and when they have no occasion to depend upon the Wind Weather and all the Accidents of the Sea A second Impediment to the greatness of England is the different Understanding of several Material Points viz. Of the Kings Prerogative Privileges of Parliament the obscure differences between Law and Equity as also between Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions Doubts whether the Kingdom of England hath power over the Kingdom of Ireland besides the wonderful Paradox that Englishmen Lawfully sent to suppress Rebellions in Ireland should after having effected the same be as it were Disfranchised and lose that Interest in the Legislative Power which they had in England and pay Customs as Foreigners for all they spend in Ireland whither they were sent for the Honor and Benefit of England The third Impediment is That Ireland being a Conquered Country and containing not the tenth part as many Irish Natives as there are English in both Kingdoms That natural and firm Union is not made between the two Peoples by Transplantations and proportionable mixture so as there may be but a tenth part of the Irish in Ireland and the same proportion in England whereby the necessity of maintaining an Army in Ireland at the expence of a quatter of all the Rents of that Kingdom may be taken away The fourth Impediment is That Taxes in England are not Levied upon the expence but upon the whole Estate not upon Lands Stock and Labour but chiefly upon Land alone and that not by any equal and indifferent Standard but the casual predomihancy of Parties and Factions and moreover that these Taxes are not Levied with the least trouble and charge but let out to Farmers who also let them from one to another without explicit knowledge of what they do but so as in conclusion the poor People pay twice as much as the King receives The fifth Impediment is the inequality of Shires Diocesses Parishes Church-Livings and other Precincts as also the Representation of the People in Parliament all which do hinder the Operations of Authority in the same manner as a Wheel irregulary made and excentrically hung neither moves so easily nor performs its Work so truely as if the same were duely framed and poised Sixthly Whether it be an Impediment that the power of making War and raising Mony be not in the same Hand much may be said but I leave it to those who may more properly meddle with Fundamental Laws None of these Impediments are Natural but did arise as the irregularity of Buildings do by being built part at one time and part at another and by the changing of the state of things from what they were at the respective times when the Practices we complain of were first admitted and perhaps are but the warpings of time from the rectitude of the first Institution As these Impediments are contingent so they are also removeable for may not the Land of superfluous Territories be sold and the People with their moveables brought away May not the English in the America Plantations who Plant Tobacco Sugar c. compute what Land will serve their turn and then contract their Habitations to that proportion both for quantity and quality as for the People of new-New-England I can but wish they were Transplanted into Old England or Ireland according to Proposals of their own made within this twenty years although they were allowed more liberty of Conscience than they allow one another May not the three Kingdoms be United into one and equally represented in Parliament Might not the several Species of the Kings Subjects be equally mixt in their Habitations Might not the Parishes and other Precincts be better equalized Might not Jurisdictions and pretences of Power be determined and ascertained Might not the Taxes be equally applotted and directly applied to their ultimate use Might not Dissenters in Religion be indulged they paying a competent Force to keep the Publick Peace I Humbly venture to say all these things may be done if it be so thought fit by the Sovereign Power because the like hath often been done already at several Places and Times CHAP. VI. That the Power and Wealth of England hath increased this last forty years IT is not much to be doubted but that the Territories under the Kings Dominions have increased Forasmuch as New-England Virginia Barbadoes and Iamaica Tangier and Bumbay have since that time been either added to his Majesties Territories or improved from a Desart condition to abound with People Buildings Shipping and the Production of many useful Commodities And as for the Land of England Scotland and Ireland as it is not less in quantity than it was forty years since so it is manifest that by reason of the Dreyning of Fens watering of dry Grounds improving of Forrests and Commons making of Heathy and Barren Grounds to bear Saint-foyne and Clovergrass meliorating and multiplying several sorts of Fruits and Garden-Stuffe making some Rivers Navigable c. I say it is manifest that the Land in its present Condition is able to bear more Provision and Commodities than it was forty years ago Secondly Although