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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A41903 The great loss and damage to England, by the transportation of wooll to forreign parts 1662 (1662) Wing G1708; ESTC R223653 15,012 23

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The great Loss and Damage to ENGLAND by the Transportation of WOOLL to Forreign Parts THere is no King nor Prince in the World known by experience or upon Record that hath such means to support their Splendour and Greatness as his Majesty of Great Britain nor has any Country on Nation such variety of Staple-Commodities within it self and in such abundance as hath the Kingdom of England So that if those Advantages were duly improved England might be a general Mart for the whole World and then by consequence be the Glory thereof That those Advantages are not improved is too too obvious to all that look into it By the fore Complaints that are frequently made of the great Poverty and decay thereof And indeed which is worst of all by that general desperation of Spirit which will not put forth a hand to help support or prevent the Total desolation of our Country upon a prepossest Opinion that all Endeavours will be rendred Fruitless and Abortive The Consideration whereof hath greatly prompted me who must confess my self the meanest of thousands more concerned to use the utmost of my little skill and unwearied diligence though but as the Woman's Mite to the right management of so great an Undertaking that the threatned Ruine of all may be prevented and if possible some good part of that which is Lost may be recovered I shall confine my self to those things only whereof I have had not only credible Information but a considerable though a sad experimental knowledge and in a more particular and especial manner that of the Manufacture of Wooll in England which amongst Many is the Richest Treasure in his Majesties Dominions the flower strength and sinews of this Nation a Band uniting the People into Societies for their own Utility It is the Milk and Honey to the Grazier and Country Farmer the Gold and Spices of the East and West Indies to the Merchant and Citizens the continued supply of Bread to the Poor and in a word the Exchequer of Wealth and Staple of Protection to the whole both abroad and at home and therefore of full merit to be had in perpetual remembrance defence and encouragement for the most advantageous Improvements thereof The Wool of England before it was manufactured within it self was always of great account and esteem abroad sufficiently testified unto by the great amity which it begat and for many hundred years unviolably maintained between the Kings of England and Dukes of Burgundy only from the great benefit that from that Commodity did accrew to that People insomuch that the English Wools they received at 6 d. per Pound they returned again through their Industrious Manufacture thereof in Cloath at 10 s. per Yard to the great inriching of that State both in the advancement of the Revenues of their Soveraign and in a full employment thereby continued among the People whereby the Merchants of this Nation were occasioned as a People unwilling to be wholly dispriviledged of so great a benefit to transport themselves with their Families in great numbers into Flanders from whence they held a constant Commerce with most parts of the World This continued without Intermission between England and Burgundy until King Edward the 3 d. made his mighty Conquest over France and Scotland and as a sutable improvement of so great a mercy did wisely project and also accomplish the manufacture of Wools within the Bowels of this Kingdom to the great inriching of his own People and also to the peopling of his new Conquered Dominions The memory of whose wisdome and care for his People is worthy to be had in Remembrance by English Men unto the Worlds end The said King having thus setled the manufacture of Wools within the Kingdome of England confined it by a penal State which at first reached not only to Goods Chattels and Lands but also to Members and Life it self but in a short time repealed the two latter thereof continuing the other in its full force to remain to future Generations Which exceeding great advantage to the propriety of the English Trade hath now continued this Three Hundred years by the vigilancy of the Kingdoms Monarchs and the protection of its Laws in the continued careful execution thereof upon Offenders with more than a little diligence to provide against the thirsting desires of Foreiners to wrest this Nations Priviledge of so great a moment out of English hands which by the providence of God through the care of our Ancestors has been for many Ages enjoyed by the Nation as it is indeed its proper right But so it is that for some years past the diligence of Foreiners to enrich themselves upon us has so much exceeded our care to preserve our selves that it 's now come to if not beyond a question Who have the greatest benefit of the manufacture of English Wools They who have no Right unto it or They to whom of Right it doth belong That this is indeed so will appear by considering that not only Holland Flanders and Zealand have long sucked the sweetness of the Sinews of our Trade but France is likewise learning to be too hard for us as is manifest by the great quantities of Wools that of late years have been Transported from England and Ireland thither How injurious it must be to us is also unquestionable if we consider the consequence thereof which was without question much in the eye of our Ancestors as appears by what is above hinted in Edward the 3ds time and in several Kings Reigns since Every Pack of Wooll sent to France doth prevent us not only of the benefit of the manufacture thereof but of two Packs more besides it self viz. Thus It being Combing and Combed Wooll for the most part exported thither The French having no Wools of their own but such as are very coarse are not able to make Cloth or fine Stuffs without the conjunction of ours therewithal there being none to my best information in all the World fit for that purpose but ours only except in North Holland and that a small quantity of fine Worsted Wooll all other being likewise coarse but Spanish Wooll and that much too fine especially for worsted Stuffs and not in any wise fit for Combing so that without English or Irish Wools there can be no quantity of fine worsted Stuffs nor a middle sort of Cloth made in the whole World Neither will any Wools be all mixt together but English and Spanish for Cloth only because the Spanish is with the English of one nature being formerly English Sheep though now much finer for the alteration of the Climate and the nature of the Land whereon it is fed as by good Experience appeareth here in England both near and at a further distance Wherefore the Exportation of English Wools into France must of necessity be greatly prejudicial to this Nation not only in the quantity sent over but also in the advantage which is thereby given to them to manufacture