE NAVIGATION OF ENGLAND MAY BE ENCREASED AND THE SOVERAIGNTY OF THE British Seas More SECURED TO THE CROWN of ENGLAND TREATISE IV. By ROGER COKE LONDON Printed by J. C. for Henry Brome at the Gun at the West-end of St. Pauls 1675. PREFACE TO THE READER TO Introduce a happy Reign Queen Eliz. before she called a Parliament fitted up and repaired her Navy Royal so as it was far superiour to any other this gave her Reputation at home and Fame abroad And well knowing how highly the safety of her Subjects did depend upon conserving the Soveraignty of the British Seas though afterwards she protected the Infant Dutch States to give a check to the growing Austrian Greatness yet would she never permit the Dutch to build such Men of War as thereby to be enabled to question her Dominion in the Seas which beat upon the English Shores And it is said that when Henry the great of France after the Peace of Vervins designed to enlarge the Dominion of France as well by Sea as Land she forhad his building great Ships or she would fire them in his Harbours whereupon this great Monarch did desist King James however he loved Peace did rightly judge he could no way secure it so well as by fortifying the strength of his Navy Royal and to that left by Queen Elizabeth he added the Prince Royal the Old James and several others King Charles the first a Prince of Sacred memory not knowing where the swelling Dutch Navigation would end and how much it might tend to the diminution of his Honour and endangering the safety of his Subjects judged it necessary for conservation of both yet further to enlarge his Navy yet was unhappy that his Subjects did not or would not rightly understand him in it This was a Navy so Invincible to any Humane Power that though Sir William Batten in 1648 carried a very considerable part of it to his now Majesty yet with the residue of it and the Speaker and Warwick Frigats one of the third rate the other of the fourth rate conjoyned with some Hired Merchants-ships the Rump-Parliament in 1651 1652 and 1653 without difficulty overcome the Dutch in all Fights and had without doubt subdued them if Oliver had not first turned them out and after in 1654 made an unsetled and dishonourable Peace with the Dutch The Dutch secured by this Peace to prevent the Ruine of their State by another War with the English immediately built much larger and more Men of War than they had which could not be concealed from Oliver who encreased the English Fleot with many more and very considerable men of War And after the King's Restauration before the next Dutch War in 1664 the King added many more so as the English Navy Royal was more than twice as formidable as it was when the Rump Engaged the Dutch But the Dutch having greater quantities and more choice of Timber and many more Builders than could be found in England though the experience the English acquired in Naval fights with the Dutch in the former War were much augmented yet could not the English obtain so easie a Victory as before and at this time it is said the Dutch have above 50 Men of War more than the King has and of equal if not greater Bulk in the main and above 2500 pieces of Cannon The Kings of Sweden and Denmark and much more the French King Alarm'd by this encrease of the English and Dutch Fleets in proportion enlarged theirs so that the French Fleet is in number and bigness Superior to the English but by reason of want of Mariners none of them is comparably so formidable But because Ships without Mariners and Mariners without Ships signifie but little in War let us see from what Causes the Dutch are become so formidable to the English by Sea above the French Dane or Swede After Queen Elizabeth had fitted and repaired the Navy Royal as has been said in the first Parliament of her Reign chap. 13. she enlarged the Trade of the Nation by permitting the English to Trade in any Vessels paying Strangers Duties as this encreased the Trade of the Nation so did it Mariners whereby her Navy might be more and better supplied by them This paying strangers Duties for Goods Imported into England was the principal cause the Dutch found an easie Foundation of their future great Trade and encrease of Mariners above what could be employed from the Ports of England For about fourteen years after the Dutch Government began to Bud in t o States and being pressed in their Wars against the Spaniards permitted all Nations to Import and Export Goods paying
a Principle of Navigation to and from the Ports of England 6. The free admission of Forreigners to inhabit in England and in any Vessels to Fish and Trade into forrein parts for Fish caught upon the Coasts of England and Scotland may encrease the Trade of England 7. Fishing and Trading Vessels are Riches 8. The free admission of Forreigners to inhabit in England and in any Vessels to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and to trade into forrein parts will add so many Vessels to those in England as they fish and trade in 9. The free admission of Forreigners to make returns of Fish caught upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and to export them may encrease the trade of England to and from the Ports of England 10. Navigation is a mean of preserving the Soveraignty of the British Seas to the Crown of