be improper to give an Account The chief Branches of the Revenue according to a Computation deliver'd to the House of Commons at the beginning of the Revolution stood clear of all charges in the Collection as follows THE Tunnage and Poundage including the Wood-Farm Coal-Farm and Salt-Farm was computed at l. 600,000 The Excise on Beer and Ale c. Year ending 24th June 1689 did produce 666,383 The Hearth Money about 245,000 The Post Office about 65,000 The Wine Licenses about 10,000 New Impositions upon Wine and Vinegar granted for four Years the year ending 29th Sept. 1688 about 172,901 Duty on Tobacco and Sugar for the same time in the same year about 148,861 Duty on French Linnen Brandy Silk c. which was to continue to the 1st of July 1690 for the year ending 29th of September 1688 produced 93,710 Total 2,001,855 The chief Branches of the Revenue at present clear of all Charges in the Collection stand as follows THE Tunnage and Poundage including the Wood-Farm Coal-Farm and Salt-Farm Year ending 29th September 1693 did produce l. 286 687 The Excise on Beer and Ale c. Year ending 24th June 1693 produced 391,275 The Hearth Money 000000 The Post Office the same Year 63,517 The Wine Licenses the same Year about 5000 New Impositions upon Wine Vinegar c. Year ending 29th September 1693 produced 133,595 Duty on Tobacco c. Year ending 29th September 1693 produced 75,611 Duty on Silk c. Year ending 29th September 1693 148,430 The Additional Impositions took place from March 1. 169 2 3. and from that time to 29th September 1693 produced only 16,203 The Additional Duties upon Beer Ale c. computed at 450,000 Total 1,570,318 But of the 1,570,318 l. which is reckon'd the present Revenue all but 746479 l. which arises from Customs old Excise Post Office and Wine Licenses is either anticipated by Act of Parliament for the War or applied to the uses of it indeed something of the Ninepences will come into the Crown as the Lives fall The Salt Duty and new Imposition upon the Tunnage of Ships are to stand in the room of two Nine-pences till they come to be clear of their former anticipations The other smaller Branches of the Revenue such as the Hereditary Customs Fines for Writs of Covenant and Entries in the Alienation Office Land Revenue Dutchy of Cornwall Dutchy of Lancaster First Fruits and Tenths Sheriffs Proffers Compositions in the Exchequer Fines of Leases and Custody of Idiots Forfeitures of Recusants Fines for Misdemeanors Post Fines and Seisures are all inconsiderable and so charg'd with Pensions and Salaries of Officers that they produce very little clear to the King The Tonnage and Poundage c. in time of Peace will undoubtedly by degrees rise but then Trade must be courted and handled gently The Excise on Beer and Ale c. has been lately under so many discouragements of all kinds as that Branch will be found to mount very slowly The Hearth Duty is taken off by Law as an unpopular Revenue yet all the hardships and abuses of it might have been corrected by Act of Parliament and it would still have yielded about 200,000 l. per Annum above the charge of Management and however the Nation disgust it 't is hardly so odious if rightly examin'd as Poll-Money which the Turks take to be so great a Badge of Slavery that they impose it on none but Christians The present Revenue being so far unable to support the War what was wanting has been hitherto made up by other Ways and Means of which some are thought very prejudicial to the Nation Giving the King Money by Anticipating the Customs or by Credit upon distant Fonds does apparently consume the Public with Usury The new Fonds entail upon us a heavy Debt of perpetual Interest The Additional Nine-pences upon Beer and Ale do manifestly hurt that Branch of the King's Revenue 'T is feared frequent Polls may disaffect the People The new Customs and Impositions upon Tunnage are thought to prejudice Trade And lastly the Land Taxes by Monthly Assessment seem unequally laid and the Pound Rate of four Shillings in the Pound does seem unequally Levied upon the Nation But of each in their order Of Anticipating the Customs and Credit upon distant Fonds THat such Ways and Means of Supplying the Government occasion ill Husbandry in the Public will appear plainly to any one that takes the pains to examin what great Sums have been paid on Account of Interest-Money and Gratuities and let the King be either to buy Stores or to pay his Fleet and Army it will be found at the long run that 700,000 l. in ready Money will go farther than a Million in Tallies Of the New Fonds for Interest THE Fonds for Interest were perhaps good expedients for the time to raise Money but if made use of frequently may produce very bad effects in the Nation for they divert Money too much from the Chanel of Trade where it is always best employed to the Kingdoms advantage