l. for three years to the Irish Revenue he would engage with both to defray the whole Charge of the Kingdom maintain 2000 Foot and 400 Horse Wall Seven considerable Towns Erect Seven great Bridges and Build Seven strong Castles But she comply'd not therewith However in 1585. In order to put that Kingdom into a good posture of Defence and of little Charge to the Queen the Lord Deputy appointed a gross Survey to be taken of the Province of Conaught and Thomond whereby they were found to contain 8095. Plow-Lands profitable the Proprietors of which agreed to pay the Queen a chief Rent of about 4000 l. per Annum and to find 1254 Foot and 264 Horse for the Queens Service within that Province and 347 Foot and 108 Horse at any time for 40 days in any part of Ireland A Militia also was settled in Munster of 4500 Bill-Men and 900 Shot And the Queen being Intituled to near 600000 Acres of Land by the Forfeitures of Desmond and his Accomplices his particular Rents being above 7000 l. per Anmum She granted those in Kerry Conilagh and Limerick together at 2 d. per Acre Those in Waterford and Cork at 3 d. per Acre per Annum Quit-Rent Every 300 Acres finding a Horseman and every 200 Acres a Foot-Man Armed for her Service A Militia being thus settled the Queen in 1587. Remanded 1000 Soldiers out of Ireland which she sent into Holland and that Kingdom enjoyed a kind of tranquillity for above Twelve Years In 1597. Tyrone and others broke but into Rebellion Whereupon General Norris with 3000 Men were sent thither But the successes of the Rebels required greater Forces so that 100 Horse and 2000 Foot more were sent thither Three Years after In 1598. The Government of that Kingdom was committed to Robert Earl of Essex with Power from England to encrease the Army there which were about 8000 men unto 20000 Horse and Foot Yet this Brave but Unfortunate Earl effected little The Lord Mountjoy succeeded in that Government who with 15200 Horse and Foot that he found there and 2000 Men that were sent him in 1601. from England expelled the Spaniards suppressed the most general and formidable Rebellion that untill then had happened in that Kingdom And therewith finished the entire Conquest of that Kingdom wherein this Queen imployed more Forces and spent more Treasure than all her Progenitors For we are told that it cost her Eleven Hundred Ninety one Thousand two Hundred Forty Eight Pounds Sterling besides the Revenue of that Kingdom Cambden suggests it was the ill choice of Officers Lenity and Parsimony of the Queen and some about her that occasioned her great Expence for that had the work been effectually set upon with competent Force and Treasure it might have been perfected with a quarter of the Charge The English in Ireland at this time being generally Papists were very backward in granting Supplies against such as broke out into Rebellion For tho' by the vigilance of the Government many of them were awed and hindred from joyning with those in open Rebellion yet were their Hearts so much with them that they not only obstructed the granting of Money to the Queen but parted with much to Rome where they purchased Pardons for not Actually and Openly joyning with the Rebels The Principles of that Religion Teaching them that it was Sin not to Rob Murther and Rebel However the chief Governour and Protestant Party prevailed so far as to gain their Parliaments in the Second of the Queens Reign to grant her the First Fruits and Twentieth Part of all Ecclesiastical Livings In her 11th Tear a subsidy as also a Custom on Wines and at several times many large Scopes of Lands on the Attainders of Arch-Rebels The chief Governour there indeed by Antient usage did on every March of the Army c. Cess the Country discretionarily for their support which was some help The Result of what hath been hitherto said is this That Strongbow Conquered most of the Province of Leinster Hugh De Lacy Conquered Meath Cogan Fitz-Stephens Bruce and Poer the Province of Munster Bourke and De Claro part of Conaught and Thomond Sir John De Courcy Conquered much of Ulster That all this was done with little or inconsiderable Charge to the Crown for the first 400 Years which reached to the middle of Queen Elizabeths Reign except in those expeditions of Henry II. King John and Richard II. the last of whom only carryed over an Army capable of doing any considerable Service The most part of that there was no standing Army kept in that Kingdom at the Charge of England except what was paid by the Irish Revenue That when Armies were Raised they seldom exceeded a Regiment or two and were only kept up during the chief Governours being upon Service against some particular Rebels for at his Return to Dublin or in the beginning of Winter they were usually Disbanded That the whole Charge of the Civil List of which I have the particulars in Edward III. his time was but 308 l. per Annum Towards the latter end of whose Reign in a time of Rebellion when an Army was sent thither the whole Charge of both Civil and Military Lists were but 11213 l. 6 s. 8 d. per Annum That in 1442. That Kingdom being weakned drained and impoverished by the supplies afforded thence to England Their Parliament represented it to Henry VI. as a mighty evidence of the deplorable condition of that Kingdom That the expence thereof in that wasted condition surmounted the Revenue 1456 l. per Annum That in Edward IV. his time that Kingdom was Defended only by the Fraternity of St. George who were wholly paid out of the Customs there That in the latter end of that Kings Reign the Earl of Kildare did undertake for 600 l. per Annum to keep the whole Kingdom in Peace That in 1543. The standing Army was but 525 Horse and Foot and the whole Charge of the Kingdom but 10500 l. per Annum The certain Revenue thereof was then 8700 l. per Annum besides Customs First Fruits Tributes c. which could not but make up the Revenue so as to surmount that Charge That considering the numerous and frequent Supplies of Men Provisions and Money that our Kings from time to time received from Ireland against France Scotland and Wales it is not easie to determine whether Ireland received much more from England than England received from the English Planters of Ireland That for a great part of the first 400 Years the Revenues were great that our English Land-Lords Yearly drew thence for the Rents of the vast Scopes of Land that they were seized of in that Kingdom That Ireland being almost from the first Conquest to the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign in a State of War was wholly supplied with all Commodities in a way of Trade from England whereby this Kingdom received considerable advantages That if we Allow that the Government of England hath been
where given us He undertook for 11213 l. 6 s. 8 d. per Annum to bear the whole Charge of that Kingdom both Civil and Military During his Government he obtained 5000 l. of the Parliaments of that Kingdom towards maintenance of the Kings Wars which I presume was those with France Richard II. Anno 1384. committed the Government of Ireland to Robert Vere Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland during his Life with Power to receive the whole Revenue without Account and to keep an Army of 1000 Archers and 500 men at Arms for two years But I do not find that either he or his men went thither for the Kings Affections to him were such that he would not bear his absence Yet he continued Lord Lieutenant seven or eight years during which he constituted several Deputies and received most of the Profits of that Government to his own use The King being reproach'd abroad That he could neither rule England keep his part in France nor finish the Conquests of Ireland he resolved to retrieve his Reputation in respect of the last To that end he took Shipping in October 1394 and landed at Waterford with an Army of 34000 Men but to little purpose partly for that he suffered himself to be cheated as were his Predecessors by the feigned Submissions of most of the Irish Princes and great Lords who on his arrival humbled themselves Some of whom quitted all Title to their Estates in Leinster and conditioned with their Swords under the Kings Pay to carve out Estates for themselves in other parts of the Kingdom with which the King was constrained to be satisfied by reason of the Clamour and Importunity of the Clergy of England Whose constant hatred of Reformation and fear that the Enormities of their Lives and Corruption of their Doctrines should be exposed by the Wickl fits caused them to send the Bishops of York and London to hasten the Kings return The truth is they wanted the Royal Authority for persecution of the Innocent and suppression of the Truth To gratifie their Importunity the King returned at Shrovetide or Easter following having sufficient Power but not time to do any thing considerable At his departure he left Roger Mortimer Earl of March his Lord Lieutenant who in right of his Wife was Earl of Vlster Lord of Conaught Meath and Clare and next Heir to the Crown He was murdered there four years after It was customary until near this time for the Lord Chancellor to pay annually 2000 Marks into the Exchequer for the use of the great Seal which went a great way towards bearing the charge of that Kingdom in peaceable times But the Fees being much abated that branch of the Revenue did so too In Revenge of the Murder of the Earl of March King Richard went thither again in April 1398. with such an Army as with their Necessaries and Followers took up a Fleet of 300 Ships The Irish generally mollified him by their old Method of Submissions The obstinate he intended to have subdued But the Tidings that the Duke of Lancaster afterwards Hen. IV. was landed in England and claimed the Crown called him back so that he landed in England the 24th of June following and soon after for his Male-administration lost first his Crown and Liberty by Order of Parliament and then his Life by the hands of Villains The Clergy nor Parliaments of those times had not imbibed the Doctrine of Non-resistance or Passive Obedience or that the Crown could not be forfeited by Male-administration or that it could not for the good and Preservation of the Community be transferred or that any Legal Possessor of it might disseize the Subject of his Liberty or Franchises or take away and dispose their Estates at Pleasure You must know that from the time of King Hen. II. his Expedition into Ireland until this time Ireland was of the same use to the Crown that Tangier and the pretence of a War with France was to Charles II. Richard II. had often and now Hen. IV. began to desire Money from the Parliament of England for supply of Ireland and had a Subsidy granted for three years of 50 s. for every Sack of Wool Skins and Woolfels from every Denison and 4 l. from every Stranger Also one Tenth and one Fifteenth for support of his War with Scotland relief of Calais and Ireland but he found so much use for it in England that I do not find that one Penny of it went thither But on the other side being in War with Scotland the English of Ireland fought the Scots in his quarrel at Sea where many of the first were killed and drowned In 1405 They took three Scotch Ships and their Commander and twice in Favour of England invaded Scotland with good Success and the same year invaded Wales did much harm to the Welch and carried away good Booty This King made the Duke of Lancaster Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for seven years He went thither in 1401. and returned into England in 1403. his Entertainment or Salary was but 666 l. 13 s. 4 d. per Annum And it was because he was the Kings Son that it was so much So inconsiderable were the Armies that were kept up in Ireland that it was an honour placed on this Duke that he was permitted to have an Army of 1500 men in all Ireland though many of the Irish were in Rebellion and so frugally were the Affairs of that Kingdom managed that this Duke was limited to keep up that Army but for three years About Lammas 1408. The Duke Of Lancaster went into Ireland a second time and narrowly escaped being killed by some of the Rebels At his arrival there he compelled the Earl of Kildare to pay him 300 Marks for his Male-administration He had a Tallage granted him by the Parliament of Ireland and returned into England next March after his landing in Ireland Whoever looks into the Troubles of this Kings Reign will see that he could supply Ireland neither with Men nor Money Hen. V. was so fully taken up with his Conquests in France that he minded Ireland no further than to draw Supplies thence which he did Anno 1412. under the Earl of Ormond And in 1417 the Prior of Kilmainham with 1600 in Mail with Darts and Skeyns all tall nimble men arrived at the Camp before Rouen and joyfully accepted the most dangerous Post wherein they so acquitted themselves that our Writers tell us no men were more praised nor did more harm to their Enemies For by their Agility of Body and swiftness of Foot they did more mischief the Enemy than their barded Horses did hurt to the nimble Irish And in the seven years of his Reign the French Historians tell us that the Irish did over-run all the Isle of France did innumerable damages to the French and daily brought Victuals and Preys to the English Army which so terrified the French about Paris that they fled and left the Country desolate The Parliament of
