is humbly offered and submitted to their considerations whether there can be any way in the World found more certain equal and easie to raise the same than by a Land-Tax for then they will know what it is they give when and how certainly it will come in and the time when the same will end and may proportion their Contracts and Payments accordingly Besides a Land-Tax will be a certain Fond for to advance Money upon in a short time at easie Interest wherewith speedily to discharge and pay off those Debts for which now great interest is to be paid I know it will be Objected that Land is a Drug bears little or no Price to be let or be sold what Rent it is let for Tenents are not able to pay for to lay Taxes upon that would utterly undo the Gentry who have nothing to live upon but their Rents To this I answer that it is very true Lands let poorly Rents are ill paid and yeild very little if sold But let us examine the Reasons hereof and see if some things may not be proposed to remedy those Mischiefs and bring Land to its former value which if we do then every Man will certainly be of Opinion that a Land-Tax is the best way to raise Money and be glad on that Condition to have it imposed I am of Opinion that Gentlemens being wanting to themselves is the greatest occasion of the decay of their Estates and lowering of their Rents Now in Order to the bringing them to the same Rate and Value if not to a better than they formerly bore I humbly propose that these several Particulars following which can only be done by Act of Parliament may be enacted as Laws And I shall endeavour to Demonstrate the Mischeifs we suffer for want of them and the great Advantages we may rationally expect to receive by their being Enacted 1. I propose that a stop be put to any farther Buildings in or about the Cities of London and Westminster Borough of Southwark or in any place within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality the Head being already too big for the Body And that a years Value of all Houses Built upon New Foundations may by the Owners of such Houses be paid to the King towards payment of Publick Debts which would advance above 300000 l. 2. That all the Nobility and Gentry of England who have Estates in the Country and are not obliged to atterd on His Majesty by reason of their Offices be enjoyned with their Families to live where their Estates do lie so many Months in each year as to the Wisdom of Parliament shall seem meet 3. That a Bill be passed for setting up of Registers in every County for Registring Sales Mortgages Leases for term of Years or Lives and all other real Securities and if possible all Bonds c. which Work may be done with little charge to the Subject and yet a profit of above 50000 l. per annum arise to the Publick 4. That an Act for a General Naturalizing of all Foreign Protestants be passed and an assurance of Liberty of Conscience given to all that shall come over into England and place themselves and Families amongst us And that the same priviledge be given to his Majesties Subjects at home 5. That the Act for prohibition of the Importation of Irish Cattle be repealed and a Trade between the two Kingdoms Established whereby his Mejesties Revenue of Customs would be advanced above 80000 l. per annum 6. That Brandy and Mum Coffee and Tea be prohibited and Coffee-houses suppressed which may be done without any dimunution of his Majesties Revenue of Excise 7. That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads be all or most of them suppressed especially those within forty or fifty Miles of London where they are ino way necessary and yet most numerous and mischievous and that a due regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued Which done his Majesties Excise would be worth above 30000 l. per annum more than it now is and the Post-Office by 6000 l. per annum 8. That the Act for Transportation of Leather Unmanufactured be repealed or so far discountenanced at least that it be not renewed when the seven years is expired 9. That a Court in the nature of the Court of Request in London be established for Westminster Southwark and all parts within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality if possible and in every City and Town Corporate in England to determine differences between poor People for small Debts Words or Trespasses that so they may not be undone by Law Suits 10. That a bound be put to the Extravagant Habits and Expences of all sorts of Persons that Servants and Handicraft Tradesmens excessive Wages may be reduced and that no foreign Manufactures except from Ireland be suffered to be worn in England but that the importation and exposing of them knowingly to Sale be both made Felony 11. That it be made Lawful to assign Bills Bonds and other Securities And the Frauds of Men Breaking with design to Enrich themselves out of their Creditors Estates may be prevented 12. That the New-Castle Trade for Coles may be managed by Commissioners for his Majesty which would be a great advantage to the Subjects and raise his Majesty above 300000 l. per annum 13. That the Fishing Trade be encouraged all Poor set at Work to provide Tackle for that use and be paid out of the Money Collected yearly in every Parish throughout England for relief of the Poor which would be of vast advantage to the Publick In Order to the evincing of the necessity of Prohibiting any of further Building in and about London and Westminster and of the Gentries being confined to live some part of the year upon their Estates in the Country I desire every serious considerate Person that knew London and Westminster and the Suburbs thereof fourty or fifty years ago when England was far richer and more populous than now it is to tell me whether by Additional Buildings upon new Foundations the said Cities and Suburbs since that time are not become at least a third part bigger than they were and whether in those days they were not thought and found large enough to give a due reception to all persons that were fit or had occasion to resort thither whereupon all further Buildings on new Foundations even in those dayes were prohibited Nevertheless above thirty thousand Houses great and small have been since built the consequences whereof may be worthy of our consideration These Houses are all inhabited considering then what multitudes of whole Families formerly dwelling in and about the said Cities were cut off by the two last dreadful Plagues as also by the War abroad and at home by Land and by Sea and how many have transported themselves or been transported into our foreign Plantations and it must naturally follow that those who inhabit these new Houses and many of the old