There is already paid upon these sort of Fonds about 400,000 l. Yearly 'T is true what is out upon Lives will by degrees wear off but a great part of this Sum will be a lasting Rent Charge upon the Nation and if we should further increase it by new Projects of the same nature we shall quickly be in the condition of Spain where they are undone by paying Taxes to one another and where the Public Revenue is so clogg'd with perpetual Interest that apparently there is not wherewithal to supply the present Necessities of the Government But the principal Mischiefs these Fonds occasion is the raising Money above the Price which either our Foreign or Domestick Trade can afford to pay for it to the great discouragement of both They who have trac'd the Effects which lessening Interest-Money by Law in this Kingdom has produc'd do very well observe that when Money was brought from Ten to Eight per Cent our Trade presently increas'd upon it and doubled in some time after it was reduc'd from Eight to Six per Cent and if the abatement of Interest did bring along with it that good Advantage we must expect to see Trade labour under great difficulties and in a short time come to Nothing if by the means of these Fonds Money be restor'd to its former Rate of Eight per Cent. They are so Inviting and of such infinite Profit that few now are willing to let out their Money to Traders at Six per Cent. as formerly so that all Merchants who subsist by Credit must in time give over and they being the greatest part and perhaps the most Industrious any Man may judge what damage this will be to the Kingdom So that these Fonds of Interest are Ways and Means of Supplying the War which in all appearance are to be used tenderly and with great caution Of the Additional Duties upon Beer and Ale THE Excise upon Beer and Ale Brandy Strong Waters c. was in
and it was upon the score of this Trust that in all probability the Parliament named Commissioners of the Shires with the Justices of the Peace to be Associated Vid Rot. Parl. 12. H. 7. N. 12. and N. 13. But Commissioners have been several times since named by the King as 34 and 37 Hen. 8. 2 and 3 Edw. 6. 3 and 4 Edw. 6. 4 and 5 Phil. and Mary 15 and 22 Car. 2. But there is a President for this in the first Year of Their present Majesties Reign and if pursuant to the Powers given in that Act the King had named Commissioners of his own in every County for levying the Aid of one Shilling in the Pound there might have been a new Survey made of all the Rents in England and in all likelihood such Sums would have been raised upon Land only as might have near answer'd all the Necessities of the Government The second Pound Rate did not raise so much in proportion as the first and there is ground to think this last 4 Shiling Aid will not raise so much as the former And there is reason to believe the Aids by Pound Rate will every time grow less and less like the Subsidies in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's and beginning of King Iames's Reign unless there be a new and regular Survey made of Land For let the Dangers from abroad and the Wants at home be never so pressing no doubt most Men if they are left to themselves will be glad to save their Money and will rather consult their private Interest than the Public Good But if the King as was always practis'd in Ancient Times had power to name Commissioners and if all People were bound under great Forfeitures to give in a true Rental of their Estates or a true Estimate of what they keep in their hands and if the Commissioners had power to Examin any person other than the Party himself upon Oath of the true value of each Man's Estate there is hardly any doubt to be made but that an Aid of Four Shillings in the Pound would raise Three Millions And if Land could raise that Sum the Nation need not be put to such dishonorable and dangerous shifts of raising Money as are new Projects fresh Impositions upon Trade and Fonds of Perpetual Interest which if they are made use of as the constant Ways and Means of Supplying the War must in all appearance very quickly destroy our Foreign Commerce and by consequence bring universal Weakness and Poverty upon the whole Kingdom But there is nothing too hard for the Wisdom of a Parliament to bring about which perhaps may find a way to Levy the Pound Rate justly and equally in all Counties without giving the King Power to Name Commissioners The Ancient Subsidies did usually consist of a charge by Poll a Pound Rate upon Land and a Pound Rate upon Money and Personal Estates so that all sorts of people did contribute something in the old way of Taxing but such as for their Poverty were exempted The Usurers who are the true Drones of a Common-wealth living upon the Honey without any Labour should of all People be brought in to bear their proportion of the