the People in England Scotland and Ireland which have extraordinarily perished by the Plague and Sword within this last forty years do amount to about three hundred thousand above what have dyed in the ordinary way yet the ordinary increase by Generation of ten Millions which doubles in two hundred years as hath been shewn by the Observators upon the Bills of Mortality may in forty years which is a fifth part of the same time have increased 1 â— part of the whole number or two Millions Where note by the way that the accession of Negroes to the American Plantations being all Men of great Labour and little Expence is not inconsiderable besides it is hoped that New-England where few or no Women are Barren and most have many Children and where People live long and healthfully hath produced an increase of as many People as were destroyed in the late Tumults in Ireland As for Housing the Streets of London it self speaks it I conceive it is double in value in that City to what it was forty years since and for Housing in the Country they have increased at Newcastle Yarmouth Norwich Exeter Portsmouth Cowes Dublin Kingsaile Londonderry and Coleraine in Ireland far beyond the proportion of what I can learn have been dilapidated in other places For in Ireland where the ruin was greatest the Housing taking all together is now more valuable than forty years ago nor is this to be doubted since Housing is now more splendid than in those days and the number of Dwellers is increased by near â— â— part as in the last Paragraph is set for t As for Shipping his Majesties Navy is now triple or quadruple to what it was forty years since and before the Sovereign was Built the Shipping Trading to Newcastle which are now about eighty thousand Tuns could not be then above a quarter of
LET this Book called Political Arithmetick which was long since Writ by Sir William Petty deceased be Printed Given at the Court at Whitehall the 7th day of Novemb. 1690. Nottingham Political Arithmetick OR A DISCOURSE Concerning The Extent and Value of Lands People Buildings Husbandry Manufacture Commerce Fishery Artizans Seamen Soldiers Publick Revenues Interest Taxes Superlucration Registries Banks Valuation of Men Increasing of Seamen of Militia's Harbours Situation Shipping Power at Sea c. As the same relates to every Country in general but more particularly to the Territories of His Majesty of Great Britain and his Neighbours of Holland Zealand and France By Sir WILLIAM PETTY Late Fellow of the Royal Society London Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock and Hen. Mortlock at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-yard 1690. TO THE KINGS Most Excellent MAJESTY SIR WHilest every one meditates some fit Offering for Your Majesty such as may best agree with your happy Exaltation to this Throne I presume to offer what my Father long since writ to shew the weight and importance of the English Crown It was by him stiled Political Arithmetick in as much as things of Government and of no less concern and extent than the Glory of the Prince and the happiness and greatness of the People are by the Ordinary Rules of Arithmetick brought into a sort of Demonstration He was allowed by all to be the Inventor of this Method of Instruction where the perplexed and intricate ways of the World are explain'd by a very mean peice of Science and had not the Doctrins of this Essay offended France they had long since seen the light and had sound Followers as well as improvements before this time to the advantage perhaps of Mankind But this has been reserved to the felicity of Your Majesty's Reign and to the expectation which the Learned have therein and if while in this I do some honor to the Memory of a good Father I can also pay Service and some Testimony of my Zeal and Reverence to so great a King it will be the utmost Ambition of SIR Your Majesty's Most Dutiful and Most Obedient Subject Shelborne PREFACE FOrasmuch as Men who are in a decaying condition or who have but an ill opinion of their own Concernments instead of being as some think the more industrious to resist the Evils they apprehend do contrariwise become the more languid and ineffectual in all their Endeavours neither caring to attempt or prosecute even the probable means of their relief Upon this Consideration as a Member of the Common-Wealth next to knowing the precise Truth in what condition the common Interest stands I would in all doubtful Cases think the best and consequently not despair without strong and manifest Reasons carefully examining whatever tends to lessen my hopes of the publick Welfare I have therefore thought fit to examin the following Perswasions which I find too currant in the World and too much to have affected the Minds of some to the prejudice of all viz. That the Rents of Lands are generally fall'n that therefore and for many other Reasons the whole Kingdom grows every day poorer and poorer that formerly it abounded with Gold but now there is a great scarcity both of Gold and Silver that there is no Trade nor