England 11. The encrease of the English Navigation by Forreigners will so much diminish the Navigation of others who may be Enemies to the Crown of England 12. So much less English Timber will be expended in building ships for all other trades but the Newcastle East-Indy and Turky by how many forrein ships the English buy in those other Trades 13. The free permission of the English to buy Ships in all other but the East-Indie Newcastle and Turky Trades may cause so many more forein ships to be bought as the permission is more free 14. The Newcastle East-Indie and Turky Trades and the Soveraignty of the British Seas to the Crown of England â—â—â—…e more secured by Ships built of English Timber 15. The free permission of the English to buy Ships in all other Trades but the Newcastle East-Indie and Turky Trades may encrease Ships in England 16. The free permission of the English to buy Ships in all other Trades but the Newcastle East-Indie and Turky Trades may cheaper encrease Ships in England 17. Pitch Tar Ruff Hemp and Flax are principal means in the Manufactures of Cordage Nets and Sails 18. The free permission of Forreigners to import Pitch Tar Ruff Hemp and Flax may encrease these cheaper as the Importation is more free 19. So much less of the Treasure of the Nation will be expended in buying Pitch Tar Ruff Hemp and Flax as they are cheaper 20. Ropes Sails and Timber are means in building and fitting up of Ships 21. The free permission of Forreigners to import Timber may cheaper encrease Timber in England 22. The forrein Trade of Newcastle-Coal is a Principle to the Navigation of England 23. The free permission of the English in English-built Ships to export Newcastle-Coal and make returns into the Ports of England may encrease the forrein Trade of it Axioms 1. Business may be so much encreased as the Principles are encreased 2. Things may be so much more secured as the means of preserving them are encreased 3. Things may be so much encreased as the means are encreased 4. Things may be so much cheaper encreased as the means are cheaper 5. Things may be so much more and cheaper encreased as the means of preserving them are cheaper encreased HOW THE NAVIGATION Of England May be INCREASED c. Prop. 1. Theorem 1. THe free Importation of Forrein Goods into England may encrease Navigation to and from the Ports of England 1 Ax. 4. For every business may be so much encreased as the Principles are encreased 1 Pet. 4. But the forrein Trade of the Woollen and other Manufactures of England is a Principle of the Navigation of them to and from the Ports of England 21 Prop. 3. And the free Importation of forrein Goods may encrease a forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures Therefore it may encrease Navigation to and from the Ports of England Annot. Britain being an Island and so as another World divided from the Continent the encrease of Navigation and Mariners is more proper to it and desirable than where the Sea lies but on part of the bounds of the Country and this Encrease is so much more desirable by how much the Coast abounds with many Excelling and Noble Ports and the Country Naturally watred with Rivers more apt for Navigation than any other and which through those lose themselves in the Ocean But Navigation and Marriners cannot be otherwise encreased than from such Principles as God and Nature has ordained Trade therefore being a Principle to Navigation is superiour and more excellent than it and may subsist without Navigation but Navigation never without Trade A Nation may be rich and flourishing by Trade yet upon the Navigation of other Countries The great Riches which France lately enjoyed did arise chiefly from the English and Dutch Trading into their Ports So Legorne and Florence grow rich by the Trade which the English French and Dutch Navigation bring into Legorne So it is in the Turkie East Indie and Muscovy Trades by the English French Dutch and Venetians whereby those Countries grow vastly rich yet employ no Shipping or Navigation to procure it Trade being a principle to Navigation Navigation may be infinitely encreased as Trade is encreased I desire therefore Navigation to and from the Ports of England might be encreased by the forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufactures rather than by the Newcastle-trade or the Trade to our Plantations For the home-vent of the Newcastle-trade employs few of the Natives but Miners and Manners and those but half the year and is driven to the loss of the Nation for we consume the Coals and besides the Consumption of our Timber in the Shipping in this Trade we generally buy the Pitch Tar Cordage and Sails employed in it of the French Dutch Swedes and Norwegians Add hereto that this Trade has caused vast destruction of the Wood-land-Grounds of the Eastern Southern and Midland parts of England which by reason of the plenty and cheapness of Newcastle-Coals can finde no vent Whereas Navigation which would arise from the forrein Trade of our Woollen and other Manufacturers would so much enrich the Nation as the value of the Manufactures is more than the Principles of them are in value And I prefer the Navigation which may arise from encreasing our Manufactures at home before that Navigation which arises from our Trades to our Plantations because the Nation hereby would be more and better peopled and the Lands of the Crown Church Nobility Gentry and others of England would become so much more valuable as Trade and Navigation would be hereby encreased whereas the Plantations rob us of our people to the weakning the Nation and diminishing the value of the Lands of it and that besides Mariners few people in England except Retailers Sugar-Bakers Porters and Car-men are employed in the Trades of them And the Riches which arise by the Trade of them accrews to few but the King Merchant Sugar-bakers and Retailers And I do not question but the value of the Consumption of the Commodities of the Plantations here in England is much more than