met with on that Subject which will at least lead towards an Answer if not satisfie your first Inquiry Know then that the English footing in Ireland did not Commence upon a publick but private undertaking For Mac-Murogh King of Leinster having been driven from his Kingdom gave his only Daughter in Marriage to Richard Strongbow Earl of Chepstow and Pembroke and with her his Kingdom after his Death on condition he should assist and restore him The Earl pursuant thereunto incouraged his Relations Fitz-Stephens and Fitz-Gerald to joyn in that undertaking who with near 400 brave Men put off from Milford and Landed near Wexford in Ireland in May Anno. 1170. They were soon followed by Legross with 130 more and in August following by Strongbow himself with 1200. Many of these Parties were Persons of good Quality great Valour and attended with wonderful success For notwithstanding the smart opposition made by the Natives Strongbow in a short time restored Mac-Murogh and inlarged his Dominions to such a Degree as rendred him suspected by Henry II. who by Prohibiting all Commerce with Ireland c. constrained the Earl to yield him all his Acquisitions in that Kingdom The King granted back to Strongbow the Principality of Leinster reserving all the Port-Towns and certain Tracts of Land about them to the Crown King Hen. himself some write with 4500 others that were amongst 'em say but with 500 Knights Landed in October 1172. near Waterford his Presence and Fame with the Terror and Success of Strongbow's Arms so intimidated the Natives in Leinster Munster and Conaught that Five of their Kings on Notice of his Arrival did him Homage and became his Tributaries The greatest part of his Charge was spent in Royal Entertainments and his time for the five Months he stayed there in endeavours so to settle matters as wholly in future to cut off from France the usual assistance afforded by the Irish when Attacqued by the Arms of England He had experimented the benefit the Crown received without Charge by Strongbow's private undertaking Therefore he wisely resolved by like Methods to make that part he had gained bear the charge of Conquering the whole To that end he distributed large Scopes of Land to the great Men that attended him As to Hugh Lacy the Kingdom of Meath finding 100 Knights for his Service for ever c. About four Years after the Irish yielded him or the King imposed a Tax of Twelve Pence on every House or Yoak of Oxen there which amounted to no small Summ in those days After the Death of Strongbow the King at Oxford made his Son John King of Ireland and as our own Writers tell us he divided the Lands of that Kingdom to his Subjects as well of England as Ireland to be held of him and his Son John he gave Miles Cogan and Robert Fitz-Stephens the Kingdom of Cork to whose Relief soon after Arrived there Richard Cogan with a Troop of Horse and a Company of Foot Anno. 1184. Philip de Breos as fore-runner of the young King went into Ireland with a small Party of Horse and Foot the next Year the young King followed with no Army yet Honourably attended and with some Treasure This young Counceller like Rechoboam's handled the Irish Princes that Congratulated his Arrival so roughly that they were provoked to Rebel Whereupon Eight Months after his Arrival he left that Kingdom in a much worse condition than he found it King Henry's Wars in France the unnatural Rebellion of his Sons and his other troubles permitted him not to relieve it yet to pursue his former Method he committed the Government of that Kingdom to the Renowned John de Courty and gave him a Grant of the whole Province of Vlster then unsubdued the Irish Princes thereof having not hitherto owned any subjection to England The Valiant Courcy with 3 or 400 of his friends and followers with the Forces then in Ireland not only reduced the Rebels in the other three Provinces to their former subjection but also brought Vlster under the English Yoak Richard I. was so taken up with his expedition to the Holy Land the perfidy of the French King and his unhappy detention by the Emperor That he concerned not himself with the Affairs of Ireland that I find further then that he Married Isabel the Sole Heiress of Strongbow to William Maxfield Earl-Marshal of England who was also in right of his Wife made Earl of Pembroke and P. of Leinster This Earl left Issue of that Marriage five Sons who succeeded each other to their Fathers Honours and Estate yet Died Issueless and five Daughters whose Fortunes in Ireland and Wales recommended them to the greatest Pears of England As Joyce the Eldest to Earl Warren who had with her the County of Wexford of whom came the Earls of March c. Matilda the second had the County of Catherlow and Married Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk Isabel the third Daughter had the County of Kilkenny and Married the Earl of Gloucester and Hereford Sybilla the fourth had the County of Kildare and Married William Ferrars Earl of Ferrars and Darby Eva the fifth Daughter had the Mannour of Dunmas now called the Queens County and Married the Lord Bruise of Gower whereby the Revenue of those five Counties became transmittable annually into England These Ladies Cambden tells us enriched their Husbands with Children Honour and Possessions King John having received 1000 Marks from Volois Lord Justice of Ireland to discharge him without account for the Revenue he had received of that Kingdom Soon after committed the Government thereof to Walter and Hugh Lacy who abused his Authority not only to the Oppression of the Irish but to the subversion of many of the best English Families also to that degree that our Writers say their Exactions Oppressions and Tyranny Murders might be added was intolerable yet King John instead of easing those Pressures if we believe Grafton and Fabian imposed Taxes on the People of Ireland towards his Wars with France much greater than they were able to bear So that by overstretching he crackt the strings of the Irish Harp whereon for sometime after was only heard the discordant sound of Revolt Rapin and War in every Corner To quell which the 25th of May 1210. The King himself landed near Waterford with an Army their number no where given us The Irish Kings and great Lords immediately appeased him by Submissions Homage and Tributes He granted the English Subjects in Ireland the benefit of Magna Charta and the Laws of England He setled twelve Counties appointed Courts Judges Circuits and Corporations as in England he granted vast Scopes of Land to his great English Lords in Knight Service for small Rents For 2500 Marks he restored Walter Lacy and for 4000 Marks Hugh Lacy and returned into England in August the same year In the year 1213 being threatned with an Invasion from France he received from Ireland 500 men at Arms well appointed and a great
Ireland granted this King 1700 Marks at several times towards the maintenance of his Wars The English in Ireland being wasted with the Supplies they had yielded to England against Scotland Wales and France and the frequent Rebellions there the Parliament there represented the ill Condition thereof in 1442 to Hen. VI. and that by reason thereof the Publick Revenue was 1456 l. per Annum less than the necessary Charge The Cardinal of Winchester the better to engross the King and that he might rule at Pleasure caused Richard Duke of York Earl of Vlster to be sent Lord Lieutenant thither to induce his Acceptance he gained the King to promise the Duke all the certain and casual Revenue of Ireland and 2666 l. 13 s. 4 d. for the first year to be paid out of of England and 2000 l. sterling per Annum for seven years more but this was ill paid However he had several Successes against the Rebels gained the Hearts of the English made good Laws and governed so worthily That out of Gratitude and Inclination to him he was assisted in his Pretentions to the Crown by Kildare and several great Parties out of Ireland as was the King by another Party thence under the Earl of Ormond in the 34th and 38th years A great Party thence was cut off and fell with him at the Battel of Wakefield as many from Ireland did on the other side at Mortimer's Cross these great Losses furnished the Natives with opportunities to enlarge their Borders and streighten the English About Anno 1474. the 14th of Edward IV. The Parliament of Ireland erected the Fraternity of St. George consisting of Thirteen Noblemen who were yearly to chuse of themselves a Captain of the Brotherhood who for his year was to command 120 Archers on Horseback at 6 d. per diem forty Horsemen at 5 d. per diem forty Pages at four Marks per annum to be paid out of a Subsidy of 12 d. per pound laid on all Merchandize Imported or Exported And these were all the standing Forces in pay at this time Six years after Richard Duke of York being Lord Lieutenant the Earl of Kildare his Deputy did undertake to keep that Kingdom in peace with eighty Archers and twenty Spear-men all on Horseback for 600 l. per annum The Infancy of Edward V. gave his unnatural Unkle the opportunity of Murthering him together with his Brother in the Tower whom he succeeded under the Title of Richard III. Anno 1483. but a period was put to his Tyranny Usurpation and Life in 1485. Henry VII held himself under no obligation to do much for Ireland because two walking Spectres thence Lambert and Warbeck disquieted a great part of his Reign yet in 1487. he sent over 500 Men under Sir Richard Edgcomb some write that he carried no Forces with him and about fifty more Anno 1492. The next year after the King by Act of Parliament there resumed all the Crown Lands that had been granted away since the first of Henry VI. In the Ninth year of his Reign he sent over Sir Edward Poyning his Deputy and with him 940 Men. He by his Policy rather than force did more Service to his Prince and good to the English there than any of his Predecessors by gaining that Parliament to Enact That all the Publick Statutes of England made before that time should be in force in Ireland That no Parliament be held there until the Bills be first certified to the King under the great Seal there and those Bills be affirmed by the King and his Council to be expedient for the Land and Power be given under the great Seal of England to call a Parliament and many other beneficial Statutes He gained the King a Tax of 26 s. 8 d. out of every 120 Acres Arable Land in Lieu of Purveyance and a Resumption of all Grants made since the first of Edward III. which in Anno 1409. was followed with a Subsidy of 12 d. per pound on Imported Commodities and a Subsidy from the Clergy and Laity and in Anno 1508 he had 13 s. 4 d. granted him out of every 120 Acres Arable Land In Anno 1515. The Parliament of Ireland granted Henry VIII a Subsidy In Anno 1520. The Earl of Surry was sent Lord Lieutenant with 200 Men some say 900 more but whatever the number was they all returned for England with him the next year The Souldiers pay at this time was 4 d. per diem In 1524. The Earl of Kildare undertook the Government and to defray the whole Charge of the Kingdom with its own Revenue which he and his Deputy held with little interruption for near ten years Anno 1529. Sir William Skeffington carried over 200 Men according to some 500. In 1534. he carried over 750 to suppress the Rebellion of the Fitz-Geralds as did the Lord Grey 200 more the next year who ended it upon which 750 of the Army was disbanded This Rebellion is said to cost the King above 20000 l. The Revenue of the Kingdom by reason of that Rebellion being but 5000 l. per annum To repay which or prevent the like charge in future The King had the first Fruits then the twentieth part of all Ecclesiastical Livings then the first Fruits of all Abbeys Priories and Colledges in that Kingdom given him Kildares Estate of 893 l. per annum and many great Estates of those concerned in that Rebellion were all given to the King as also all Lands belonging to all Abbeys Priories and Colledges there And the Estates of many Absentees Hitherto the Wars in Ireland was mostly between the English and Native Irish on the Score of Civil Interest But from the time of this Kings first Divorce and Kildares Rebellion the degenerate English joined with the Irish and pretended Religion for their subsequent Rebellions which thenceforth became more frequent and more formidable being fomented and abetted sometime by the Emperor sometime by France sometime by Spain mostly by the Pope especially from the time of the Kings assuming the Supremacy Henceforward they have been no longer Loyal than whilst they have been compelled to be so In 1539. Sir William Brereton carried over 250 Men. In 1542 the Parliament gave Henry VIII the Title of King of Ireland all his Predecessors having only had the Title of Lord thereof In Anno 1543. the Irish Revenue besides Customs first-Fruits Tributes and some other particulars amounted but to 8700 l. per annum and the whole charge to but 10500 l. The Chief Governour upon all Warlike Expedition by an antient usage in that Kingdom did Tax each County with a certain Summ of Money to defray the charge thereof So that it is not easie to apprehend that Ireland at this time could be a charge to England The standing Army was but 375 Horse and 150 Foot In 1544. 700 Men were sent from Ireland into France who greatly damnified the French and by pretty Stratagems contributed to the supply of the Army with