Employment for the People and yet that the Land is under-peopled that Taxes have been many and great that Ireland and the Plantations in America and other Additions to the Crown are a Burthen to England that Scotland is of no Advantage that Trade in general doth lamentably decay that the Hollanders are at our heels in the race of Naval Power the French grow too fast upon both and appear so rich and potent that it is but their Clemency that they do not devour their Neighbors and finally that the Church and State of England are in the same danger with the Trade of England with many other dismal Suggestions which I had rather stifle than repeat 'T is true the Expence of foreign Commodities hath of late been too great much of our Plate had it remain'd Money would have better served Trade too many Matters have been regulated by Laws which Nature long Custom and general Consent ought only to have governed the Slaughter and Destruction of Men by the late Civil Wars and Plague have been great the Fire at London and Disaster at Chatham have begotten Opinions in the Vulgus of the World to our Prejudice the Nonconformists increase the People of Ireland think long of their Settlement the English there apprehend themselves to be Aliens and are forced to seek a Trade with Foreigners which they might as well maintain with their own Relations in England But notwithstanding all this the like whereof was always in all Places the Buildings of London grow great and glorious the American Plantations employ four Hundred Sail of Ships Actions in the East-India Company are near double the principal Money those who can give good Security may have Money under the Statute-Interest Materials for building even Oaken-Timber are little the dearer some cheaper for the rebuilding of London the Exchange seems as full of Merchants as formerly no more Beggars in the Streets nor executed for Thieves than heretofore the Number of Coaches and Splendor of Equipage exceeding former Times the publique Theatres very magnificent the King has a greater Navy and stronger Guards than before our Calamities the Clergy rich and the Cathedrals in repair much Land has been improved and the Price of Food so reasonable as that Men refuse to have it cheaper by admitting of Irish Cattle And in brief no Man needs to want that will take moderate pains That some are poorer than others ever was and ever will be And that many are naturally querulous and envious is an Evil as old as the World These general Observations and that Men eat and drink and laugh as they use to do have encouraged me to try if I could also comfort others being satisfied my self that the Interest and Affairs of England are in no deplorable Condition The Method I take to do this is not yet very usual for instead of using only comparative and superlative Words and intellectual Arguments I have taken the course as a Specimen of the Political Arithmetick I have long aimed at to express my self in Terms of Number Weight or Measure to use only Arguments of Sense and to consider only such Causes as have visible Foundations in Nature leaving those that depend upon the mutable Minds Opinions Appetites and Passions of particular Men to the Consideration of others Really professing my self as unable to speak satisfactorily upon those Grounds if they may be call'd Grounds as to foretel the cast of a Dye to play well at Tennis Billiards or Bowles without long practice by virtue of the most elaborate Conceptions that ever have been written De Projectilibus Missilibus or of the Angles of Incidence and Reflection Now the Observations
and plentiful are wealth but pro hic nunc as shall be elsewhere said In the next place if the People of any Country who have not already a full employment should be enjoyned or Taxed to work upon such Commodities as are Imported from abroad I say that such a Tax also doth improve the Commonwealth Moreover if Persons who live by begging cheating stealing gaming borrowing without intention of restoring who by those ways do get from the credulous and careless more than is sufficient for the subsistence of such Persons I say that although the State should have no present employment for such Persons and consequently should be forced to bear the whole charge of their livelyhood yet it were more for the publick profit to give all such Persons a regular and competent allowance by Publick Tax than to suffer them to spend extravagantly at the only charge of careless credulous and good natured People And to expose the Commonwealth to the loss of so many able Men whose lives are taken away for the crimes which ill Discipline doth occasion On the contrary If the Stocks of laborious and ingenious Men who are not only beautifying the Country where they live by elegant Dyet Apparrel Furniture Housing pleasant Gardens Orchards and Publick Edifices c. But are also increasing the Gold Silver and Iewels of the Country by Trade and Arms I say if the Stock of these Men should be diminished by a Tax and transferred to such as do nothing at all but eat and drink sing play