the profit of them by forrein Trade And yet we have little else but the forrein Trade of our Woollen Manufactures so Taxed so Restrained and so Endangered as hath been in all the Three precedent Treatises demonstrated to sustain the Loss the Nation receives by the Newcastle-trade the Trade to our Plantations and the Trades to Norway France the Canaries and for Linnen I desire as much as any man that Navigation and Mariners may be encreased by the Natives of England and English Ships so far as the Natives of England in such Shipping can maintain Navigation yet both must be done in time and by such means as God and Nature have ordained viz. by encreasing Trade in England and if both Trade and Navigation cannot be carried on by the Natives alone I see no reason why at least at present Trade which is more excellent than Navigation should not be encreased though upon the account of forrein Navigation And I say it is impossible as the case stands that the forrein vent of our English Manufactures and the Fish caught upon the Coasts of England and Scotland can be encreased by English Mariners in English-built Ships For the Towns upon the Coast of England generally are become so decayed that they are not neer half Inhabited and so poor that they have no Means to build Ships or to buy our Woollen or other Manufactures or the Fish caught upon our Coast nor have Factories or Correspondence in forrein parts to establish Trade and Commerce yet if they had it is impossible long to continue the Navigation we now possess in English-built Ships therefore less possible to encrease it It 's believed the French Nation before their War with the Dutch gained above 6000000 l. yearly by the English and Dutch trading into their Ports for Wine Salt Brandy Linnen Paper and other Commodities of France Suppose the French King upon the account of encreasing the Navigation and Mariners of France should have excluded the English and Dutch trading into his Ports and by Edict have Commanded that all the Commodities of France vended in forrein Trade should first be brought to Paris there none to buy them but Free-men and Companies if they have any and they only to vend them in French-built Ships and Sailed by ¾ French whether they have Ships or Mariners or not and that the Returns of them should pay the King twenty times the Duties they should in case they were imported into Holland or Hamburg whether the employment of the Shipping and Mariners of France would have countervailed the loss France would have sustained thereby Or Reader consider chainging the places if this be not the Condition of England in reference to the forrein Trade of the Manufactures and the Fish caught upon the Coast of it Coroll 1. By the same reason the free Permission of Forreigners to make Returns of our Woollen and other Manufactures into the Ports of England and to export them may encrease Navigation to and from the Ports of England 1 Pet. 4. For Trade to and from the Ports of England is a principle of Navigation to and from the Ports of England 2. Pet. 4. And the free admission of Forreigners to make Returns of our Woollen and other Manufactures into the Ports of England and export them may encrease Trade to and from the Ports of England Annot. As the free permission of Forreigners to work Manufactures in England and export them would encrease Navigation to and from the Ports of England so would the free permission of Forreigners to make Returns of them into our Ports and export them and so would the Returns of these and the exporting them again and so infinitely whereby Navigation to and from our Ports may be infinitely encreased The Dutch and Hamburger we see have no principles of Trade or Navigation of their own yet from the principles of the Fishery upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and the Groenland Fishery and the Trades and Navigation depending thereon and the principles they acquire from other places by reason of their free Importation and Exportation employ more Shipping and Mariners than all the Christian Princes and States in all the world besides The seeming Objection against this Permission we hope to avoid in the Annot. upon the Coroll of the 16 Proposition of this Treatise Corollary 2. By the same reason the Repealing the Acts of the 18 and 20 Car. 2. cap. 1. against Importation of Irish Cattle may encrease the Navigation of England 3 Pet. 4. For Trade is a principle of the English Navigation between England and Ireland 13 Prop. 3. And the Repealing the Acts of the 18 and 20 Car. 2. cap. 1. against Importation of