Common Burthen As yet they could never be effectually reach'd but they may be fetch'd in by the Wisdom of a Parliament if the House of Commons would please resolutely to set themselves about it What a Pound Rate of Four Shillings in the Pound upon Money might produce is very hard to compute because in that Matter there is scarce any Rule or Measure to go by but supposing Money at Interest to be a sixteenth part as some think of the annual Value and Income of England there is then twenty Millions of Money at Interest which may be and yet not a third part of that Sum in specie in the Kingdom and if there are twenty Millions at Interest at five per Cent. a Pound Rate of Four Shillings in the Pound upon Money would raise 200,000 l. That which has made Quarterly Polls so distastful is charging the Poorer sort but if they were all exempted a Quarterly Poll well Levied might raise 500,000 l. And here it may not be amiss to take notice that if in the Pound Rate upon Land one Shilling were taken off from the Landlord and placed upon the Tenant it would ease those who have born all the weight nor can it seem oppressive to the Tenants considering how well they have fared hitherto So that a mix'd Aid by a Pound Rate upon Land and Money and by a Quarterly Poll all carefully Levied might raise By Four Shillings Pound Rate upon Land l. 3,000,000 By Four Shillings Pound Rate upon Money l. 200,000 By a Quarterly Poll l. 500,000 Total l. 3,700,000 Which without any new Ways and means would come very near raising that Sum to which the Expence of the War has hitherto amounted If in a War that is so Expensive and is thought so necessary for our Preservation all people would agree to promote Equality no doubt great Sums might be raised in this Nation and the Country in all Aids would be found to answer as well as London That London Westminster and Middlesex pay about a sixth part in the Aid is very plain and that they are not above a Tenth part of the Kingdom 's general Rental is very probable What Proportion in other Wealth and Substance London bears to the rest of England is very hard to determine But some Landed Man will start up and say 'T is true London bears a sixth it ought to bear a half it has all the Wealth and the immoderate Growth of that City undoes and ruins all the Country It may therefore be well worth the Enquiry of thinking Men what truth there is in this common and receiv'd Notion that the Growth of London is pernicious to England That the Kingdom is like a Rickety Body with a Head too big for the other Members For some people who have thought much upon this subject are inclin'd to believe that the Growth of that City is advantageous to the Nation and they seem to ground their Opinion upon the following Reasons That no Empire was ever great without having a great and populous City That the Romans drew all the conquer'd Cities of Italy into Rome That the People of Attica were no better than a Crew of rude Herdsmen and neither flourish'd in War nor in Civil Arts till Theseus perswaded them to Inhabit Athens That the greatness of London will best preserve our Constitution because where there is a great and powerful City the Prince will hardly Enterprise upon the Liberties of that People in the same manner a Rich and Powerful City seldom Rebels upon vain and slight occasions On these grounds and many others some people are led to think the Growth of London not hurtful to the Nation but on the contrary to believe that there is not an Acre of Land in the Country be it never so
AN ESSAY UPON Ways and Means AN ESSAY UPON Ways and Means Of Supplying the WAR LONDON Printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge's Head near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet 1695. AN ESSAY UPON WAYS and MEANS OF Supplying the War IN the course of this War we are engag'd in with France nothing seems more to have hurt our affairs than an Opinion which from year to year has been entertain'd among some People of Authority That the War could not last which they were brought into by the vanity natural to our Nation of over-rating our own strength and undervaluing that of our Enemies Whoever reflects upon the Ways and Means by which we have all along supplied the King will plainly see how much this Opinion has prevail'd with the People in general Raising Money by Land Taxes Fonds of Interest Polls doubling the Excise charging Tonnage laying new Customs and anticipating the old ones may be proper Expedients to answer a single and a short Necessity but perhaps they will hardly appear to be the proper Ways and Means to carry on a great and a long War At the beginning of the Confederacy France seem'd to take in all its Sails in expectation of a Storm and in a manner sate still while we took Mentz and Bon. This Success and the great Names and Mighty Kingdoms and