and dance nay to such as study the Metaphysicks or other needless Speculation or else employ themselves in any other way which produce no material thing or things of real use and value in the Commonwealth In this case the Wealth of the Publick will be diminished Otherwise than as such exercises are recreations and refreshments of the mind and which being moderately used do qualifie and dispose Men to what in it self is more considerable Wherefore upon the whole matter to know whether a Tax will do good or harm The State of the People and their employments must be well known that is to say what part of the People are unfit for Labour by their Infancy or Impotency and also what part are exempt from the same by reason of their Wealth Function or Dignities or by reason of their charge and employments otherwise than in governing directing and preserving those who are appointed to Labour and Arts. 2. In the next place computation must be made what part of those who are fit for Labour and Arts as aforesaid are able to perform the work of the Nation in its present State and Measure 3. It is to be considered whether the remainder can make all or any part of those Commodities which are Imported from abroad which of them and how much in particular The remainder of which sort of People if any be may safely and without possible prejudice to the Commonwealth be employed in Arts and Exercises of pleasure and ornament the greatest whereof is the Improvement of natural knowledge Having thus in general illustrated this point which I think needs no other proof but illustration I come next to intimate that no part of Europe hath paid so much by way of Tax and publick contribution as Holland and Zealand for this last 100 Years and yet no Country hath in the same time increased their Wealth comparably to them And it is manifest they have followed the general considerations above-mentioned for they Tax Meats and Drinks most heavily of all to restrain the excessive expence of those things which 24 hours doth as to the use of Man wholly annihilate and they are more favourable to Commodities of greater duration Nor do they Tax according to what Men gain but in extraordinary cases but always according to what Men spend And most of all according to what they spend needlesly and without prospect of return Upon which grounds their Customs upon Goods Imported and Exported are generally low as if they intended by them only to keep an account of their Foreign Trade and to retaliate upon their Neighbour States the prejudices done them by their Prohibitions and Impositions It is further to be observed that since the Year 1636 the Taxes and Publick Levies made in England Scotland and Ireland have been prodigiously greater than at any time heretofore and yet the said Kingdoms have increased in their Wealth and Strength for these last Forty Years as shall hereafter be shewn It is said that the King of France at present doth Levy the Fifth Part of his Peoples Wealth and yet great Ostentation is made of the Present Riches and Strength of that Kingdom Now great care must be had in distinguishing between the Wealth of the People and that of an absolute Monarch who taketh from the People where when and in what proportion he pleaseth Moreover the Subjects of two Monarchs may be equally Rich and yet one Monarch may be double as Rich as the other viz. If one take the tenth part of the Peoples Substance to his own dispose and the other but the 20th nay the Monarch of a poorer People may appear more splendid and glorious than that of a Richer which perhaps may be somewhat the case of France as hereafter shall be examined As an instance and application of what hath been said I conceive that in Ireland wherein are about 1200 Thousand People and near 300 Thousand Smokes or Hearths It were more tolerable for the People and more profitable for the King that each Head paid 2 s. worth of Flax than that each smoke should pay 2 s. in Silver And that for the following reasons 1. Ireland being under peopled and Land and Cattle being very cheap there being every where store of Fish and Fowl the ground yielding excellent Roots and particularly that bread-like root Potatoes and withal they being able to perform their Husbandry with such harness and tackling as each Man can make with his own hands and living in such Houses as almost every Man can build and every House-wife being a Spinner and Dyer of Wool and Yarn they can live and subsist after their present fashion without the use of Gold or Silver Money and can supply themselves with the necessaries above named without labouring 2 Hours per diem Now it hath been found that by reason of Insolvencies arising rather from the uselessness than want of Money among these poor People that from 300 Thousand Hearths which should have yielded 30 Thousand Pound per annum not 15 Thousand Pound of Money could be Levyed Whereas it is easily imagined that four or five People dwelling in that Cottage which hath but one smoke could easily have planted a ground-plot of about 40 foot square with Flax or the 50 part of an Acre for so much ground will bear eight or ten Shillings worth of that Commodity and the Rent of so much ground in few places amounts to a