Provisions And in obedience to the Kings commands 3000 Men were sent from Ireland against Scotland In 1547. Edward VI. to secure that Kingdom upon the Reformation of Religion sent thither 600 Horse and 400 Foot under Sir Edward Belingham who with the Forces there subdued the Demseys Connors and Moores then in Rebellion whereby Offailie and Leixe were forfeited to the Crown This King being incumbred with Wars with France and Scotland and many Rebellions at Home did as Haywood tells us draw much people from Ireland to serve him in his Wars To replenish which in the fourth year of his Reign he sent thither 400 men and 8000 l. And the next year the English from Ireland Invaded the Isles of Scotland In 1556. Queen Mary committed the Government of that Kingdom to the Earl of Sussex who carried Sir Henry Sidney with him and 25000 l. in Cash by whose assistance he finished what Belingham had so Worthily begun in breaking the power of the Demseys Connors Moores c. whereby Leixe and Offailie were Vested in the Crown and English Plantations settled in those parts now called the King 's and Queen's Counties The Irish Parliament then gave the Queen a Subsidy of 13 s. 4 d. out of every Plough-Land for ten years which was a great addition to the Revenue In 1558. This Earl had 500 men out of England with whom and the Forces of that Kingdom he Invaded the Isles of Scotland took some and sacked several others of them the standing Army there in this Reign when most was less than 1700. and sometimes less than 1100. In 1560. which was two years after Q. Elizabeth's Accession to the Crown there was 500 Foot sent into Ireland to recruit the Army In 1565. The Army in the Queens pay was but 1200 Horse and Foot The Charge of the Civil List about 1500 l. per annum The Revenue of Ireland surmounted 10000 l. per annum besides large Summs frequently gained from the Irish Lords on their Submissions and Tribute imposed on them so that the Queens Charge could be but small considering that all the Freeholders on every occasion of Marching the Army against any Rebels were obliged to send certain numbers of Horse and Foot with Provisions to attend the Chief Governour or Commander in Chief of the Army This Parsimonious Queen to avoid Expence and the sending men for Ireland ordered that every Tenant there that paid her 40 l. per annum Rent should be obliged to find a Horseman and every one that paid 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. per annum a Footman Armed for her Service to be ready on all occasions About this time O Donnel submitted to the Queen and conditioned to pay 200 l. per annum and to attend her Army on all occasions with a number of Horse and Foot as did many others of the Irish who submitted on like conditions of Compositions and Assistance which not only augmented the Revenue and lessened the Charge of the Army but helped much towards paying for their Fetters This O Donnel five years after paid the Queen 1200 l. for Delinquency and Arrears of his Composition In 1565. The Valiant Captain Randolph Landed at Derry with a Troop of Horse and 700 Foot to settle a Plantation he did great Service although at last he lost his Life in the Improvement of a memorable Victory which he obtained against the Rebels In 1569. Captain Ward with 400 Souldiers were sent into Ireland he landed at Cork The Queens great Study was to inlarge and firm her Conquest in Ireland without Charge In order thereunto she attempted to tread in the steps of Henry II. and several of his Successors who gained most of their Interest in that Kingdom at the charge of a few of their Subjects with little charge to the Crown or Kingdom of England In order thereto the Queen in 1572. incouraged Sir Tho. Smith at his own Charge to settle an English Colony in the Ards. She granted every Footman 120 Acres and every Horseman 240 Acres which then was as much as 500 Acres in England paying her one penny per Acre per annum And the year following she Lent the Earl of Essex 10000 l. on a Mortgage and gave him half the Clandeboys on condition that he should Plant 200 Horse and 400 Foot each Horseman was to have 400 Acres and each Footman 200 Acres paying 2 d. per Acre Quit-Rent Where that Noble Lord did perform many brave Exploits and had done much better had he not been countermined by the enmity and opposition of several Great Men both here and there In 1576. An Antient Tax called the Cess of five Marks on each Plow-Land which had been discretionarily levyed by the Chief Governours there from Edward III's time to this under pretence of Prerogative had by this time been Arbitrarily stretched to eight or nine pounds a Plow-Land being now complain'd of as a publick grievance was reduced within its first Bounds Yet notwithstanding this and other Regulations the worthy Sir Henry Sidney who governed there augmented the Queen's Revenue 11000 l. per annum above what he found it Until this time according to the best of our Writers England gained and maintained its footing in Ireland with very inconsiderable Charge to the Publick But henceforward the Charge became much greater mostly occasioned by the Queens great Parsimony who always employed incompetent force for subduing the Rebellions that were raised whereby they were lengthened to trebble the time and charge that would else have served I know not whether it ought to be reckoned as expended for the Conquest of that Kingdom tho' that was the Issue of it because the greatest part of it was occasioned by the King of Spain The Queen to divert that King from attempting England employed and fought him in the Netherlands mostly at the cost of the Dutch and he to divert her from assisting the Dutch or Invading his Dominions fomented Rebellions in Ireland and assisted them with Men and some Money yet fought her mostly at the cost of the Irish In 1579. There was 600 Men sent out of Devonshire into Ireland yet they made up the Army there in the Queens pay but 1100 Horse and Foot But the Rebellion of Desmond and others and the Spaniards that joined them did require the augmentation of the Army To that end three Companies were sent from Berwick and 150 Horse under Capt. Norris And in 1580. Six Companies under Capt. Berkley and 150 Horse under C. Russel which in 1582. were followed with 400 under the Earl of Ormond These with the Militia of that Countrey killed Desmond destroyed his Confederates in that Rebellion expelled the Spaniards and restored such measure of Peace to the Kingdom that the publick Revenue of it for the year 1583. amounted to about 24000 l. and thenceforward it encreased mightily by the firm Settlement of Estates and Enlargement of Trade insomuch that in 1584. the Lord Deputy proposed to the Queen that if she would add but 50000
to support our Charge and Enrich us For whatsoever the Revenue of Ireland amounts to yearly above the Charge of that Kingdom hath been and will be transmitted into England and is so much clear profit to the King and this Kingdom They are yearly liable to us for more than we receive in Commodity thence and therefore much of what their Merchants send to France Spain c. on their own proper Accounts is returned by Exchange or brought in Forreign Coyns into England so that they seem to subsist by Miracle However they were in a thriving condition when King James II. Ascended the Throne Nor is the advantage small to England nor to our Nobility and Gentry that whilst the elder Brothers Gentlemen of Estates here justle and scuffle for Offices and Preferments and think all too little for them That their younger Brothers have Ireland to repair unto in Shoals on every change of Government there which usually happens every three or four years where they meet with Offices Employments and Preferments both of Honour and Profit Ecclesiastical Civil and Military and frequently arrive at considerable Estates or a way of Livelihood whereby they live as plentifully and contentedly though perhaps not so splendidly as their Elder Brothers here Nor is this advantage limited to the Nobility and Gentry only For England breeds more Mechanicks than it can maintain The Surcharge of these that by their stay here would but impoverish the rest find Work and Livelihood in Ireland As do many decayed Families that repair thither yearly for Bread and are received there with great Humanity and Kindness It is Ignorance Envy French Gold or Wicked and Treacherous Designs that put Men upon Quarrelling with the Trade Situation or Improvement of Ireland as prejudicial or inconvenient to England for the fair spacious and safe Harbours on the South and South-West Coast of Ireland furnish our Merchant Ships in their Voyages to Asia Africa and return from America and most part of Europe not only with commodious shelter and refreshments in Storms Tempests and other Extremities at Sea but also retreat refuge and security from Pyrates and Enemies in times of War And Ireland by its Situation lyes conveniently not only for Security and Advice for our Merchant Fleets in time of War but also to intercept and interrupt the Trade of our Enemies And how lightly soever these advantages may be past over by those that possibly for French-gold would cut untwist or weaken our Threefold Cord yet they are obvious enough to all considering unbyassed States-men Merchants and Navigators For let it be considered That the great currant of Trade runs between England and France and that were the Ports of Ireland and France in one hand or both in War with us That either much more both would shut up and damage if not ruine our Trade in that in the latter case it might be done meerly by Privateers without the Expence of a great and chargeable Fleet as our Merchants already find in part to their great cost and loss Thus you see that Ireland is beneficial to England by employing above 300 Sail of Ships constantly together with the Hands and Trades that depend on them That it takes off considerable quantities of our natural Products of our Manufactures and of our Imported Commodities which yields Employment to our People contributes to keep up the Rents of our Lands and Enrich our Merchants That almost all the Commodities we receive thence are not only useful but necessary to us to enable our Manufacturers and employ multitudes of our People That our Forreign Trade is encreased by the Commodities our Merchants Ship off from Ireland which they can have no where else and lyes there conveniently for our Ships to take in in their way to their proper Markets That we receive thence yearly above 240000 l. besides many other advantages That many younger Brothers and supernumerary Artizans and Families that fall to decay and that cannot subsist here are received and entertained with kindness in Ireland where they grow Rich or at least Subsist That the Situation of that Kingdom is so far