States that were Listed in this Quarrel made us flatter our selves with Extravagant hopes The most Modest did believe the King of France might be easily reduced to the state he was left in by the Pyrenean Treaty But the more general Opinion was That he would be subdued to our own Terms But such did not consider that there is hardly any instance to be given in Story of a Mighty Empire over-run that was in the full possession of its Military Virtue In such an entire possession of the Art of War were the Romans during the second Punic War the whole People were train'd up to Arms and continual Action had bred up and instructed many famous Captains so that they were not to be broken by the many Victories Hannibal obtain'd even in the heart of Italy And in such a Warlike posture was the Ottoman Empire when Tamberlain came into Asia who in the Battel fought in the Year 1397 took Bajazet Prisoner and slew most of his Army yet that People bred to War under three Martial Kings were so far from being subdu'd that in fifty three Years after besides many other acquisitions they were able to Conquer all the remains of the Greek Empire Great Dominions are to be attempted with hopes of success then only when either their own bulk makes them unweildy or when Wealth has deprav'd their Manners or when long Peace has made them forget their Military Skill and Vertue and at such seasons have the great Monarchies of the World been Invaded and Conquer'd not by Superior Virtue in others but for want of Virtue in themselves It is not from hence concluded that lesser Nations are not to make War with strong and Victorious Princes or that we in England should not with the last drop of Blood defend this almost only spot of ground which seems remaining in the World to Public Liberty But from these Instances and many others in History it may be argu'd that we cannot presently and with ease pull down so Mighty an Empire as France and that much Time Blood and Treasure must perhaps be spent before we can reduce it to such Terms of Peace as may be Safe and Honourable for the Confederates And since there seem very many who think the business of this War so easie and who wonder the Confederates have done no more it may not be improper to take a short view of the Affairs of France in order to make it appear what a powerful Enemy we have to deal with That Kingdom has been growing for these two hundred and seventy years by slow degrees to the height we now see it at and from the time of Charles the Seventh to the Reign of Francis the Second there were always upon the Throne Martial and Active Princes in perpetual War and forming their People to Discipline And if in the little Common-wealths of Greece wherever there happen'd to be an extraordinary Man that Man did make his City strong and powerful for a long time after much more must a Succession of six Kings all Men of Counsel and Action give strength and power to such a Kingdom as France 'T is true that from the time of Francis the Second to the Peace of Vervins which was about forty Years the Nation was miserably torn by a long and cruel Civil War but as there are certain Diseases which when overcome dispose the Body to a better state of health for the future so perhaps it may be made appear that even this Civil War in its Consequences has contributed to the present Power of that Monarchy by pulling down the three chief obstacles that stood in the way of its Greatness which were the Protestant Interest Spain and the old Nobility of the Kingdom The Massacre of Paris gave the Protestant Interest in that Nation such a wound as it has never since been able to recover Philip the Second to procure the Crown of France for the Infanta did furnish such vast Sums for the Maintenance of the League as have ever since kept Spain low And the Houses of Lorrain Montmorancy and Chastillon were in a manner extinguish'd in that War and the rest of the great Families so ruin'd by it that they are now no more than the Trappings and Ornaments of the Tyranny which were in times past so strong a part of the Constitution From the Peace of Vervins Harry the Fourth employ'd his care in repairing the Calamities of that Civil War and chiefly he set himself to bring the Treasury of his Kingdom into some order in which he was assisted by the Duke of Sully a frugal Man who by natural Wisdom and meer Honesty brought the Revenue out of infinite Debts into such a flourishing condition that when the French were forming their great designs against the House of Austria in 1610 they had ready four or five years Provision for a War that was likely to be the greatest their Nation had ever undertaken But the foundations of the present Greatness of that Monarchy were laid by Cardinal Richelieu he first introduc'd that exact Method which appears in all their Affairs that secresie and steadiness which is in their Councils and that intire Obedience which all subordinate degrees pay to their Superiors and by exacting it severely he first accustom'd the French to that Zeal Diligence and Honesty to their Master which they show in all Public business Cardinal Mazarin was bred up in his School a Man perhaps not quite so deep but of infinite Subtilty and very fit for the Intrigues of the Cabinet in a Minority and under the Regency of a Queen Mother What the Duke of Sully but began Colbert brought to