Seamen are such as have another Trade besides wherewith to maintain themselves when they are not employed at Sea and the charge of maintaining them though 72000 l. per annum I take to be little or nothing for the reasons above-mentioned and consequently an easie Tax to the people because Leavyed by and paid to themselves As we propounded that Ireland should be Taxed with Flax and England by Linnen and other Manufacture of the same I conceive that Scotland also might be Taxed as much to be paid in Herrings as Ireland in Flax Now the three Taxes viz. of Flax Linnen and Herrings and the maintainance of the triple Militia and of the Auxilliary Seamen above-mentioned do all five of them together amount to one Million of mony the raising whereof is not a Million spent but gain unto the Common-Wealth unless it can be made appear that by reason of all or any of them the Exportation of Woollen Manufactures Lead and Tin are lessened or of such Commodities as our own East and West India Trade do produce forasmuch as I conceive that the Exportation of these last mentioned Commodities is the Touch-stone whereby the Wealth of England is tryed and the Pulse wherby the Health of the Kingdom may be discerned CHAP. III. That France cannot by reason of natural and perpetual Impediments be more powerful at Sea than the English or Hollanders now are or may be POwer at Sea consists chiefly of Men able to fight at Sea and that in such Shipping as is most proper for the Seas wherein they serve and those are in these Northern Seas Ships from between three hundred to one thousand three hundred Tuns and of those such as draw much Water and have a deep Latch in the Sea in order to keep a good Wind and not to fall to Leeward a matter of vast advantage in Sea Service Wherefore it is to be examined 1. Whether the King of France hath Ports in the Northern Seas where he hath most occasion for his Fleets of War in any contests with England able to receive the Vessels above-mentioned in all Weathers both in Winter and Summer Season For if the King of France would bring to Sea an equal number of fighting Men with the English and Hollanders in small floaty Leeward Vessels he would certainly be of the weaker side For a Vessel of one thousand Tuns manned with five hundred Men fighting with five Vessels of two hundred Tuns each manned with one hundred Men apiece shall in common reason have the better offensively and defensively forasmuch as the great Ship can carry such Ordnance as can reach the small ones at a far greater distance than those can reach or at least hurt the other and can batter and sink at a distance when small ones can scarce peirce Moreover it is more difficult for Men out of a small Vessel to enter a tall Ship then for Men from a higher place to leap down into a lower nor is small shot so effectual upon a tall Ship as vice versa And as for Vessels drawing much water and consequently keeping a good Wind they can take or leave Leeward Vessels at pleasure and secure themselves from being boarded by them Moreover the windward Ship has a fairer mark at a Leeward Ship than vice versa and can place her shot upon such parts of the Leeward Vessel as upon the next Tack will be under water Now then the King of France having no Ports able to receive large windward Vessels between Dunkirk and Ushant what other Ships he can bring into those Seas will not be considerable As for the wide Ocean which his Harbours of Brest and Charente do look into it affordeth him no advantage upon an Enemy there being so great a Latitude of engaging or not even when the Parties are in sight of each other Wherefore although the King of France were immensely rich and could build what Ships he pleased both for number and quality yet if he have not Ports to receive and shelter that sort and size of Shipping which is fit for his purpose the said Riches will in this case be fruitless and a mere expence without any return or profit Some will say that other Nations cannot build so good Ships as the English I do indeed hope they cannot but because it seems too possible that they may sooner or later by Practice and Experience I shall not make use of that Argument having bound my self to shew that the impediments of France as to this purpose are natural and perpetual Ships and Guns do not fight of themselves but Men who act and manage them wherefore it is more material to shew That the King of France neither hath nor can have Men sufficient to Man a Fleet of equal strength to that of the King of England viz. The King of Englands Navy consists of about seventy thousand Tuns of Shipping which requires thirty six thousand Men to Man it these Men being supposed to be divided into eight parts I conceive that one eighth part must be persons of great Experience and Reputation in Sea Service another eighth part must be such as have used the Sea seven years and upwards half of them