Irish Cattle may encrease the Trade between England and Ireland Annot. After the Navigation which may arise by the forrein vent of our Woollen and other Manufactures I desire the Navigation of England may be encreased from the Trade between England and Ireland not only as the Crown of Ireland is depending upon the Crown of England but also because the benefits and Security of the English Nation are more interwoven between them than can be expected from any other Country The Navigation which the Trade between England and Ireland before these Acts did maintain was First about one hundred Sail and a proportionable number of Mariners were employed in bringing over Cattle Secondly A considerable number of English Ships and Mariners Mr. John De Boyse can better inform the Reader the number than I were employed in the Trade of the Returns for their Lean Cattle in Beer Hops Hats Stockens Cloath and Stuffs of all sorts all sorts of Dying-stuffs Hides Fruit Sugars Tobaccoes and many other Commodities to Ireland Thirdly The Returns of these in Hides Tallow Wools Yarn c. from Ireland in forrein Trade was generally in English Ships and sailed by English Mariners But all this Navigation depending upon the first Intercourse between England and Ireland for their Lean Cattle the Cause of Importing Cattle ceasing the Navigation which depended upon it ceased and the Trade as well as the Navigation the Nation formerly enjoyed is not only lost to it but established in forrein Nations to the Endangering as well as Impoverishing this and of which you may more largely read in the Annot. upon the 18 19 and 20 Propositions of the Treatise of The Equal Danger of the Church State and Trade of England Prop. 2. Theorem 2. The Repealing the Acts of the 18 and 20. Car. 2. cap. 1. against Importation of Irish Cattle will so much more secure the Soveraignty of the British Seas to the Crown of England as Navigation shall be thereby encreased 2 Ax. 4. For things will be so much secured as the means of preserving them are encreased 4 Pet. 3. But the Navigation of England is a mean of preserving the Soveraignty of the British Seas to the Crown of England Coroll 2. Prop. 1. And the Repealing the Acts against Importation of Irish Cattle may
Turkie we have the benefit of compounding Freights with Pepper and Callico's better than they and if we please may have as much benefit above them in Ballasting Ships with Coals and with compounding Freights of Lead Tin Leather Calve-skins of Sugars and Chocoletta Tobacco's and other products of our Plantations as the Dutch have over us in their Spice-trade which takes up but little lading in these Trades and Navigation Coroll By the same reason the free permission of Forreigners to make Returns of Goods exported into the Ports of England and to export them may increase Navigation to and from the Ports of England 1 Pet. 4. For Trade to and from the Ports of England is a principle of Navigation to and from the Ports of England 2 Pet. 4. And the free permission of Forreigners to make Returns of Goods exported into the Ports of England and export them may increase Trade to and from the Ports of England Annot. This permission will increase Navigation to and from the Ports of England so will the Returns of these and exporting them again and so infinitely And in all these Trades and Navigations the forrein Trades of our Manufactures and Growths and Fish caught upon our Coasts will receive this benefit that if any part of the World wants any of these Goods and but in a little measure stand in need of our Goods these Goods of ours may finde forrein vent which otherwise would not of themselves pay the charge of the Voyage This permission also would create a constant Trade and Navigation to and from the Ports of England whereby the people upon the Coast and from all parts of England would finde a constant employment infinite other benefits would accrue hereby to the Country and Lands of England in Victualling Ships c. which can neither be foreseen or enumerated This King's Duties and the employment of English Ships and Mariners are usually opposed to this Permission But the Opposition is without consideration of the nature of Trade the King's Revenue or Navigation For Trade being a principle to the King's Revenue and Navigation which depends upon it both the King's Revenue and Navigation may be infinitely increased as the forrein Trades of the Nation or the forrein Trade of other Commodities driven from the Ports of England are increased But if men begin at the Consequences viz. the King's Revenue and Navigation and Tax Trade higher than it can bear or restrain it only to such Ships so that Trade hereby becomes lost so does the King's Revenue and the Navigation But because of the Importance of it we will therefore more intently compare the Loss the King shall receive by this Permission and what will be the damage of our English Navigation and Mariners and if any be to either whether it may not be otherways over-ballanced Herein I say that this permission of Forreigners to inhabit and Fish from the Ports of England and to vend their white Herring in forrein Trade and to import and export all sorts of forrein Commodities and make Returns into the Ports of England will not diminish the Kings Revenue though they paid