raising Money should be rarely made use off by any Government Of the New Customs and Duty upon Tunnage SOme People who contemplate the greatness of England and the Figure it made in the World during the former part of Queen Elizabeth's Reign and some time before are led to think we were stronger without Trade than with it Perhaps Trade in General may have been hurtful to Mankind because it has introduced Luxury and Avarice and it might be better with us if we still liv'd in the Innocence and plainness of our Fore-fathers But the Circumstance of Time and and the Posture other Nations are in may make things absolutely necessary which are not good in their own Nature War is the occasion of Cruelty Wickedness and Injustice yet an unwarlike Nation can enjoy no safety Since France Spain Italy and Holland have addicted themselves so much of late years to Trade without that Naval Force which Trade produces we should be continually exposed to the Insults and Invasions of our Neighbours So that 't is now become indispensably our Interest to encourage Foreign Commerce and inlarge it as much as possible Instead of loading that part of our Strength we ought to court and nurse it up with all imaginable Art and Care 't is a coy and fantastical Lady hard to win and quickly lost With high Customs we spoil Industry discourage the Merchant and may in time drive Trade to take some other Chanel and there is hardly an Instance to be given of a Nation may be not of any single City that having once lost Trade could ever recover it War and the Scarcity of Money are sufficient Discouragements to Foreign Commerce without burthening it with new Impositions And perhaps it may be worth while to consider whither hereafter in time of a profound Peace if part of the Customs were taken off and some Excises given in their room such an Exchange might not be very beneficial to the Nation If the Stock of the Merchant were greater he would be in a Condition to have a bigger Trade If it were not for the great Duties that must be paid for Customs the same Stock would carry on double the Trade 'T is true that excises would have the appearance of affecting Land more than Customs But 't is because the Views of Men are short and generally confined to their own narrow Interest and they do not duly consider how much their private Concerns depend upon the publick Welfare of Trade and how much the Value of Land is improv'd since our Trade has augmented even from Twelve to Twenty four years Purchase nor how much more of their Product and Manufactures would be exported if Trade wore free without Clog and in its full Prosperity 'T is granted that Excises would something affect the Landed Man who is the first Seller but if the Customs were lessened the Price of all Foreign Goods would diminish to the Buyer and considering how great a Part that is of every Man's Expence the Country Gentleman would get in the Shire what he looses in the Hundred In Nations where the Government cannot subsist without charging every thing they lay perhaps great Customs but wherever the Publick can otherways be maintain'd the Customs are low for the Encouragement of the Merchant who deserves all Favor as being the best and most profitable Member of the Common-Wealth Of all the new Impositions nothing is thought to lye so heavily on Trade as the Duties upon the Tunnage of Ships It seems to pull down at once a great part of what the Nation had been so carefully rearing up by the Act of Navigation And that Tax is an Instance how much Compassion for private Cases does more prevail in this Country than the Sense of Publick Good For it was once designed to raise the Money which was wanting at the latter end of the Sessions by laying a new Duty upon Wine but because that was complained of as very burthensome to the Spanish and Portugal Merchants a Charge upon Tunnage was pitched upon which in its Consequence may prove very pernicious to the General Trade of all England Of the Monthly Assessment and Aids by a Pound Rate SUbsidies Fifteenths and Tenths were the antient Ways and Means in this Kingdom of supplying the Government But what Estates and in what manner Landâ— was thereby Rated is a Matter very perplexed in our Records and would ask more time to explain than the Brevity designed in this Essay will admit off Lord Cooke