from being prejudicial to England That it is commodious for the shelter security and enlargement of our Trade That were there no such place we should want Employment for at least 300000 of our People and Sale for a good part of our Products and Manufactures That should Ireland continue in the hands of our Enemies many of our People would be beggared most of our Forreign Trade be greatly indangered and obstructed if not ruined So that without further consideration of this matter I do conclude That as Ireland is the antientest so it is the most noble and profitable Acquisition that ever England made though it is but little more than twenty years since the standing Revenue of that Kingdom did considerably surmount the Charge of it yet our Kings ever since King John's time have drawn large Supplies not only of Men but also of Money from Ireland K. James and K. Charles the First received several Summs of Money thence which with the advantages by Trade and most of the fore-mentioned particulars have rendred Ireland considerable to England for near 500 years past You take notice that our Nobility Clergy and Gentry have imbibed a Notion that the abatement of the Rents of Lands in England for twenty six years past have been occasioned by the Improvements of Ireland in that time And thence you raise your Third Query Whether the Improvement of Ireland was not the cause of the Abatement of Rents of Lands in England Or whence else hath it come that Rents of Lands have fallen one Fifth part since the Year 1662. TO set you right in this matter it 's expedient that I lay before you the true state of that Kingdom and its Trade whereby you will be able to see the folly of our suspicions and the difficulty if not impossibility of receiving prejudice by the Improvement of Ireland at least in this or the next Age unless we enforce it by bearing too hard on them as we did in the business of Cattel and compel them to better Husbandry at home and to more Forreign Trade than they are any way disposed to or prepar'd for And then I will shew you whence it is that our Lands have fallen so much in their Rents Ireland is indeed an Island that for extent of Acres richness of Soyl salubrity of Air numerousness of good Rivers and Havens variety of Fishings native Products and materials fit to be improved into Manufactures Scituation for Trade c. comes behind few Islands in the World Yet it hath hitherto advanced but very little in Trade Riches or Improvement Although it hath for 518 years owned Subjection to England and been in great measure Inhabited by Brittains to that degree That three fourths of the present Papists there are of Brittish Extraction who yet by the influence of that pernicious Religion are as much disposed to Mischief and
Navigation which were also Acts of that Parliament were concurrent causes of the encrease of the Wealth of the Kingdom The first took off those Restraints that were on Trade The second enabled the greater Emprovements of our Land and making our Manufactures cheaper than before And the last encouraged and encreased our Shipping and Sea-men and saved great Sums of Money to the Kingdom which the Hollanders were accustomed annually to carry from England for their Ships let us to freight Yet the chief cause hereof was the Liberty given to People to serve God according to his own Word For this Liberty invited multitudes to return with their Families and Stocks from New-England Germany Holland c. but especially many of our Manufacturers who had been driven away by Arch-Bishop Laud 's Persecution c. tho too many of them by Purchases and Marriages that they had made in those places were detained to the unspeakable damage of the Kingdom However the return of the rest greatly encreased the Home-consumption of Provisions our Manufactures and Trade and employed our Poor which together advanced Lands in Purchase and Rent to that great height they were at about 1660 and 1662. Thus I have faithfully set down the means and steps by which England arrived at that high pitch of Wealth and Strength which rendred her the Terrour and Envy of all Europe And having done that it will be easie to answer the Query to assign the true Causes of its Declension and the abatements of Rents c. since 1662. The most material I conceive to be these that follow viz. The principal Cause thereof was that violent Storm of Persecution raised against the Non-compliers with Ceremonies Liturgies c. pressing the Act of Vniformity whereby ten thousand persons since 1662. perished in Gaols and by hard and cruel usage and very many thousand Families mostly sober useful industrious People have been ruined and exposed to beggary or compelled to seek that Liberty in Forreign Countries which was denied them in their own How the Dissenters have been used the World hath seen but if the doubtful curious or inquisitive desire to be acquainted with some of the particular methods by which so great a number were ruined they may find a Specimen of them given by a good Samaritan in the fourth part of the Conformists Plea for the Nonconformist beginning at page 29. It hath been one of the great infelicities of the Kingdom during the three last Reigns that a sort of Men few of whom have had Title to one foot of Land of Inheritance have assumed to themselves a power to dispose Liberty and Property our Lives and Fortunes at pleasure They have indeed been very liberal of them to those Kings in whom they Vested the whole in hopes they would bountifully reward so good Benefactors either with high Preferments or large Portions out of that great Stock But as ill-gotten Goods seldom continue long with the Possessors neither did these with those to whom they were given for as the great Lord Falkland observed to Charles I. That never did Prince lose more by this Pulpit-Law than he Yet all this exorbitant Power which that sort of Men cloth Princes withal is only that it may be employed for their use and that they themselves may have such shares as may enable them to domineer to fleece and flay all that dissent from them I have as I presume clearly demonstrated That it was our Manufacturers chiefly that raised the Kingdom to its late opulence and greatness and that our Manufacturers were at first attracted hither by Liberties Immunities and Priviledges Things being best increased nourished and preserved by the means by which they are gotten obtained or gained we ought to have continued all those unto that sort of People But that part of the Imposing Men I have been speaking of have been no less pernicious to the Kingdom than to those Kings whom they seemed to Idolize by their flattery For they have by falling on our Manufacturers damnified the Kingdom to a greater degree than I am capable of estimating After-Ages may possibly be better able to do it Yet to give you a little light into this matter consider that one pound of Wooll sold for fourteen pence and one pound of Iron sold at first hand for two pence If they be thus Exported the Kingdom gains little by them But if the former be wrought up as it may be into three pair of fine Womens Hose worth 18 shillings and the latter into fine Scissars Locks c. they may yield three or four shillings according to the Workmanship and that they be Exported the Kingdom gains fifteen times the first value in the first and twenty four times the value in the latter besides the much greater Duty to the King Employment of our People our Ships and Sea-men c. By what hath been said you may see the usefulness of this sort of People to the Kingdom Now if by a modest computation we reckon that only 40000 of the fore-mentioned number that were driven out of this Kingdom were Manufacturers it requires greater skill in Manufactures and knowledge in Arithmetick than I am Master of accurately to assign the vast damage the Kingdom hath annually sustained thereby However the Effects are visible in the Abatements of Trade and Rents The losing of our Trade to other Countries who have thereby gained upon us in those Manufactures whereon we mostly value our selves and which were in a manner until these Persecutions began peculiar unto us And all this only to support and please a Party and keep up the use of two or three unnecessary Ceremonies The lesser concurrent Causes of the Abatement of Rents since 1662. were the two Dutch Wars which were fomented by the Papists Abetted and carried on by the Tantivy Party and the Destruction made by the Burning of London which Ruined many Merchants Tradesmen and Manufacturers Yet had not the same Party by Stifling the Discovery thereof discouraged and by Persecution driven great numbers of them out of the Kingdom we had easily by our Manufactures and Trade retrieved those disadvantages For the Woollen Manufactures being then in a manner peculiar to Us Forreign Countries must have been Supply'd from hence had not our Merchants Tradesmen and Manufacturers been deny'd the Liberty and incouragements at home which they were Courted to and did receive abroad Hereby we laid the Foundation of the decay of Trade and Abatement of Rents by making other Countries sharers with us in our most profitable Trades Thus I have set down as the means whereby Rents were advanced to what they were about 1662. So likewise the unhappy Causes of their Abatement since which concludes my Answer to the third Query The Fourth Query is Whether the State of Trade through Europe considered as it stood before the present War it be the true Interest of England that Rents should generally advance above what they were about 1662. and by what Methods may they
of Indulgence suspended the Execution of those severe and unkind Laws with which Dissenters have been so long plagued and which have been so prejudicial to the Kingdom Yet they are not repealed but seem to be kept like Rods in pickle and the Instruments of our past Miseries and which procured them are many of them still in being longing endeavouring and daily threatning the Repeal of that Act of Indulgence and Suspension In such a State of things no man of sence that is tolerably setled abroad will be induced by a Liberty that 's so precarious to return home especially when he observes that if he do return and that he hath not stretched his Conscience larger than it was at his going abroad he must be content to be a Slave in one of the freest Kingdoms in the World incapacitated to serve God or his Country in any Office Civil or Military and like Issachars Ass be used only to bear a greater share of the publick burthen and charge and do a greater part of the publick drudgery than his Neighbours but must not be employed in any place either of Honour or Profit but be like the Silk-worm permitted to spin out his Bowels for others It is a scandal to our Nation and Religion and a thing abhorred by very many sober Christians That the receiving the Sacrament the most solemn Ordinance of our Religion in a mode never instituted by Christ nor practised by his Apostles should be made a qualification to the bearing of Office or Arms selling Ale or keeping a Victualing-house The great end of his Majesties glorious undertaking being to restore Liberty to every of the oppressed Protestants in these Kingdoms he seems in Interest as well as Inclination concerned to take off all these Incapacities from the Dissenters and legally to put them into as good or a better Condition than they were in under King James who arbitrarily compelled them to take Offices c. upon them seeing the most criminal and culpable part of the Kingdom have been pardoned indempnified and at least rendred capable of bearing Office c. There can no good reason be given why so great a part of the Nation that contribute so much to its Prosperity and Welfare and bear so great a part of the publick charge should stand exempted from the Priviledge of Subjects unless their greater Enmity to France their firm adherence to his Majesties Interest to that of the Kingdom and Protestant Religion bs made one and that our Divisions in favour of France ought to be perpetuated be made another Until those Clouds which intercept the benign Rays of Government from shining indifferently upon all Protestant Subjects are removed the King seems to be only King of a Part and not of the whole of his Subjects As it is the Interest of all the Princes of Europe to joyn against France so it is no less the Interest of all the Protestants of every Perswasion in this Kingdom to unite for their common defence against that Enemy of Mankind the French King For if he hath for so long a time withstood or kept the united