or 4 8 parts more must be such as have used the Sea above a twelve-month viz. two three four five or six years allowing but one quarter of the whole Complements to be such as never were at Sea at all or at most but one Voyage or upon one Expedition so that at a medium I reckon that the whole Fleet must be Men of three or four years growth one with another Fournier a late judicious Writer makeing it his business to persuade the World how considerable the King of France was or might be at Sea in the ninety second and ninety third pages of his Hydrography saith That there was one place in Britany which had furnished the King with one thousand four hundred Seamen and that perhaps the whole Sea-Coast of France might have furnished him with fifteen times as many Now supposing his whole Allegation were true yet the said number amounts but to twenty one thousand all which if the whole Trade of Shipping in France were quite and clean abandoned would not by above a third Man out a Fleet equivalent to that of the King of England And if the Trade were but barely kept alive there would not be one third parâ— Men enough to Man the said Fleet. But if the Shipping Trade of France be not above a quarter as great as that of England and that one third part of the same namely the Fishing Trade to the Banks of Newfoundland is not peculiar nor fixt to the French then I say that if the King of England having power to Press Men cannot under two or three months time Man his Fleet then the King of France with less than a quarter of the same help can never do it at all for in France as shall elsewhere be shewn there are not above
IV. That the People and Territories of the King of England are naturally near as considerable for Wealth and Strength as those of France THE Author of the State of England among the many useful truths and observations he hath set down delivers the Proportion between the Territories of England and France to be as Thirty to Eighty two the which if it be true then England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands unto them belonging will taken alltogether be near as big as France Tho I ought to take all advantages for proving the Paradox in hand yet I had rather grant that England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands before mentioned together with the Planted parts of Newfoundland New-England New-Netherland Virginia Mary-Land Carolina Iamaica Burmoudas Barbadoes and all the rest of the Carribby Islands with what the King hath in Asia and Africa do not contain so much Territory as France and what planted Land the King of France hath also in America And if any Man will be Heterodox in behalf of the French Interest I would be contented against my knowledge and judgment to allow the King of France's Territories to be a seventh sixth or even a fifth greater than those of the King of England believing that both Princes have more Land than they do employ to its utmost use And here I beg leave among the several matters which I intend for serious to interpose a jocular and perhaps ridiculous digression and which I indeed desire Men to look upon rather as a Dream or Resvery than a rational Proposition the which is that if all the moveables and People of Ireland and of the Highlands of Scotland were transported into the rest of Great Brittain that then the King and his Subjects would thereby become more Rich and Strong both offensively and defensively than now they are 'T is true I have heard many Wise Men say when they were bewailing the vast losses of the English in preventing and suppressing Rebellions in Ireland and considering how little profit hath returned either to the King or Subjects of England for their Five Hundred Years doing and suffering in that Country I say I have heard Wise Men in such their Melancholies wish that the People of Ireland being saved Island were sunk under Water Now it troubles me that the Distemper of my own mind in this point carries me to dream that the benefit of those wishes may practically be obtained without sinking that vast Mountainous Island under Water which I take to be somewhat difficult For although Dutch Engineers may drain its Bogs yet I know no Artists that could sink its Mountains If Ingenious and Learned Men among whom I reckon Sir Tho. More and Des Cartes have disputed That we who think our selves awake are or may be really in a Dream and since the greatest absurdities of Dreams are but a Preposterous and Tumultuary contexture of realities I will crave the umbrage of these great Men last named to say something for this wild conception with submission to the better judgment of all those that can prove themselves awake If there were but one Man living in England then the benefit of the whole Territory could be but the livelyhood of that one Man But if another Man were added the rent or benefit of the same would be double if two triple and so forward until so many Men were Planted in it as the whole Territory could afford Food unto For if a Man would know what any Land is worth the true and natural