Inst 4. P. 33. and 34. values a Subsidy at 70,000 l. and Tenths and Fifteenths at 20,000 l. and says they were Four Shillings in the Pound upon Land and 2 s. 8 d. upon personal Estates It seems probable that for a long time there had been no Survey made of the Land in England till 32 Hen. 8. and that for some Ages they had governed themselves by the ancient Books But the Affairs of that King requiring then a great Sum of Money the Parliament charged Land with 12 d. per Pound and personal Estates with 6 d. and the King had liberty to name Commissioners of his own The Assessors were to be upon Oath and had Power to examine upon Oath all Persons of the true Value of their Estates real and personal The same thing was done 34 and and 37 Hen. 8. 2 and 3 Edw. 6. and 3 and 4 Edw. 6. and 4 and 5 Philip and Mary And in these times there was in a manner a new Survey made of all the Land in the Kingdom and thereupon the Subsidies that came after raised larger Sums than formerly For we find from the Accounts in the Exchequer that from 1 Eliz. to 29 inclusive the Subsidies one with another amounted to at least 100,000 l. but from 31 Eliz. to 18 Jac. 1. in which time we cannot find there was any regular and strict Survey made the Subsidies fell to 70,000 l. or thereabouts for which no reason can be assigned Land improving all the while but that when there had been no Survey made for a long while and the Assessors were left at large the People naturally returned to the Rates in the old Books How ancient the Inequality is between the Taxes in the North and West and the Home Counties so much complained of cannot easily be traced for in an Assessment of 400,000 l. 17 and 18 Car. 1. we find the Rates upon the Northern and Western Counties to lye just as they do in our present Assessment and tho' there might be some reason to ease the North in that Tax because those Parts had been great Sufferers by the Scotch Army yet in 1642 when that Act passed the Sword of Civil War was not as yet drawn and the West and other Counties had not yet at all been harrassed so that the Favour which the North and West have met with in Land Taxes is a little older than the Civil War and may be attributed to that Care which the great Number of Members they
8 3661 5998 1053 = 14 = 3 373â— Salop 28889 = â— 4886 = 12 = 10 22088 = â— = 10 0783 = 12 = 8 29035 = 5 = 15 = â— 38000 4500 9874 = 9 = 3 27471 45586 4560 = 53 13575 Staffordsh r and Litchfield 20774 = â— 4210 = 12 = 10 20934 = 5 = 8 ½ 8725 = 3 = 2 27082 = 10 = 5 28000 3000 10927 = 7 = â— 26278 42120 3831 = 17 = 3 7350 Somersettshire and Bristl 71302 = 16 8776 = 19 = 10 57443 = 19 = 1 2295 = 14 = 3 ½ 73728 = 18 = 7 ¼ 85000 9000 31133 = 9 = 2 45900 106462 17806 = 176 30263 Southamptonshire 52546 = 8 6209 = 14 = 7 42063 = 3 = 7 ¾ 4083 = 6 = 2 55188 = 5 = 2 60000 6000 11160 = 18 = 7 ½ 28557 60419 14691 = 15 = â— 13173 Southfolk 79164 = 16 7756 = 3 = 9 57667 = 14 = â— 9865 = 3 = 10 74201 = 18 = 3 ¾ 96000 8000 19635 = 9 = 8 ½ 47537 88797 20609 = 17 = â— 23750 Surry and Southwark 38328 = 4 8442 = 3 = 2 52858 = 5 = â— 0444 = 12 = 10 66984 = 17 = â— 36000 3500 34234 = 1 = 10 ½ 40610 88685 10808 = 1 = 3 15600 Sussex 43713 = 6 6302 = 15 = 4 48142 = 6 = 3 2924 = 16 = 11 ½ 60819 = 12 = â— 52000 5000 7730 = 10 = 1 ½ 23451 52617 10914 = 15 = 9 18720 Warnvicksh r and Coventry 28618 = 10 4365 = 7 = 10 30478 = 7 = 7 ¼ â—0441 = 17 = 5 39864 = 12 = 9 36000 4000 11639 = 3 = 10 22700 38148 5771 = 8 = 9 9800 Worcestersh r and Worcester 26626 = 4 3713 = 15 = 1 25824 = â— = 15 ½ 9763 = 18 = 3 33144 = â— = â— 36000 3500 12793 = 10 = 1 ½ 24440 39455 6158 = 15 = 3 10640 Wiltshire 47205 = 2 5952 = 19 = â— 39327 = 2 = 2 ¼ 13771 = 2 = 3 ½ 51672 = 7 = 11 ½ 54000 7000 10679 = 8 = 8 ½ 27418 57542 11704 = 19â— 18240 Westmorland 2784 = â— 806 = 5 = 2 2269 = 4 = â— 1737 = 7 = â— 3014 = 7 = 4 6000 600 2322 = 16 = 1 6691 20065 547 = 1 = 4 ½ 1890 Yorksh r w th York and Hull 83262 = 4 17441 = 18 = 7 69201 = 11 = 8 ½ 39289 = 9 = 1 91620 = 13 = 8 ¾ 116000 12000 52226 = 19 = 8 ½ 121052 174202 19030 = 16â— 26150 Wales North and South 70503 = 6 12156 = 9 = 8 39854 = 4 = 9 ¾ â—1029 = 11 = â— 51256 = 6 = 8 169800 10500 26431 = 18 = 4 77921 127751 9766 = 7 = â— 33753 London Midd x Westminst 175969 = 12 80280 = 9 = 4 ½ 267311 = 16 = 9 ½ 97622 = 5 = 11 307140 = 8 = 5 ¾ 140000 20180 140358 = 13 = 2 111215 365568 54831 = 9 = â— 56380 Grand Totals 1,651,702 = 16 288,310 = 19 = 6 ½ 1,566,627 = 10 = 9 ½ 597,518 = 13◠¼ 1,977,713 = 17 = 1 ¼ 2,000,400 206,980 694,476 = 2 = 5 ¾ 1,319,215 2,563,527 403,159 = 17 = 5 665362 〈…〉 home Countys Viz. Surry Southw r◠〈…〉 Cambdg Kent Essex Norfolk Suffolk Berks Bucks Oxon Total is 529,615 = 2 69,428 = 16 = 7 493,265 = â— = 1 ¾ 167,626 = 18 = 11 ¼ 632,388 = 19 = 6 ½ 626,000 57,800 184,520 = 19 = 5 ¼ 335,543 684,950 134,172 = 12 = 6 214,122 〈…〉 of England excluding Lond Middlesex ◠〈◊〉 Total is 946,118 = 2 138,601 = 13 = 7 806,050 = 13 = 10 ¼ 33â—,269 = 8 = 2 1,038,184 = 9 = 1 1,234,400 129,000 369,596 = 9 = 10 ½ 872,457 1,513,009 214,155 = 15 = 11 394,860 11. What each County paid in the Assessment of 400,000 l. 17 18 Car. 1. 