force of almost all Europe at a Bay what are we to apprehend if any occurrent should dissolve the Confederacy and that he should have opportunity to attack us singly in the divided distracted Condition in which we are especially considering how great a Party he hath already amongst us But his Majesties Interest and Honour falling in so aptly with that of Europe the Safety and Prosperity of the Kingdom and the Advantage of our Landed men it will undoubtedly put him and them upon removing these Stones of stumbling and Rocks of Offence in a Parliamentary way and that the rather because had not this sort of People in the two last Reigns to the Irritation of the Court against them and the Ruin of many of them joyned with the sober part of the Church of England in electing such Members for Parliament as boldly asserted our Religion Liberties and Properties we had in all probability long before this been made Slaves to Popery and Arbitrary Government And had they not fallen in to do the like in this last Revolution in Electing Members for the late Convention or Parliament the Crown and Kingdom had in all likelihood been unsettled until this day Thus you see the sure way to advance the Rents of our Lands depends on the taking off all Restraints and giving due liberty to Manufacturers and alluring them Home in incouraging and improving those advantages which are in a manner peculiar to us in discourageing and clogging those Trades which draw away our Treasure In keeping a good Correspondence with those Kingdoms and Countreys whence we derive Materials for our Manufactures and those which take off our Natural Products Manufactures and Artificial Commodities All which are things worthy the consideration of the Great and Sage Council of the Kingdom the Parliament The Fifth Query How may the present Rebellion in Ireland and the Reduction thereof be improved to the future Security and Encrease of the Advantages which we receive by Ireland and of Their Majesties Revenue future Charge thereby to England be avoided and that Kingdom rendred useful towards bringing down the Power of France IT hath already been demonstrated That besides the Supplies of Men and Money which Ireland Antiently yielded us towards the Conquest of France Scotland and Wales That we did Annually before the present Rebellion utter considerable quantities of our Natural Products and Manufactures for which we had no other Markets into that Kingdom That we were furnished thence with several necessary Materials for our Manufactures and Commodities for Forreign Trade which we could not have elsewhere That some of their Ports are of great consideration to us the want of which our Merchants to their great loss have in this War experienced That besides the profit which we make by Ireland in the ordinary course of Trade we do receive thence yearly above 200000 l. All which Advantages had been much more had we not by prohibiting their Cattel and debarring their Trade to the Plantations interrupted the course of Commerce between the two Kingdoms compelled them to more Forreign Trade than they were otherways disposed to seek However you see that what remains is well worth the securing and improving and if we be not under Infatuation and still fond of our Errors the present Conjuncture of Affairs furnisheth us as with the opportunity to rectifie them so also to secure and improve them in order to which it will be necessary First That the Lives Liberties and Estates of the Protestants in that Kingdom be well secured Whilst these remain at uncertainties both publick and private Affairs will drive on but heavily It hath been the hard fate of the Protestants of Ireland as hath been said that the Papists have had such favour in and influence on our Council in England on the conclusion of every Rebellion that they have been left in a condition if
not wholly to extirpate yet at pleasure to annoy and ruin the Estates of the Protestants I wish Their Majesties Councils may be more happy It is indeed high time to grow wise dear bought Experience instructeth the weak much more the Wise Two very chargeable Rebellions having hapned within the memory of many yet living will if any thing instruct us what measures ought to be taken for preventing Rebellions for the future for it is not reasonable that every thirty or forty years England should be at the Charge of Reducing Ireland nor that the Protestants there should be exposed to the Mercy or Barbarity of those who think they Merit Heaven by cutting their Throats I am as much against Cruelty and Severity as any Man but to what end doth God give us Victory over his and our Enemies if we have not common wisdom to improve it for security from future danger by them As the safety of the People is the highest Law so is it a great Encouragement to Industry For who will lay out his care and pains for obtaining that which he hath no prospect of enjoying Until the Lives and Estates of the Protestants of Ireland be put into some good way of future security we can rationally expect neither advantage by them nor assistance from them The People of Ireland have been accurately computed to be about twelve hundred thousand Souls of which the Papists are one Million and the Protestants but two hundred thousand Women and Children included so that there being five Papists to one Protestant in that Kingdom the Protestants must therefore have many advantages put into their hands and the Papists be laid under several incapacities or else the Protestants can never be secured as 130 years sad experience hath verified And it must be considered that now the Irish are fallen in with the French Interest and lye under the influence of so Potent and Restless a Monarch they will for this Age be more dangerous and apt to Rebel than ever Therefore we ought to have as the more jealous Eye so also the stricter hand over them For which end their Landed Men having by their present Rebellion forfeited their Estates The whole forfeiture ought to be taken as well for reimbursing part of the Charges of their Reduction as the better to incapacitate them for new Rebellions This though it lessen not their number in general yet it will in great measure the Interest and Influence of this Party on the People They are seized of above 2800000 Acres of profitable Land whereof if 200000 Acres belong to Minors and Innocents there will remain 300000 Acres which may be lest to His Majesty to gratifie such Officers as have Merited in that Service 200000 Acres may be applyed to the Reprisal of the poor Protestant Farmers who have been plundered and ruined by both sides And 2100000 Acres to be sold to Adventurers at an encouraging price at six or seven years purchase near two Millions may be raised to reimburse the charge of the Reduction of that Kingdom to the ease of England and expediting of Their Majesties Affairs Some pretended Well-wishers to Their Majesties Interests but real Engines for K. J. and the French K. are at this time endeavouring to hinder the Attainder of the Rebels and the Selling of their Estates under pretence that the value of them is inconsiderable the Right of Innocents Minors Protestant Mortgagees and Creditors being preserved whereas in truth it is otherways For 1. As to Innocents that is such as have all the time of this Rebellion been in England they are very few upon inquiry I do not hear of three and those of no considerable Estates neither as for those who have continued in France that being an Enemies Countrey it seems but reasonable that they should be accounted Rebels and Agents for the rest 2. As to Minors they are few also I mean those under Age whose Parents were dead before the commencement of the present Rebellion As for the Children of those in Rebellion their Parents have ruined many thousands of Protestant Minors and Children in their Fortunes and if any Consideration ought to be had of them it seems Equitable that rather the Children of Rebels than of Loyal Subjects should be made the Sufferers 3. As to Mortgages and Incumbrances on the Papists Estates where they are between Papist and Papist it seems but Just that the Forfeiture should be taken for the Rebellion is general As for those between the Papists and Protestants they are not the sixtieth part of what is pretended though possibly many Mortgages and Incumbrances are now in forging c. but a course may easily be taken for their detection if it be not already thought on but allowing all that can reasonably be taken off upon the foregoing pretences there may demonstrably 1500000 l. be raised by those Forfeitures if they be rightly managed and their Majesties Revenue be augmented by the Quit-rent that may be reserved on those Forfeitures The Irish Lawyers for whom the People have great veneration have in all times by mischievous Constructions of the Laws disposed the Irish to Rebellions whilst they remain amongst them they will hinder the Settlement of that Kingdom therefore they ought also to be expelled It is likewise necessary that the Souldiers that have taken Arms for King James should also be transported to the Plantations or to Hungary or be Banished For they have lived so long by Rapine and Plunder that they can never be reduced to live regularly if they be permitted to continue in that Kingdom they will always disturb the tranquillity thereof If His Majesty would keep that Kingdom from Rebellion it is necessary that their Priests Fryars and Clergy of every sort be banished from amongst them They have been the chief Incendiaries to Rebellion in all Ages The Author of the Politicks of France suggests to that King the facility of distracting England at pleasure by setting the Popish Clergy upon fomenting Rebellions in Ireland And we must remember that that Prince seldom neglects any means so obviously serviceable to him And whatsoever may be suggested to His Majesty concerning the Innocency of the Secular Clergy yet it must be allowed that they are only less mischievous than the Regular because of less skill to do evil For according to their ability they have always disquieted that Kingdom They have the Conduct of the Consciences of that poor blind bigotted People and are under Oath blindly to obey not only the Pope but their Diocesans Had they no disposition to move Rebellions of themselves yet if they be commanded thereto as undoubtedly they will be they must and will readily obey For the Irish as all other ignorant People are Priest-ridden and their Priests make them believe that they shall be damned if they do not lay hold on every occasion to destroy the Hereticks and that they shall certainly merit Heaven if they do In Queen Elizabeth's time those that had not the