no Duties nor the employment of English Ships and Mariners for we employ no Shipping or Mariners in it nor hath the King any Revenue thereby whereas by it the King's Revenue would be hereby so much increased as the consumption of Beer Ale and all other Exciseable Commodities are more and our English Mariners in all outward and inward Voyages may finde employment I do not believe unless it be for French Wines imported and consumed in England the King's Duties imported and exported out of Harwich-Haven from whence all the Trade the Dutch drive in the East and North-East might be better driven than from all the Ports of the Vnited Netherlands amount to 300 l. per Annum Nor do we employ one Vessel or Mariner to any part of the World from thence upon the forrein Trade of Goods imported Even the Town of Tarmouth which we so much boast of is so far from carrying on any Trade upon this account that I am told they cannot supply any part of the World with a piece of Norwich-stuff though the Navigation between Norwich and them be very commodious Is it not a shame then that such prodigious Trades and Navigations upon this account should from the other side of the Water be driven from worse and more incommodious Harbours whilest we employ not one Vessel or Mariner in any of them And what is affirmed of Yarmouth and Harwich I believe is as true of all the other Ports of England except London As Harwich is of all others the most opportune and excellent Harbour for the East and North-East parts of Europe so is Falmouth for the South South-East West and South-West parts of the World I cannot tell what the King's Duties for Goods imported there yearly arise to nor whether within the Harbour there be any good Towns for reception of Merchants and Storehouses for Goods But I think I may safely affirm that in all Christendom is not so healthful and delicate a place for Warehouses and reception of Merchants as Ipswich is the Town so clean though an even Level that after the greatest Rains in the depth of Winter a man in Slippers may walk the Town over without wetting his Feet And though Ships of 200 Tun burthen may come up to the Key yet every Street is watered with the purest and sweetest Water of any place I ever came in To these may be added that standing in the Bosome of the most Fertile County of Suffolk which conjoyns with the no less Fertile County of Essex it is or I am sure might be supplied with all sorts of Provisions by Land equal to any other And if these two Ports were made free for Importation and Exportation of Goods by all Nations and the same Revenue continued to the King and that it were free for all people to inhabit in England and to Fish and Trade with Fish into forrein parts and make Returns into England I should be content the rest of the Ports of the Nation should enjoy their Priviledges so long as they pleased The King of Sweden made Gottenburgh free but for seven years which has made it the most flourishing Town for Trade in the North-East So did the Duke of Florence Legorne whereby it excels all other Ports in the Mediterranean yet neither of these any ways comparable in any respect to Falmouth or Ipswich But if this cannot be had I must submit yet I hope it will not be urged it will be to the detriment of the King's Revenue or hinder the English Navigation or employment of our Mariners Another Objection made against the free permission of Forreigners to import Goods is that the greatest Returns which the Dutch make from Dantzick is in Corn whereby they supply their own necessities which in case it were imported into England would make a glut here and bring down the prices of our
an Apprentice to be instructed in the Mystery of Woollen or any other Manufacture by which means he afterwards earns Thirty pounds per Annum this in twenty years becomes six hundred pounds therefore if it be better for a Nation to earn six hundred pound or more or less by employment of People than to have six hundred pound more or less given to a Nation the people not employed this five pounds thus paid for binding out such an Apprentice becomes more valuable to the Nation than if six hundred pound had been given to the Nation and the Apprentice not employed To invite therefore Forreigners to Instruct the Natives of England in Woollen and other Manufactures and freely to admit them in all places to improve Manufactures will be a more certain Revenue to the Nation than can be hoped for by the returns of the Spanish Plate-Fleet where the Fate of Spain depends upon the miscarriage of it It 's believed above twelve thousand of the King's Scottish Subjects yearly go out of Scotland into Poland Sweden Germany France Holland and other places and never after return into Scotland whereby the King not only loses the Soveraignty of them to the diminution of his Grandeur but those places gain great benefits by them If therefore five pound binding out of an Apprentice to any Manufacture may be in twenty years five hundred pounds gain to the Nation the benefit which might accrue to the Nation by imploying them here in twenty years might be above six Millions and this supply will be so much more seasonable by how much the peopling of our American Plantations and the repeopling Ireland has depopulated the Nation of its Inhabitants