those concerned in Interest and also be an overplus to defray the necessary expence in preventing the Exportation of Wooll which Bill after the several Hearings and Examinations instead of doing both it did not answer one in that manner besides the inevitable Trouble and Controversie betwixt the Merchant and Clothier for that some of the Woollen Manufacture pays Custom by weight and some by the piece when at present the Aulnage pays all by the piece THE PREFACE IT may seem strange to some that after Twenty four Years time the extence of my Estate loosing a profitable Trade and adventuring my life so often as one Action instead of many set down in the close of this Paper that after all this am constrain'd to make an Apology to those and for whose Interest I have with so much candour and freedom to my own loss expos'd my self I must confess I expected better usage from some than I have as yet received but since most cannot be ignorant of the Truth of this Abstracted Narrative of my Proceedings and that in it I have espoused your Cause and engaged in your Quarrel and so long fought your Battels it will not I hope be thought unreasonable if I do now expect but what is just and equitable from reasonable Men but instead thereof it hath not been a little surprize to me to see a Paper Intituled The Case of the Merchants Clothiers Drapers c. with relation to the abuse of the Aulnages wherein I am there named Wool-Carter as a person seemingly justifying the said abuses and contradicting mâ— former practice and thereby opposing a regulating those abuses which charge if true I must confess that a Face of Brass is proper for me but if the contrary appear it will return upon the Author of that Paper as a False Accuser but if it had been done by the advice and consent of those persons therein named then I must say its hard for me and creates not a little trouble to be wounded in the House of my Friends and at such a time when I was with so much affection great difficulty and hazard pursuing their real Interest in that affair wherein they have nam'd me and more particularly endeavouring to prevent all Trade Commerce and Correspondency with France in which I have not stuck at any pains and difficulty in the Service but for asmuch as the said Paper was Published as I was informed not only without the knowledge of most â—f the persons therein named but against the advice of some of those that did appear at Parliament in pursuance of the design in promoting the Bill that have been depending and miscarried in Four Sessions of Parliament As for the Charge given against me give me leave to answer for my self which Charge is viz. We are very sensible of the several Artifices us'd to oppose the Bill amongst the numbers employ'd therein there is one known by the name of Wooll-Carter who was formerly a zealous Solicitor against the Aulnage-Office but now by reason of yearly payment is become their friend this Man pretending himself a friend to the Shop-keepers have in several Sessions sent down Printed-Forms of Letters to a great many Corporations for them to Transcribe and Subscribe and direct to their Parliament-Men the substance of the Letters were to pray them to oppose the Bill and think of some other method for the ease of the Shop-keepers Which Charge being answered by another hand I shall say the less to it now only this that I was not only a pretender but a â—eal friend to the Shop-keepers for it's matter of fact that I did not only prosecute the several Petitions of the Shop-keepers in most Counties in England the several Sessions of Parliament from the year 1673 to 81. most upon my own cost but when I â—ouâ—â— do no good in Parliament by all that labour and time expended an opportuniâ—â— was put into my hand by mâ—â—ns of some friend of mine oâ— some great figure that I purchased the freedom for the said Shop-keepers without any cost to them and likewise endeavoured to have so settled it by a Law that it should not be in the power of any Aulnager to have given them any manner of disturbance and also to have a Seal of content for the Honour and Reputation of the Woollen Manufacture it self and Credit of the Clothier and to prevent all manner of disputes and controversies betwixt all persons concerned which I think is more than a pretence of kindness But whilst I was pursuing this latter design I was by the importunity of several eminent Merchants and Factors in London taken off the said Service to prevent the Exportation of Wooll what I did in that affair is hereafter more enlarged which I think I need not to make any further Apology and may say 't is a manifest Aspersion causlesly charged upon me Then as to my sending Printed Forms of Letters for the Shop-keepers to transscribe and subscribe and send it to their Parliament-Men I own it being their desire not only when I have been in the Country with them but when in London they have wrote to me to send them Forms of Letters to answer their desires As to the Charge against me