opportunity to Rebel did purchase Pardons at dear Rates from Rome for their not having actually Rebelled And we have had a pregnant Instance of the Empire these Priests have over the People in the present Rebellion for notwithstanding Their Majesties have by three gracious Declarations invited that People to submit yet I hear not of one Gentleman that hath hitherto submitted and the People generally have chosen rather to quit their Habitations and wander thorow the Kingdom than to sit down quietly under Their Majesties gentle Government with the enjoyment of all their Possessions The Toleration of the Popish Clergy and their pernicious Religion as it would be sinful in Their Majesties so it would be destructive to that Kingdom whatever the favourers of the French or King James's Interest may suggest to the contrary For the Toleration or conniving at Idolatry is a Land-destroying sin Ireland hath found it to be so Our Church in her Articles and Homilies hath declared the Mass to be the grossest Idolatry And God who in Scripture appears so tender of the life of man that he appointed even casual Homicide to be punished with confinement or banishment until the death of the High Priest hath nevertheless positively commanded that Idolaters and even the secret Enticers to it should be put to death without mercy and the places defiled thereby to be destroyed And where Princes do not duly execute his Laws in this case he usually executes Vengeance on them and their Posterity Most of the Kings of Israel and their Posterity were rooted out for this sin and the Ten Tribes for it have remained in Captivity and Obscurity for 2400 years And this sin was one of the chief causes of the Captivity of Judah and the connivance at or toleration of it hath twice in this Age proved destructive to poor Ireland and pernicious to those Kings that granted it When King James the first granted a Toleration of Popery in Ireland famous Bishop Vsher did publickly before the State foretel that for that sin God would within forty years raise up those Papists to cut the Throats of the Protestants there and God fulfilled that Prediction in 1641. and that King never prospered in any design or undertaking after that Toleration And when his Son Charles I. would not be warned but in 1629. renewed that Toleration ten or twelve of the Bishops and Arch-Bishops of that time had the honesty and courage publickly in the Pulpit to protest against the sinfulness of it and also under their hands to declare That the Religion of the Papists is Superstitious and Idolatrous their Faith and Doctrine erroneous and heretical their Church in respect of both Apostatical To give them therefore a Toleration of Religion and to profess their Faith and Doctrine is a grievous sin and is to make our selves accessary not only to their Superstitious Idolatries Heresies and in a word all the Abominations of Popery but also which is a consequent of the former to the perdition of the seduced People which perish in the Deluge of the Catholick Apostacy c. And as it is a great sin so it is a matter of great consequence c. How fatal it proved to him and also to Charles II. and the late King James the World hath seen Nor will it be less so to any of their Successors who shall connive at or tolerate the same For the same sins and degrees of it brings like Judgments in every Age. Not only the Law of God but those of the Land also are against indulging this Religion and Interest of State the safety of the Protestants in Ireland and the quiet of England requires That all the Roman Clergy their Landed men concerned in this Rebellion and that of 1641. together with their Lawyers should be banished and not to return on pain of Death We may wish for Advantage by that Kingdom but we cannot rationally expect it whilst these three Parties or any of them are permitted to remain there for they will be fit Tools in the hands of the French King to foment Rebellions to which their joynt and several Interests the hope of regaining their Estates the Church-Livings and their Practice will prompt and dispose them and nothing less than their Banishment or Extirpation will devest France of the means of distracting us at pleasure now that they are joyned with that Enemy of Mankind As for the rest of the Papists who shall be permitted to abide in that Kingdom it is but reasonable that they be excluded from living in the Cities Walled Towns and Corporations which are the strengths of the Kingdom I am well aware that this latter tho' as considerable as any other means for the security of that Kingdom will meet with much opposition from many of the Protestants of Ireland themselves who like too many in England prefer their particular the Advancement of their Rents in those Towns and Cities to the Publick Safety to which their Private Interest ought ever to give way The Papists are already excluded from Purchasing any of the Houses in any Corporation which were forfeited by the Rebellion in 1641. But this without the other is not sufficient and indeed there is no other way to deal with them If His Majesty imagines that the Possession of their Estates Liberty for their Religion a share in the Civil-Justice will oblige and restrain them from Violence and Rebellion he will I fear in the issue find it otherways for in 1641. they had their titular Arch-Bishops and Bishops their Fryaries and Nunneries their Secular and Regular Clergy they were Justices of the Peace Sheriffs of Counties Members of Parliament Mayors and Bayliffs of Corporations c. They were seized of three fourths of all the Lands there All the Laws against them were suspended as to their Execution they had all their Grievances redressed even to the release of the forfeiture of whole Counties In a few months after which they broke out into that horrid and barbarous Rebellion wherein they Massacred 150000 Protestants in cold Blood without any provocation besides as many more that perished by Famine and Sword in the prosecution of that Rebellion which is demonstration to all the World that these People are not to be retain'd in obedience by Immunities Priviledges and Kindnesses nor restrained from Rebellion and Massacres whilst their Clergy c. are permitted to abide amongst them If against what hath been proposed the favourers of the French and Popish Interest do object That such Severity toward the Irish will disoblige the Catholick Princes of the Confederacy I answer That the chief end of the Confederacy is to retrench the Power of the French King and his Adherents as Enemies to all the rest of Europe That the Papists in these Kingdoms having above all others contributed to that Kings present Greatness all the Irish and many of the English and Scotch Papists being actually in Rebellion and in Conjunction with his Forces Their dependence being on him and
expectations from him it is as much the Interest of the Confederates that they be rooted out or banished as was the taking of Mentz or Bonne That those Princes are very sensible that these are they which have diverted His Majesties Arms from their Assistance the two last Campaigns and that they will do so for the future if their Power be not broken That there cannot therefore be the least danger of disobliging them by the Banishment or Extirpation of the afore-mentioned Parties especially being it is of service to them upon Reasons of State and is done for the quiet and security of His Majesties Protestant Subjects c. and because they are Rebels Incendiaries and of Party with France and not because they are Papists In a word Lenity to the Irish who have been in Arms is down-right Cruelty to the Protestants of Ireland and their Posterity 2. As Restraints on the Papists are necessary to the quiet of Ireland and the other ends proposed so is Freedom and Immunities in Corporations to all Protestants that shall go to inhabit there with Liberty of Conscience to Protestants of all Perswasions that are there or that shall go thither to abide There being five Papists for every Protestant in that Kingdom it is the Interest of the latter in point of Security to add to their number as much as may be If to the Cheapness of Land there be added Civil and Religious Liberties they will together probably allure Forreign Protestants to transplant thither The Protestants until about 1670. kept the Papists out of Corporations by tendering them the Oath of Supremacy when they claimed admittance but there being a Clause in the Act of Settlement or Explanation which impowered the Chief Governour and Council in Ireland to make Laws or Rules for Regulation of Corporations and that the Rules so made should be of the same force as if they had been enacted by Parliament c. under colour thereof some well-wishers to Popery and Arbitrary Government framed certain Rules and Orders which Charles II. caused the Lord Lieutenant and Council to pass into an Act of Council and to enjoyn them on all the Corporations of that Kingdom c. one of which Rules requires all Officers of Corporations to take the short Corporation Oath lately used in England which seemed to have been calculated for setting up Arbitrary Government for Imposing of which in Ireland there was not until then any colour of Law thereby all Protestants who were not willing to for-swear that Self-defence which the Law of Nature and those of the Land allows them were turned out of Office nor was that all but by another Clause in those Rules the Chief Governour is impowered from time to time to dispense with such as were not willing to take the Oath of Supremacy Hereupon whole shouls of Papists were admitted into the Corporations and Fraternities of that Kingdom and qualified for Offices and Chusing Members of Parliament It will therefore be needful that the Corporations of that Kingdom be restored to the condition they were in in 1668. and that those Rules be vacuated or declared to be void as those who think that the Legislative Power cannot be transferred conceive them to be I am told that to hinder many Protestants from returning for discouraging Forreigners and others from going to inhabit the better to divide those already in Ireland and to prevent the Improvement of it there are some of K. J. his Creatures who might be named and who pretend to be of another figure and to be well known in the Affairs of that Kingdom that are now using their utmost endeavours to have the Sacramental Test imposed on the People of that Kingdom under pretence that it will keep the Papists out of Office c. though that be no part of their design but to incumber His Majesties Affairs hinder the Sale of the Rebels Estates or render them of little value To alienate if possible the Hearts of that people from Their Majesties by causing His Majesty contrary to the import of his Declaration to put them into a worse condition than they were in under a Popish King These Men well know that the Security and Improvement of that Kingdom and of Their Majesties Revenue there depends on its being peopled with Protestants and that full Liberty and Incouragements to Protestants of all Perswasions is the most effectual means to those Ends And that the planting thereof being hindred the Papists will be kept in a capacity at pleasure to favour K. J. and the pretended P. of Wales 's Title to countenance a French Invasion c. They know if it be not planted with Protestants the Revenue will never defray the necessary charge of that Kingdom but that it will be a continual and insupportable charge and drain to England and require greater Forces to be kept up there and thereby obstruct at least in great measure the prosecution of the War against France which is their chief aim The promoters of these designs are well aware that the imposition of that Test would send many Protestants out of that Kingdom and that where it would bar one Papist from Office it would hinder a hundred Protestants from going thither They know the injoining of the Oath of Supremacy or an express Order or Law for their Exclusion would more effectually bar Papists than the Sacramental Test for that many Papists have been dispensed with by their Priests for Receiving the Sacrament in the manner required and therefore it would never answer the end for which they pretend it though it would the others for which they intend it But that imposition which hath proved so inconvenient to England will if laid on Ireland be pernicious to the Protestants there be a Bone of Division amongst them and seem but an ill requital for their Sufferings and firm adherence to the true Interest of England There was about 1664. one or two French Ministers who having some Benefices conferred on them and Stipends allowed by the Government translated the Common-prayer Book into French and procured a Chappel for the use of such French as would join with them in that Service About sixteen or eighteen years after many of the persecuted French Protestants with some of their Ministers fled to Dublin and set up the beginnings of several useful Manufactures and being averse to join in that Service a certain Charitable Peer lent them his House to Worship in where they served God according to the manner of the French Churches Whereupon their Minister was Seized and Imprisoned c. until for obtaining his Liberty he consented to quit or abjure that Kingdom Surely the usage was as Unchristian as Impolitick towards those poor distressed Refugees who had fled thither in expectation of that liberty which was publickly allowed the Papists and which was deny'd them in their own Countrey And it was Impolitick for thereupon they abandoned the place and that Kingdom lost those profitable Trades which those Men