Question must be How many Men will it feed How many Men are there to be fed But to speak more practically Land of the same quantity and quality in England is generally worth four or five times as much as in Ireland and but one quarter or third of what it is worth in Holland because England is four or five times better Peopled than Ireland and but a quarter so well as Holland And moreover where the Rent of Land is advanced by reason of Multitude of People there the number of Years purchase for which the Inheritance may be sold is also advanced though perhaps not in the very same Proportion for 20 s. per annum in Ireland may be worth but 8 l. and in England where Titles are very sure above 20 l. in Holland above 30 l. I suppose that in Ireland and the High-Lands in Scotland there may be about one Million and Eight hundred thousand People or about a fifth part of what is in all the three Kingdoms Wherefore the first Question will be whether England Wales and the Low-Lands of Scotland cannot afford Food that is to say Corn Fish Flesh and Fowl to a fifth part more People than are at the present planted upon it with the same Labour that the said fifth part do now take where they are For if so then what is propounded is naturally possible 2. It is to be enquired What the value of the immovables which upon such removal must be left behind are worth For if they be worth less than the advancement of the price of Land in England will amount unto then the Proposal is to be considered 3. If the Relict Lands and the immovables left behind upon them may be sold for Money or if no other Nation shall dare meddle with them without paying well for them and if the Nation who shall be admitted shall be less able to prejudice and annoy the Transplantees into England then before then I conceive that the whole proposal will be a pleasant and a profitable Dream indeed As to the first point whether England and the Low-Lands of Scotland can maintain a fifth part more People than they now do that is to say Nine Millions of Souls in all For answer thereunto I first say that the said Territories of England and the Low-Land of Scotland contain about Thirty Six Millions of Acres that is four Acres for every Head Man Woman and Child but the United Provinces do not allow above one Acre and ½ and England it self rescinding Wales hath but three Acres to every Head according to the present State of Tillage and Husbandry Now if we consider that England having but three Acres to a Head as aforesaid doth so abound in Victuals as that it maketh Laws against the Importation of Cattle Flesh and Fish from abroad and that the draining of Fens improving of Forrests inclosing of Commons Sowing of St. Foyne and Clovergrass be grumbled against by Landlords as the way to depress the price of Victuals then it plainly follows that less than three Acres improved as it may be will serve the turn and consequently that four will suffice abundantly I could here set down the very number of Acres that would bear Bread and Drink Corn together with Flesh Butter and Cheese sufficient to victual Nine Millions of Persons as they are Victualled in Ships and regular Families but shall only say in general that Twelve Millions of Acres viz. ⅓ of 36
value of the Fish Pipe-staves Masts Bever c. brought from New-England and the Northern parts of America Two Hundred Thousand pounds The value of the Wool Butter Hides Tallow Beef Herring Pilchers and Salmon exported out of Ireland Eight hundred thousand pounds The value of the Coals Salt Linnen Yarn Herrings Pilchers Salmon Linnen-Cloth and Yarn brought out of Scotland and Ireland 500000 l. The value of Salt peter Pepper Callicoes Diamonds Drugs and Silks brought out of the East-Indies above what was spent in England Eight hundred thousand pounds The value of the Slaves brought out of Africa to serve in our American Plantations Twenty thousand pounds which with the Freight of English Shipping Trading into Foreign parts being above a Million and a ½ makes in all Ten Millions one Hundred and Eighty thousand pounds Which computation is sufficiently justified by the Customs of the Three Kingdoms whose intrinsick value are thought to be near a Million per annum viz. Six hundred thousand pounds payable to the King 100 thousand Pounds for the charges of Collecting c. Two hundred thousand pounds smuckled by the Merchants and one Hundred thousand pounds gained by the Farmers according to common Opinion and Mens Sayings And this agrees also with that proportion or part of the whole Trade of the World which I have estimated the Subjects of the King of England to be possessed of viz. of about Ten of Forty Five Millions But the value of the French Commodities brought into England notwithstanding some currant estimates are not above one Million Two hundred thousand pounds per annum and the value of all they export into all the World besides not above Three or Four times as much which computation also agreeth well enough with the account we have of the Customs of France so as France not exporting above ½ the