being formerly a zealous Solicitor against the Aulnage-Office but now am become their friend tho' I have in a sense answered this charge before yet I shall be now more full in it for as I was the person that contracted for the whole Farm so I was by that means made more capable to free the Shop-keepers from those abuses put upon them by the former Aulnagers which give me leave here to relate some of them viz. The first complaint I produced at a Committee in the year 1673. was four Shop-keepers ' in the County of Essex paid as a Fine and other Fees the sum of one hundred and sixty Pounds and forc'd to promise to pay them yearly several sums of Money to free them from future trouble and amongst many more at Winchester Windsor and other places there was one James Smith of Eaton since dead was at the expence of about four-score Pounds and being but a young man was ruin'd in his Trade by his being imprisoned and his Goods lay a long time under Seisure and no cause for it Fleven half pieces of Broad-Cloth some being the latter ends of the Cloths where the Seal is not usually fixed and the Aulnager without further examination took away the others that had Seals upon them all which was fully proved before the said Committee all this trouble and charge was because he did Replevy his Cloth which the Aulnager had seised Let me odd one instance of my own case by the same Aulnagers having sent a Spanish Black-Cloth to a Draper in Portsmouth in value about 26 l. which Cloth was rightly Seal'd and fixed at the head-end of the Cloth but the Aulnagers pretending no Seal took away the Cloth and carried it away to their Lodging the Draper
AN ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF W. CARTER Being a PLEA TO SOME OBJECTIONS Urged against HIM LONDON Printed for the Author MDCXCIV TO THE Merchants Clothiers and Drapers c. Gentlemen I Have for Twenty four Years used my endeavours not only to prevent the Loss of your Trade in the Woollen Manufacture set up in France with English and Irish Wooll and the Importation of French Silks Stuffs and Lace c. But also used my utmost to regulate the abuses in the Aulnage notwithstanding the objections against me what Steps I made in both are in part contained in the following Discourse In which I have demonstrated that my labour was not altogether Fruitless against the designs of France notwithstanding all the Craft and Bribes of French Agents by all the Interest they had in our Court the two last Reigns both by secret disguise and open violence and also endeavouring by a Law to ruine our Trade under a very fair and plausible pretence Which give me leave to say that had not the War fell out as it did we should have hardly been able to keep that Trade we now have although I had frequent Access to that Government and did by that means put a stop at several times to it as in part in the close of this and another Discourse doth more fully appear You cannot but know at least many of you that I Printed my sentiments in the Year 1669. and Re-printed the same in the Year 1671. with some enlargement of what evil consequence the Exportation of Wooll to France was And in the following Year viz. 72. Wrote an Advertisement to you therein an Abstract of which is included in this Paper together with what past in the Years 1676 and 77. But Sirs I am now growing Old being upward of Sixty Years having spent the prime of my Years in your Service with very many hardships Watchings and Dangers when you have taken your Râ—st and improved your time for your particular and private advantage It cannot in reason now at this Age be expected that I should act in that Post much longer and although upon that account it 's not probable I may be able to perform those Services in Travels and Watchings as formerly on the Sea-Coast yet nothing shall be wanting on my part here at the Helm which I am capable of for the promoting of your real Interest and by instructing such as may for the future be employed by you Having given some hints about the Trade of France of my endeavours to prevent it I shall crave leave to speak something about the Aulnage When I was attending the Council and Parliament about the Wooll-Affair I was by some Merchants and Drapers in London put upon the Redressing those abuses then complained of and was by them desired to Print a Paper containing the same and by my omitting a Licence was for that reason clapt up in the Gate House which was not a little cost to me notwithstanding that discouragement in pursuance of the Deputation I afterwards received both from Drapers and some others dealing in the Woollen Manufacture Viz WEE Whose Names are Subscribed Woollen-Drapers of Winton and Alsford having been for several Years last past exposed to great trouble with the Officers of the Aulnage â—â— their entring our Shops and carrying away our Goods from us to the disturbance of us in our Trade and prejudice of our Goods thereby to force us to a Composition with them which we have been forced to do