But as the Law against Naturalization permits not Forreigners to partake equal benefit with the Natives by improving Manufactures in England and instructing the Natives in them So does the priviledges of the Free-men of Corporations exclude all the other Natives of England from encreasing Manufactures in them And the Act of the 5 Eliz. 4. provides that no person shall take an Apprentice for Woollen Manufactures in any Town Corporate except such Apprentice be his Son or else that the Father or Mother of such Apprentice have the clear yearly value of forty shillings Inheritance Nor shall any person in Market-towns or Villages not Corporate take an Apprentice or instruct any in Woollen Manufactures unless he be his Son or the Parents have the clear yearly value of three pound Inheritance Consequences From whence it follows that the Corporations being poor and scarce half Inhabited by not admitting others to supply their number and defects become daily more poor and less Inhabited And the Children of poor people in Villages by the Act of the 5 Eliz 4. not being permitted to be bound Apprentices in Market-Towns and Corporations in the Art or Mystery of Woollen Manufactures and being denied by the Act of 31 Eliz. 7. to erect Cottages when they become more than the Tenements can receive or be employed in Husbandry they necessarily become vagrant Beggars Stealars Canters or at best if they forsake not the Nation to swell the Suburbs of London already too big be Hoâ—â—â—…rs Tapsters Drawers and sellers of Strong waters and the Corporations and Market-Towns by reason hereof declining the Farmor findes less vent for his Commodities and small or no encouragement to employ poor people in Tilling or Improving his Grounds And as the Act of the Eliz. 4. has brought all these mischiefs upon Town and Country so was it a necessary preparative for the Enacting the 43 Eliz. 2. for maintaining Idle and Lazy persons in all the Parishes in England which have produced the very many Inconveniencies complained of in the Annot. upon the 24 and 25 Prop. of the Danger of the Church State and Trade of England and their Corollaries Prop. 10. Theorem 9. The free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen and other Manufactures in Corporations may more conveniently encrease Trade in England 8 Ax. 3. For things may be more conveniently done where the places are more convenient 22 Pet. 3. But the Corporations of England are the most convenient places in England to encrease Trade 9 Prop. 3. And the free Admission of Forreigners to work Woollen and other Manufactures in England may encrease Trade in England Therefore it may more conveniently do it in Corporations Coroll By the same reason the free permission of the Natives of England to work Woollen and other Manufactures in Corporations may more conveniently encrease Trade in England 22 Pet. 3. For Corporations are the most convenient places in England to encrease Trade Cor. Prop. 10. And the free Permission of the Natives of England to work Woollen and other Manufactures may encrease Trade in England Annot. upon this Prop. and Coroll So as the benefit which would accrue to the Nation by this Admission would begin at the Corporations by reason of their Convenience whereby the people would not only be employed but the Corporations much more peopled the Markets more frequented and better supplied with all sorts of Provisions the Houses repair'd and new ones built It is said that about a year before Queen Eliz. planted the Walloons which could not endure the severity of Alva's Government in Norwich and Colchester that it was propounded in the Council to demolish both those places as Receptacles of vagrant and Idle persons which were burthensome to the Nation and dangerous to the Government whereas now it is said that the weekly returns of Colchester for the Woollen Manufactures of that place amount to neer thirty thousand pound and of Norwich to near twenty thousand pound But these Corporations which might be Seminaries for employment of people to the incredible happiness and enriching of themselves and the Nation by mistaking their own Interest as well as that of the Nation in insisting upon their Priviledges are become so poor and unfrequented that the Governing part have little to do but to Tax one part of the Inhabitants to maintain the other though the Town-lands and other Revenues for maintaining them be very considerable The Tradesmen are generally Retailers who understand little more than that more of them would eat the Bread out of one anothers Mouths and therefore their chief care is to keep out all others These Elbow-men as they are Idle and bred up in no honest Calling so by their Priviledges they impose what Taxes they please upon the labours of the poor Artificers who are the Soul of a Nation take what they please of them and at what prizes they please But then these Lords in their Exempt Jurisdiction put another value upon them to all Forreigners to their Priviledges so that a Gentleman may buy our own Manufactures in Italy or Turky cheaper than of them and if ever a Noble or Gentleman gets into their Books they rarely ever get out unless they sell Lands to cross their Books and these are the Honourable Priviledges these Patriots of Corporations are incorporated