would have set up there Not that this Severity proceeded from the temper of the Protestants of Ireland who are certainly the kindest People on Earth to Strangers that either Travel or abide amongst them but from the Bigottry of a few who too much favoured or advanced the Popish Interest And however I doubt not but that the usage those Favourers of Popery received from K. James hath opened their Eyes and possibly rectified the Judgments of such of them as are living yet I believe this Sin this Severity to the distressed French did help forward the dispersion and calamities which have since happen'd to the Protestants of Ireland for sins of this kind being committed by Authority the Guilt becomes National There are not those Laws in that Kingdom against Dissenters that are in England nor any that I have heard of for imposing the Sacramental Test and if it be the Interest of England to have those Laws and that Test taken off 't is certainly no less the Interest of Ireland to incourage all sorts of Protestants Like Liberty with what 's here proposed was one means which hath so abundantly peopled and enriched Holland And as there are not those Laws against Dissenters there as here neither are there those Animosities among Protestants of different Perswasions as there are in England nor those Prejudices against their Majesties Government So that a perfect Vnion among Protestants there is much more feasible than here And if all parties of Protestants be indifferently admitted to places of Honour Profit and Trust they will then joyntly and chearfully promote the welfare of the Publick to the great increase of their Majesties Revenue of the Church Livings and of the Advantages which England receives by that Kingdom Thirdly The Militia of that Kingdom ought to be setled in the hands of men of Courage Conduct and Integrity such as will not connive at underhand countenance or abett the Enemy give Intelligence or secretly share in Robberies and Plunderings with them c. So that the Arms of the Kingdom may neither be diverted from their Defence nor turned against them It is indeed the folly of English men that they are too little distrustful too unapprehensive of dangers and too remiss in providing against them Care should be taken that all that are able should buy Arms and that those that are not able may be provided with good Arms and be duely exercised That Kingdom is well furnished with brisk active men whose native Courage and Knowledge of the Country qualifies them for Service of which they have given good proof at Derry Inniskillen Limerick c. as also of their forwardness and zeal for their Majesties Service even beyond what England did if I may be permitted to say so The Protestants in England were more than 200 to one of the Papists yet when his present Majesty had landed with a powerful Army to rescue us from Popery and Slavery the Nobility and Gentry c. stood at gaze and it was some time before any of them appeared to own his Cause until the Lord Delamere first and then the Earl of Devon slighting all dangers appeared for the defence of the Religion and Liberties of their Country Whereas in Ireland although the Papists were five to one of the Protestants and had all the Garrisons Magazins Army and Revenue of the Kingdom in their hands yet the Protestants there first in the North then in Connaught and afterwards in Munster did expose themselves to the utmost Perils took up Arms and declared for their Majesties when no Succours appeared for them nor were indeed provided And had they then been timeously owned and supported or afterward employed according to their Merits for the Reduction of that Kingdom they had shortned that work and saved England two or three Milions of what hath and will be expended therein which was too well known to some Persons But those who wish well to King James's Interest and they whose uselesness would appear were the Kingdoms once setled were and are for doing every thing at the utmost charge that by great and continued Taxes they might if possible alienate the Hearts of the People from their Majesties and perplex their Affairs c. And to that end no doubt misrepresented both the Affairs and People of Ireland who notwithstanding all the Contempts and Reproaches cast on them and the Temptations not to say Provocations to the Contrary have almost to a man firmly adhered to their Majesties Interest For among 200000 of them upon a strict enquiry I do not hear of sixty Protestants that have taken up Arms for King James or abetted his Interest notwithstanding his Presence among them Power over them and their great Necessities which possibly if truth were known might be the true cause of their being slighted by some sort of men c. If the present Wars in Europe continue and that Ireland be once wholly subdued the putting of the Militia of that Kingdom into a good posture will save much Money to England by giving his Majesty the better opportunity to employ a greater proportion of his Army against France which otherwise must be kept in Ireland to keep the Irish in Subjection Fourthly Notwithstanding the Militia should be setled as hath been proposed yet considering the odds the Papists have of the Protestants their present Inclinations to France the Ferment that is on their Spirits c. it will be absolutely necessary for the retaining them in obedience to keep up a competent standing Army in that Kingdom Yet when the Militia shall be well setled and Armed the Popish Clergy Lawyers and forfeiting Persons banished and the rest excluded from inhabiting in any of the Cities walled Towns or Garrisons the less force will be requisite For in that case the Forces which were kept up about 1680. in times of Peace will be sufficient to secure the quiet of that Kingdom which consisted only of 1363. Horse Officers included viz. 24 Troops each consisting of a Captain at 19 l. 12 s. each Calendar Month. A Lieutenant 12 l. 12 s. A Cornet 9 l. 16 s. A Quarter Master 7 l. Three Corporals and one Trumpet 3 l. 10 s. each and 45 private Horsemen at 2 l. 2 s. each making in all per Mensem for each Troop 157 l. 10 s. per Annum 1890 l. which amounts for the whole Pay of the said 24 Troops unto 3780 l. per Mensem which is per Annum 45360 l. Allowed to the Lord Lieutenant's own Troop five Horse-men and three Trumpets more than to other Troops making per Annum 252 l. An additional pay of 3 d. per diem to each private Horse-man of the four Troops doing Duty at Dublin 756 l. A Company of Foot-Guards Armed and Clad as the Yeomen of the Guards consisting of a Captain at 15 l. each Calendar Month A Lieutenant 9 l. An Ensign 7 l. and 60 Yeomen at l. 1 s. each making per Mensem 94 l. and per Annum 1128
King would have been so much more As suppose for the Year 1685. The Revenue had surmounted the charge by 40000 l. more or less and that in 1686. it had amounted to 150000 l. more than it did the preceding Year In that Case there had been 190000 l. transmitted thence to England for that Year c. In this respect you see it is the Interest both of the King and this Kingdom to put Ireland into a condition of continual improvement Our Trade with France being the greatest out-let of our Money and France being the only Kingdom of the World capable of Annoying us We ought long since to have stopt that yearly Drain But it hath been our infelicity that during the two last Reigns our Councils being Influenced by France we ran Counter to our Interest in Trade as well as Politicks For instead of regulating our Forreign Trade in preserving and gaining more Markets for our Natural Products and Manufactures the hindring and abating the Importation of unnecessary Commodities and encouraging our Manufacturers which are the industrious Bees of the Nation we have been put upon driving the latter from us and restraining the Intercourse and Commerce between us and Ireland and the Plantations and Ireland to the advantage of a few but great detriment to the Publick not to say oppression of our own People abroad while we have given France the opportunity of drawing away our Money and to run away with a considerable part of our Trade and have thereby paid his Pensioners amongst us at our own cost But his Present Majesty being come to deliver us from such Malevolent Councellors it is to be hoped he will not by imploying the Instruments of our past Calamities furnish them with fresh opportunities to Betray the Kingdom or Ruin himself It is the endeavour of almost all the Princes of Europe to Retrench the Power of the French King and 't is no less the concern of England And if I mistake not the present conjuncture of Affairs doth furnish us with some special advantages above the rest to that end It is certain that in times of open Trade France did yearly Gain one or two Millions Sterling by Trade with England which was so much clear loss to this Kingdom Neither was that all but we did thereby yearly strengthen and inrich our mortal Enemies To give some evidence to this I find by a Ballance of one Years Trade between England and France said to be drawn out of our Custom-House Books for the House of Commons about October 1675. That by the certain Ballance thereof we Imported from France 969105 l. 2 s. 8 d. Sterling more in Commodities than we Exported thither but by the supposed or probable Ballance 2105255 l. 6 s. 8 d. I find likewise that about 1676 or 77. That King having some thoughts to Prohibit all our English Manufactures from being carried into France the Ballance of Trade between both Kingdoms being laid before him it did thereby appear that the yearly Exportations of France to England was 2640000 l. Sterling and that the Importations from England to France did not exceed one Million So that by their own shewing France Gained 1640 Thousand Pounds Sterling by England which being the over-Ballance of Trade went out in Cash Amongst the particulars in this last Ballance of Trade said to be Imported into England the Tissues Velvets Sattins Armozines Tabbies Ribons wrought Silks Stuffs Laces Serges Hatts Fans Cabinets Pins Combs c. which we bring yearly from France are valued to amount to 1140000 l. Sterling All which may be Supplied by the Labour of our own People and the French Protestants that are and would come amongst us were due Liberty and Encouragement given and care taken to put things into the right way c. For the doing things of this Nature I am perswaded it would be of singular use if His Majesty would by Order of the Council c. constitute a standing Council of Trade consisting of a great number of the most knowing experienced Merchants of London who or a Quorum of them might meet weekly in some one of their Halls having a Secretary Door-keeper and Messenger allowed them where they might consult how to remove all obstructions of Trade how to regulate it what Manufactures may be set up to the best advantage of the Kingdom and how others may be improved c. Which as they shall have matured may be represented to His Majesty and Council or to both Houses of Parliament as occasion shall require Now as the Idle hands of the Kingdom together with the French Refugees may profitably and agreeably be imployed in the forementioned Fabricks of Silk and other Manufactures which we were wont to bring from France so may the People of Ireland even the very Natives be aptly employed in the Linnen Manufacture for which that Kingdom is in several respects much more proper than England 1. For that Land is Cheaper in Ireland and where good Seed is had the Country yields excellent Flax. 2. The Female Natives who are averse to any Robust Labour are much inclined to the Spinning of Flax which they can do with their Rocks or Distaves as they sit at their Doors or under a Hedge tending their Cattle 3. They are a People that live on a courser and cheaper Dyet nearer the manner of France than the English do or can and therefore can afford their Work cheaper which is a particular of great weight in an Affair of this Nature For except the Commodity be made at least as cheap as we have it from France it will be brought thence in spight of all Prohibitions 4. This is a Labour to which they have been greatly accustomed for before the Commencement of the Present Rebellion there was a considerable quantity of Course Linnen Diapers and Damasks made in Ireland much stronger than those which we usually have had from France 5. There is an Act of the last Irish Parliament still in Force for the raising of Money to set up a Bleaching Yard in each Province of the Kingdom for the Encouragement of the Linnen Manufacture If we consider the concurrence of these things viz. the cheapness of Land and Labour the aptness of the Soil Inclination of the People c. There seems no place so proper for this Manufacture as Ireland Many thinking men of good Sence have been jealous that Ireland by reason of the plenty and cheapness of Wool would in time fall into the improvement of it into Manufactures to the prejudice of England And though their fears at least as to this present Age are groundless yet 't is Wisdom to provide against even remote possibilities of detriment c. This may be done effectually in this Case by setting up and encouraging the Linnen Manufacture and such others in Ireland as may fully and profitably imploy that People and yet not interfere with the Manufactures of England Now if this can be done in a way which will lessen the