some of Ten Pounds others Five Pounds and Annually sâ—me Thirty and others Twenty Shillings to free us from future trouble Do therefore Authorize our Worthy Friend Mr. William Carter as our Agent and Atturney to Appear Petition and present for us unto and before His Majesty and Council and before the Parliament whensoever they shall be Assembled for the removeal of the aforesaid abuses and preventing of such abuses for time to come and to do all other things Lawful in and about the same and to all and do for us in such Lawful way and manner as by Council shall be advised as fully and effectually as if we were or might in our own Persons do the same Witness our Hands the 14th Day of June 1671. William Harwood Tho. Wavell Godson Penton Thomas Munday Edward Grace Wiliam Smith and Tho. Standen Another Deputation from the dealers in the Woollen Manufacturies of several Counties in England and particularly of Exon thus Worded Viz. WE whose Names are Subscribed Manufactures of Wooll for the Counties of Devon and Summerset c. Having considered as well in what we know as by the Information we have received from other parts of this Kingdom the great abuses that have been done to us and other Manufactures by such as have been employed in the Office of Aulnage c. The Deputation is Verbatim as before only the Date is the 12th of May 71. Signed by Thomas Crispin and many hundred of others I say in pursuance of the said Deputations when prosecuting some of those abuses and being in the Court of Exchequer in the Year 1673. tho' then complained against by the Council for the then Farmers of the Counties of Suffolk and Essex Yet was then justified in open Court by the then Lord Chief Barron pursuant to a Report to the King and Council made by his Lordship Two Years before as may appear by a Copy thereof in Page 6th I am sorry I have the occasion to make an Apology to you upon this Head whom I have so freely served and to say something first of the occasion of the Bill by which so much trouble was about it and to no purpose but rather prevented another Bill which would have past to have put the Laws in Execution against the Exportation of Wooll and also to have Regulated the abuses of the Aulnage The reason of the complaint in Parliament was occasioned by the differing lengths of some of Gloster Cloths not to say by a Clothier himself of that County but before the Bill was brought into the House of Commons I had several meetings with the Agent and told him that if he would attend the Kings Council I would persuade the Farmers to consent to such a Bill as that no opposition could be made against it I remember I was then going to Maidstone Assizes to prosecute some Exporters of Wooll and whilst I was there the Bill was brought into the House of Commons which hath occasioned so much trouble not only to no purpose but also prevented such a Bill which would have answered the ends of all parties The Bill which was so long depending was to Transfer the Collecting the Subsidy of Aulnage at the Custom-House and to subject it to all the Laws against Frauds in the Customs and the duties to be paid there by the Merchant and by him to be discounted with the Clothier for the same upon a supposition that it would save charge and by that means pay the D. of Richmond and
Majestie had sett out the two Sloops before mentioned his Lordship by his Letter dated the 15th of March 1686 5 to the Company of Merchant Adventurers of England prest the said Company to consider what his Majestie had done in setting out two Sloops as an encouragement for them to proceed and of what evil Consequence Delayes were in that concern To which the said Company by their Letters of the 25th of the same Month informed his Lordship what progress they had made in that matter and that for their share they had resolved to contribute 300 l. Per Annum for 3 Years as the Factors had for their Clothiers by their Subscriptions of 2 d. Per. Cloth and for the better carring on the said Work had ordered two Sloops that had been taken and condemned by me to be fitted out for that Service though other Merchants had not come to any Resolution in that matter how much they would contribute Upon the Receipt of this Letter his Lordship directed Letters dated the 30th of the same month to the other Companys to inform them what progress the said Company of Marchants Adventurers had made c. Whereupon the said Companys or most of them gave answer to his Lordship of their readiness to assist proportionable to their Trade for so good a Work Copies of which Letters were sent to the Merchants Adventurers by Mr. Guy the 10th of April following viz. 1686. And having as before mentioned caused not only so many Vessels and great quantities of Wooll to be condemned at my own Charge tho' in the Officers names and intending to bring up the Wooll to London to be sold to Clothiers it being generally sold before by the Officers to the Exporters some of the the Officers refused to agree therto because it