12. An Estimate of the Poor Rates upon each County by a reasonable Medium of several Years made towards the latter end of King Charles the Seconds Reign There is likewise summ'd up at the end of this Table in two separate Articles First The amount in each particular of the Eleven Home Counties which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion viz. Surry with Southwark Hertfordshire Bedfordshire Cambridgshire Kent Essex Norfolk and Suffolk Berks Bucks and Oxfordshire Secondly The amount of the other Counties of England and Wales exclusive of London Westminster and Middlesex which because they would over ballance either side are to remain out of the Contest The Excise and number of Houses and Hearths are no ill Measures to form a Judgment by of the Trade Wealth and Abilities of a Country Particularly Sir William Petty who was esteem'd the best Computer we ever had in all his Political Arithmetick both for England and Ireland did very much govern himself by the Hearth-Money Some light may be also had in this matter from the late Polls which have been in the Kingdom The Article of Ship-Money shows how Persons unconcern'd did think each County ought to be Rated The Aportionment of 1660 makes it appear what was the Opinion of a very able Committee of the House of Commons upon this Subject The Aid of 1 s. and 2 s. in the Pound set down in the Table shows that a Pound Rate has rais'd more in proportion than it does at present for if 3 s. in the Pound did raise 1,566,627 l. 10 s. 9 d. â…• four Shillings in the Pound ought to raise 2,088,836 l. 14 s. 4 d. ¼ The Poor Rates set down in the Table may be very useful to such as love Computations and who are inquisitive into the Common Business of the Nation and desirous to know its Strength and Weakness It was Collected with great Labour and Expence by Mr Ar. Mo. a very knowing Person He had not the Account of Wales but according to the proportion Wales bears to the rest of the Kingdom in other Taxes the Poor Rate there must have been about 33,753 l. So that the Poor Rate at that time through the whole Nation was about 665,362 l. By the comparison of all these particulars some light peradventure may be given and computations made that will a little help to the forming a right Judgment how all parts of the Kingdom may be Rated in a Land Tax with somewhat more of equality But the Observations and Inferences which shall be made from this Table are humbly submitted to such as take delight in Calculations of this kind and 't is hoped such a Scheme will set better Judgments and abler Heads to work upon a matter that deserves so well to be effectually consider'd All substantial Merchants will acknowledge that Stealing Customs and Running Goods is against their Common Interest because such as have that Art are not upon an equal foot of Trade with the rest In the same manner where a Tax is unequally Levy'd the Gentlemen are not upon the same foot of
which they had not absolute use But in Number of Houses London Westminster and Middlesex are not an Eleventh part of the Kingdom And by the Monthly Assessment it appears that the Parliament have judged them about a Tenth part In the Apportionment of 100,000 l. upon the whole Nation in the Year 1660 they are valued and rated at about a Fourteenth part In the Assessment of Ship-Money at about a Tenth part And in an Assessment of 30,000 l. given to Harry the Seventh in lieu for that time of the Aid Pur fair sitz Chivaleer pur file Marrier Rot. Parl. 19 Har. 7. N o. 10. London Westminster and Middlesex are rated at but 889 l. 10 s. 2 d. which is about a thirty third part of that Tax And in the Poor Rate they appeared to be about a Twelfth part of the Whole Upon the whole Matter from the foregoing Instances and many others that might be given it seems very probable that London Westminster and Middlesex have been generally esteemed and are about a Tenth part of the Kingdom But the Instance which relates to the Number of Houses is what we may reasonably lay most weight upon in the present Dispute because the 307,140 l. which they pay in the Four Shilling Aid does most of it without all contradiction arise from the Rent of Houses If indeed Money were strictly inquired after and if the Charge upon Personal Estates made up a great part of the forementioned Sum the Comparison might not hold because the great Stocks of Money are in London but though Money be charged in the Act the Law has not been able hitherto to reach it effectually Now to raise the Sum of 307,140 l. the general Rental of London Middlesex and VVestminster