French Kings Revenue and keep a considerable part of our Money from being carried into France it ought to be the more acceptable to us In the forementioned Ballance of our Trade with France drawn up by the French they do compute That Linnens Canvas Diapers c. which we yearly import from France do amount to 400000 l. But by the Ballance drawn out of our Custom-house-books in 1675. we find the imported Linnen from France in one year did amount to 528248 l. 16 s. whereof the Particulars are as followeth viz. Â l. s. d. 60000 pieces of Lockrams and Dowlas at 6 l. per piece 360000 00 0 17000 hundred Ells of Vitry Noyals Canvas at 6 l. per C. 102000 00 0 8000 hundred Ells of Normandy Canvas at 7 l. per Cent. 56000 00 0 2500 pieces of Quintin at 10 l. per piece 1250 00 0 1500 pieces of dyed Linnen at 20 s. per piece 1500 00 0 7600 yards of Diaper Tabling at 2 s. per yard 764 00 0 33896 yards of Diaper Napkening at 12 d. per yard 1694 16 0 1376 pieces of Buckrams at 50 s. per piece 3440 00 0 2800 pair of old Sheets at 5 s. per pair 700 00 0 1200 bolts of Boldavis at 15 s. 900 00 0 Â 528248 16 0 Now were these Linnens raised in Ireland as they easily may be although the whole value of them should be transmitted thither in Cash instead of sending it to France it would yet be of greater advantage to his Majesty and to England First to his Majesty By augmenting his Revenue not only by the Duty on Exportation of them out of Ireland which in that case might be the same which the French King lately received out of them in France but also in the encrease of the Inland Excise in Ireland by enabling a greater Consumptioh of Liquors Tobacco c. the Irish being a People that spend freely when they have wherewithal Secondly To England In begetting a greater intercourse of Trade between the two Kingdoms The Irish are naturally prodigal and love Gaities and were they enabled they would soon be induced to take off more of our Manufactures and natural Products so that there would be no need of parting with our Money in Specie to Ireland as now we do to France And whatever advance it would occasion of the Revenue above the charge of that Kingdom it would be transmitted hither to lessen the Taxes in England and yearly add to the Capital Stock of the Kingdom Thirdly It would be advantagious both to the King and Kingdom in lessening the Revenue of the French King and impoverishing his Subjects As the Manufactures of England have enriched it and yielded a great Revenue to the Crown to enable the keeping a powerful Navy at Sea so the vast quantities of Manufactures which is yearly exported out of France into many parts of the World and especially to England do as well by the Duty paid out of them enable that King to keep up several formidable Armies c. as imploy and inrich his Subjects and enable them to pay other Taxes Now so far as we divest France of its Manufactures and lessen the Exportations so far do we abate its Power and disable the keeping up of such powerful Armies c. The Events and difficulties of War are great and uncertain but this is a sure way to weaken any Prince and to bring any Country into a languishing Condition If to what hath been here proposed any shall say That it will be more the advantage of England to have this Linnen Manufacture set up here than in Ireland I answer That the other Manufactures before mentioned with which we are supplyed from France will much more profitably and agreeably imploy our People than the spinning of Linnen which in this case must be done at a very cheap rate or it will not prevent the bringing of them from France And Ireland in the forementioned respects seems much more proper for that purpose than England And if we would prevent their growing into the Wollen Manufacture it is but just they should be encouraged in some other which may imploy and maintain them for they can no more than our People live only on Air though they are content to work cheaper and fare harder To avoid Prolixity I forbear to set down the proper way in which the Linnen Manufacture may be set up and the Improvements which may be made of the distinct Branches of their Majesties present Revenue in Ireland Thus Sir I have in answer to your Queries set down as the Ancient Charge of Ireland and Forces sent from England thither from our first footing there until the compleat Conquest thereof So likewise the considerable returns of both that have been made thence Some of the Advantages we receive by Ireland and the usefulness of that Kingdom to England The State of its Trade and Revenue and shewed that the Improvement of Ireland for thirty five years past hath been none of the Causes of the abatement of Rents in England but the contrary with the true Causes of the advancement and abatement of Rent and Trade in England with the best Expedients for their Improvements The Methods by which our Advantages by Ireland may be secured and augmented to the greater benefit of England Encrease of his Majesties Revenue in Ireland and to the retrenching of the Power of France In doing whereof I have with my accustomed bluntness freely imparted my thoughts yet without designed Prejudice against any Person or Party I doubt not but you will excuse the harshness of the Stile and the other Defects of these Papers seeing that although they were hastily written your impatience for them did not admit them to be reviewed and that I have elected rather to expose my own weakness than to deny you this Testimony of my being unreservedly SIR Your very Humble Servant FINIS ERRATA PAge 22. line 14. after 38000 and 1000 instead of l. read Hundred Page 29. line 27. after live add in There have several other Errours happened in the Press which the Reader is requested to excuse a See Nash and Murphy's Informations concerning the Popish Plot.
be advanced HAD we duly improved the advantages we had of Trade and Manufacture about 1662. and carefully kept our Manufacturers Skill and People to our selves it is difficult to say what advancement might have been made of Rents by this time But now that by our own Folly the Netherlands some parts of Germany and even France it self are become sharers with us in our most profitable Manufactures not only for their own Supply which they were wont to derive from us but also to that degree that they Vie with us in many Forreign Markets it is high time seriously to consider what is the true interest of the Nation both in respect of Trade Rents and Manufactures In Order hereunto let it be considered that the Strength and Security of England next under God consists in its Navy Its Welfare and Prosperity depends on its Trade Natural Products and Manufactures The Strength of its Navy depends on Forreign Trade and the profitable part of Trade to the Kingdom results solely from our Exportations It is therefore the true Interest of the Kingdom by all due Methods carefully to preserve incourage and augment all these Those who get their Livelihood by Trade and Manufactures are many more than those who live by Cattle Pasturage Corn and Fruits Our Natural Products which we Export are not computed to be above one Fifteenth part of our Exportations and tho' they that live by these must not be neglected but encouraged yet our main care ought to be laid out for our Manufacturers as those that have raised the Kingdom to its present Wealth and Greatness which supports it and makes up the Bulk of our Expectations Now the Trade of England being mostly carried on by its Manufactures should the Rents of Land here advance suppose one fourth part above what they were in 1662. and Lands in Germany and France c. do not rise proportionably I suppose it would be very prejudicial to the Kingdom in general For I am not here speaking of what would for a time gratifie the humour of our Nobility Gentry or Landed Men but what would be their and the Kingdoms true Interest If Rent of Land should advance one fourth part or more above what they were in 1662. The Fruits and Products of the Land ought to rise in their price proportionably one fourth above what they then were or the Farmers would not be able to pay their Rents And were the Natural Products thus advanced for a continuance Provisions being so much Dearer it would be but reasonable that the Labour of the Working People should advance also And were this so our Manufactures would be Dearer which in the present State of things as hath been observed would be pernicious to the Kingdom For by such advance of Rents and the Price of our Natural Products and Manufactures we should First Lose all our Forreign Markets for that part of the Natural Products of our Lands which we Annually Export to other Countries which could in that Case under-sell us Secondly We should for the same Reason lose all Forreign Markets for our Manufacture and thereby the means of imployment for our People at home and of our Ships and Seamen abroad which would yet be more mischievous to us The Kingdom affords no Commodity that I call to mind peculiar to us but Tin nor are we sole Masters of that neither tho' we have more and better of that Commodity than any Country in Europe Therefore all things considered it is the Interest of the Kingdom that we raise both our Natural Product and Artificial Commodities and Manufactures so Cheap as that we may be able to furnish all Forreign Markets with them their quality considered some small matter Cheaper than any other Country can For thereby only can we secure Forreign Markets for our Surplusage of both and imployment for our People The Dutch and Venetians c. do in some sort Vie with us at Forreign Markets as to Fine Cloth and some costly Fabricks of Manufactures but they are not able so to do in Course Cloths and Course Manufactures because of the much higher Prices of Food and Labour among them than us which with the different Price of Wool there and here enables us to make great quantities of these Courser Manufactures much Cheaper than it is possible for them to do But if now that we have cast out so considerable a part of our Manufacturers into other Countries and that by raising our Rents Provisions Wool Labour and Manufactures should be advanced much in their Price we should be in danger of losing a much greater part of our Trade to other Countries than what we have already lost So great and ticklish is the difficulty of Regaining any part of Trade or bringing it into it's former Channel when once lost or turned out of it If against what hath been said it be objected that experience tells us that our Manufactures are raised Cheapest in Years of Dearth and Scarcity I answer that extraordinary accidents do not constitute a standing Rule That 't is true in such years the Poor are constrained to Work Harder and Cheaper than at other times Yet in those years they are constrained to run in Debt and often Sell even the very Clothes which they Earned in times of Plenty c. and did Provisions advance for a continuance Labour must do so too or many of the Poor would perish and the rest be reduced to live on Herbs wear Wooden Clogs or Shooes and like the Peasants of France look like walking Ghosts which I hope will never happen in England It is the undoubted Interest of the Kingdom to recal and allure as many of our Manufacturers home as possibly we can to set up and encourage new Manufactures for the imploying of our People for the augmenting of our Exportations and the encrease of the Revenue to improve the opportunity put into our hands by cherishing the French that are already amongst us and inviting in as many more as we can get They live more hardily and therefore can work much cheaper than ordinarily our People can Their labour may be applyed and directed to some new Manufactures or new Fabricks which we have not yet which we were wont to bring from France and which may not interfere with those we have or with the present labour of our own People A prudent management of these things would conduce more than a little to the regaining and enlarging of our Trade to the enriching of the Kingdom and advancing Rents by encreasing the home Consumption the lessening our Importations and augmenting our Exportations There are several things that may by accident and for a spurt advance the Rents of Lands But it is only the lessening our Importations and the augmenting our Exportations that can keep them up In order to these great Ends we should remove all those Bars and Discouragements which lye in the way It 's true the King and Parliament have in their Wisdom by an Act