would yeild more mony at Dover upon which in May 1686 I wrote to then Lord Treasurer the matter of Fact and his Lordship by Mr. Guy ordered the Commissioners of the Customes to direct their Officers to permit me to take the Wooll as appraised I paying the Charge and bring it up to London to be sold to the Clothiers In pursuance thereof after I had condemned the Wooll at my own charge and paid the King's moiety into the Exchequer and remitted money to Dover and paid the Officers moiety with all their charge there I ordered it to be brought up And having setled things at Dover as I thought well and exhibited several Informations in the Exchequer on the Forfietures of 3 s. per. Pound and prepared to Prosecute others on the Statute of the 14th of Charles the second By this means so great a stop was put to the said Exportation by these Prosecutions that Wooll did rise in France above 30. per. Cent. in 6 months time viz. between January 1685 and July 1686 After which I took a Jorney into the North on the Borders of Scotland in order to prevent the mischiefs in those parts but whilst there was informed that some of the Officers of the Customes in consederacy with the Exporters did endeavour to obstruct my Proceedings which they had been a long time contriving And whilst I was in the North was informed that the Wooll I had condemned for the Officers in their own Names and paid all the Charges and running the risk of bringing it up to London as before mentioned was by one of the Officers sold by some under hand means and he received part of the money for it which I had fully paid him for before and so went out of Town which occasioned a great Controversy betwixt my Friends here that had supplyed me with money and to whom the Wooll should have been delivered and some others This coming to the Ears of the Exporters at Canterbury and Dover in few hours for their encouragement as well as it came to me in the North for my discouragement their Plot took effect and so from that time viz. August and September 1686 the Exporters revived their old Trade that in a little time twenty thousand Packs were exported The forementioned Officer was Commander of one of the Sloops that I had prevayled by Petition to his Majestie to fit out and would have been put out of his place through his folly long since and the Sloop laid aside had not I through the importunity of his Friends born with him and kept him in by which means the advantage he hath received thereby cannot be less than 600l in 2 Year and halfs time but having for some time left him to his own conduct he is through his Folly and Knavery dismist from his employ At my return from the North the first thing to be done was to get my man out of Prison but in little or no Capacity to hinder the said Exportation from Kent the 2 Vessels before mentioned that were put out being laid up having neither Power to Seize Wooll nor Collect money to prosecute the Offenders After which time I Petitioned the then Lord Treasurer to Impower the said Companies Factors and Clothiers c. that had entered into a voluntary Contribution that they might be in a condition to carry on so good a Work the Petition being referred to the Commissioners of the Customes nothing was done this attempt fayling I Petitioned his Majestie in Council some time after to the same effect annexing a Copy of the Commission to Christs Hospital before mentioned which being referred to the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury about Fâ—bruary 1686 their Lordships referred the whole to the Commissioners as before the late Lord Treasurer had done and there it reâ—â—ed Nevertheless tho' I could not do what I would yet I neglected no opportunity I was capable of for hearing that there was a design privately to procure a Licence to Export 6000 Baggs of Wooll from Ireland which might contain 20000 Packs the Names of the Persons being given to me I went immediatly to Mr. Attorney Generals Treasury Secretary of State and Signer Offices and entered Caveats at each Office and a Friend of mine wrote a â—etter to a Worthy Merchant and Gentleman in the Country who did immediatly with some other Gentlemen write to a great Minister of State who was pleased to answer as followeth viz. Gentlemen Yours of the fourth Instant was conveyed to me last night while I attended his Majestie at Councel which I immediatly communicated Both His Majestie and we that had the honour to attend him were all surprized that the Malicious Falce Reports that you seem to Insinuate had obteined credit in your Neighbourhood of His Majesties Intentions to give Licence for the Transportation of Irish Wooll to parts beyond the Seas It hath been so farr from His Majesties Intentions that He has long ago given strict Orders both to His Admiralty and in His several Ports to use their utmost endeavours for the strict Prosecution of all Offenders in that kind and hath further given directions to the Officers of the Customes to give their utmost assistance in the