value of what England doth and for that all the Commodities of France except Wines Brandy Paper and the first patterns and fashions for Cloaths and Furniture of which France is the Mint are imitable by the English and having withal more People than England it follows that the People of England c. have Head for Head thrice as much Foreign Trade as the People of France and about Two parts of Nine of the Trade of the whole Commercial World and about Two parts in Seven of all the Shipping Notwithstanding all which it is not to be denied that the King and some great Men of France appear more Rich and Splendid than those of the like Quality in England all which arises rather from the nature of their Government than from the Intrinsick and Natural causes of Wealth and Power CHAP. V. That the Impediments of Englands greatness are but contingent and removable THE first Impediment of Englands greatness is that the Territo ries thereunto belonging are too far asunder and divided by the Sea into many several Islands and Countries and I may say into so many Kingdoms and several Governments viz. there be Three distinct Legislative Powers in England Scotland and Ireland the which instead of uniting together do often cross one anothers Interest putting Bars and Impediments upon one anothers Trades not only as if they were Foreigners to each other but sometimes as Enemies 2. The Islands of Iersey and Gernsey and the Isle of Man are under Jurisdictions different from those either of England Scotland or Ireland 3. The Government of New-England both Civil and Ecclesiastical doth so differ from that of His Majesties other Dominions that 't is hard to say what may be the consequence of it And the Government of the other Plantations doth also differ very much from any of the rest although there be not naturally substantial reasons from the Situation Trade and Condition of the People why there should be such differences From all which it comes to pass that small divided remote Governments being seldom able to defend themselves the Burthen of protecting of them all must lye upon the chief Kingdom England and so all the smaller Kingdoms and Dominions instead of being Additions are really Dimunitions but the same is remedied by making Two such Grand Councils as may equally represent the whole Empire one to be chosen by the King the other by the People The Wealth of a King is Threefold one is the Wealth of his Subjects the second is the Quota pars of his Subjects Wealth given him for the publick Defence Honour and Ornament of the People and to manage such undertaking for the Common Good as no one or a few private Men are sufficient for The third sort are the Quota of the last mention Quota pars which the King may dispose of as his own personal inclination and discretion shall direct him without account Now it is most manifest that the afore-mentioned distances and differencies of Kingdoms and Jurisdictions are great impediments to all the said several sorts of Wealth as may be seen in the following particulars First in case of War with Foreign Nations England commonly beareth the whole burthen and charge whereby many in England are utterly undone Secondly England sometimes Prohibiting the Commodities of Ireland and Scotland as of late it did the Cattle Flesh and Fish of Ireland did not only make Food and consequently Labour dearer in England but also hath forced the People of Ireland to fetch those Commodities from France Holland and other places which before was sold them from England to the great prejudice of both Nations Thirdly It occasions an unnecessary trouble and charge in Collecting of Customs upon Commodities passing between the several Nations Fourthly It is a damage to our Barbadoes and other American Trades that the Goods which might pass thence immediately to several parts of the World and to be sold at moderate Rates must first come into England and there pay Duties and afterwards if at all pass into those Countries whither they might have gone immediatly Fifthly The Islands of Iersey and Gernsey are protected at the charge of England nevertheless the Labour and Industry of that People which is very great redounds most to the profit of the French Sixthly In New-England there are vast numbers of able bodyed Englishmen employed chiefly in Husbandry and in the meanest part of it which is breeding of Cattle whereas Ireland would have contained all those persons and at worst would have afforded them Lands on better terms than they have them in America if not some other better Trade withal than now they can have Seventhly The Inhabitants of the other Plantations although they do indeed Plant Commodities which will not grow so well in England yet grasping at more Land than will suffice to produce the said Exotiics in a sufficient quantity to serve the whole World they do therein but distract and confound the effect of their own Indeavours Eighthly There is no doubt that the same People far and wide dispersed must spend more upon their Government and Protection than the same living compactly