must be upwards of a Million and a half per Annum And if the Rental of the Eleventh but suppose them a Tenth part of the whole be a Million and a half the general Rental of the Kingdom must be Fifteen Millions per Annum And if the general Rental of the Kingdom be Fifteen Millions per Annum the Aid of Four Shillings in the Pound ought to raise three Millions If 111,215 Houses in and about London with no more Ground than what they stand upon are in Rent one Million and a half per Annum it is hardly possible but that the 1,208,000 Houses in the Country with all the Land about them and all the Benefits that attend Land must be in Rent Thirteen Millions and a half per Annum And whoever considers this seriously will perhaps be inclined to think that the Four Shilling Aid would raise at least Three Millions if it were levied in other Parts of England with the same Care and Exactness as it is in London VVestminster and Middlesex which are under the Eye and Influence of the Government And if the Aid could be brought to raise such a Sum the War would almost be maintained by the Charge upon Land only 'T is notoriously known that a great many Persons both in the Assessment and Aids pay a full Fifth part of their Estates if the rest did so all would be upon an equal foot which in Justice and Reason the Subjects of the same Prince should be in every good Government But this will be very hard to compass in that long Possession many Countries are in of being favourably handled in all Taxes 'T is true in the present Aid the Assessors are upon Oath but in Matters of Revenue it has been always found that Oaths are very little regarded If in the Customs and Excise all Entries were to be made upon Oath of the Parties and the King had no other hold he might indeed save the Charge of Officers but he would see very little from those Revenues The Officers in the Customs and Excise are upon Oath but if there were no other Checks upon them those Branches would turn to small account And we see in the present Charge upon Interest-Money how little Scruple Men make of Swearing not to have 100 l. who are generally thought to be worth 20,000 l. Taxes can never be equally levied where the People are left to themselves or with no other Check upon them but their own Consciences Therefore it was the ancient Prerogative of our Kings to name their own Commissioners for the Levying and Collecting such Aids Fifteenths and Tenths as their Subjects gave them which may be seen by the old Commissions ad Assidendum Colligendum that were wont to accompany Grants of that Nature In that Aid which was granted to Harry the Third when Magna Charta passed there is the Form of that Commission Vid. Rot. Pat. 39. H. 3. m. 8. Dorso And such Commissions passed several times after Vid. Rot. Pat. 1. Edw. 2. p. m. 3. Rot. Pat. 7. Edw. 2. p. m. 3. Rot. Pat. 3. Edw. 3. ps 3. m. 18. Rot. Pat. 6. Edw. 3. ps m. 19. Rot. Fin. 23. Edw. 3. m. 10. And in the other Grants that came afterwards the King is desired to issue out his Commissions for the levying of them as customably Vid. Rot. Parl. 6. Rich. 2. N o. 16. Rot. Parl. 2. Harry 4. N. 9. Rot Parl. 14. Harry 6. N. 12. where the Commissioners have Power to examine all Parties upon Oath of the true Value of their Estates In the Reign of Harry the Sixth there is an Authority given to one Lord and the two Knights of the Shire in each County who seem to have been in the nature of Commissioners to see that no Wrong be done in the Distribution of 4000 l. which was to be deducted out of the Aid for decay'd Towns and Places Vid. Rot. Parl. 11. H. 6. N. 4. The first time we find Commissioners named in Parliament for the levying Tenths and Fifteenths was in Edward the Fourth's Reign who was a Luxurious Prince and gave the People reason to suspect his Conduct Vid. Rot. Parl. 12. Edw. 4. N. 41. and 14. Edw. 4. N. 7. The Records are both dark enough but the Parliament seems there to name Commissioners whom the King shall Authorize under the Great Seal to Assess and Levy the Aid and that the Money so levied shall remain in the Hands of the Collectors to be appointed by the King in Chancery unto the time that Proclamation shall be made by the King of his Musters The Parliament suspected an Aid was desired and no War intended so that their Guift seems conditional and they name Commissioners to see to the due Performance of the Trust But afterwards in the Reign of Harry the Seventh the occasion of naming Commissioners in Parliament seems a great deal more apparent For that covetous Prince was wont to ask great Aids of his People on pretence of Wars that were never intended Therefore the Aids which were given him the Twelfth of his Reign were upon this Condition to be levied upon the People if the War proceeded but not to be levied if a Peace or Truce ensued before they came to be due