from thence than from any other part of the World which would be a great encouragement to the setting up of the Manufactures thereof It must necessarily be cheaper because Land is far cheaper there than in those Parts from whence we have our Hemp and Flax and what we fetch comes charged with great Freight and Customs Which might be saved if the Commodity were fetcht from Ireland What then would there be wanting but a method to manufacture this Commodity cheaper Which done that place may supply not only England but all Europe with Linnen-Cloth at easier rates than now they pay for the same And if so what hinders but that they may ingross the whole Linnen-Trade and quickly grow rich And that they may manufacture cheaper there consider that in this part of the World there cannot be found a place where people may live cheaper have Lands at easier Rates than in Ireland so then consequently no place in the World where people work for less than there If then the Commodity to be wrought and the working of that Commodity be cheaper in Ireland than in any other Part the Manufacturies when wrought may be sold from thence cheaper than from any other part and this would bring Trade thither take away no more of the Stock of this Nation than is absolutely necessary for the supply of our Necessities And it would be a great advantage to the Kingdom to be furnished with that within our selves which we necessarily want and are enforced to depend upon Foreigners for In short the Prohibition of Irish Cattel puts them on a necessity for something they must do with their Cattel and the product of their Lands or be utterly destroyed that necessity forceth them to Industry which Industry if not determined with us but continued or encouraged with Foreigners the more industrious they are the more pernicious it will be to England in all its concerns For if the Irish by reason of their Religion and the sense of our conquering them have as some affirm and I and all English-men have good reason to believe a natural antipathy against us English-men and as natural an Affection and Sympathy to and with Foreigners who are of their own Perswasion and Religion And if Nations grow Intimate espouse Interest and mix by Trade and Commerce it is humbly submitted whether for the security of England both in its Government and Trade it be not adviseable to annex Ireland as a Province to England as our Islands abroad are annexed whereby his Majesties Revenue of Customs would be advanced at least 80000 l. per annum which would help to pay the Publick Debts and do a publick good to the Nation Concerning the Importation of Westphalia-Hams I have onely this to say That though Prohibited yet they are Imported the King loseth the Custom of them which formerly he had the Merchants buy them far cheaper beyond Seas than ever they did in England the Subjects pay twice as much as they might have bought them for before the Prohibition and not any good is done to the Kingdom thereby VI. THe Sixth thing proposed is the Prohibition of Brandy Mum Coffee Chocoletta and Tea and the suppressing Coffe-Houses These greatly hinder the Consumption of Barley Malt and Wheat the Product of our Land and thereby bring down the prices of these Grains consequently the Rents of Land to the ruine of Tenants who cannot sell their Corn when they have it and of Landlords whose Rents Tenants are not able to pay because they have no vent for the Product of their Farms There is as I am upon strict Enquiry of the most knowing persons informed so vast a quantity of Brandy Mum Coffee Tea and Spanish Chocoletta every year imported into England and consumed here that reckoning the Brandy to be sold at two pence the Quartern and no more whereas most of it by retail is sold for three pence the Mum at six pence a Quart and the Coffee Tea Chocoletta at the rates they are usually sold for yet is there expended by the Subjects yearly in these drinks above 400000 l. If these Liquors were prohibited then would there be made in England with our Wheat or Malt such quantities of Brandy or a Spirit equal to it and of Mum also as would in all probability occasion the Consumption of at least two or three hundred thousand Quarters of Wheat and Malt every year more than now is consumed and that would raise the price of the Commodity and thereby keep up the Rent of Lands which every year falls for want of a Consumption of the Product thereof And the Prohibition of Brandy would be otherwise advantageous to the Kingdom and prevent the destruction of His Majesties Subjects many of whom have been kill'd by drinking thereof it not agreeing with their Constitutions How many instances have we had yearly of mens dying suddenly after drinking of Brandy How many after over-drinking themselves with this Liquour have lain languishing till they have dyed thereof Before Brandy which is now become common and sold in every little Alehouse came over into England in such quanties as now it doth we drank good Strong Beer and Ale and all laborious people which are the far greatest part of the Kingdom their bodies requiring after hard labour some strong drink to refresh them did therefore every morning and evening use to drink a pot of Ale or a flagon of strong Beer which greatly promoted the Consumption of our own Grain and did them no great prejudice it hindred not their work neither did it take away their senses nor cost them much money But now this sort of people since Brandy is become so common and fold in every little house a small quantity costing them three pence do sometimes spend their days wages in this sort of Liquor before they get home in an evening and thereby impoverish their Families and not only so but frequently by their drinking to excess they are bereft of their senses for two or three days together so that they cannot work In short Brandy burns the hearts of His Majesties Subjects out in few years it hath been the destruction and death of some thousands who if they had kept to Beer and Ale might have received better refreshment therefrom and now been living to have served the King and their Countrey and might have help'd to consume the Manufactures and Provisions of the Kingdom And if so then what reason can any man give for the Importation thereof For my own part I declare I know of none unless it he because it pays a great Custom or Excise to the King And as to that I answer and affirm That if Brandy be prohibited the Excise of the Beer and Ale that would be then consumed more than is now will more than answer the duty of Brandy that the King shall lose by such Prohibition as is desired admitting that all the Brandy imported paid the duty imposed when as not one half thereof is paid for
Labour ought to be countenanced and encouraged and Magistrates and Gentry would do well to give Examples thereof to those amongst whom they live If all the Poor now maintained in their Idleness were set at work and paid out of the Money raised as aforesaid those that now have two Shillings or three Shillings a Week might by their Work earn so much or suppose they could earn but one Shilling sixpence a week and nevertheless receive three Shillings it is half in half saved so that a Moyety of what now is collected from the people might be spared to them and yet the Poor be as well or better maintained than now But if Men Women and Children were set at work few Families that now receive two or three Shillings a week but in all probability would and might earn four or five Shill a week help to Manufacture the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom at cheap Rates and thereby bring down the Wages of Handicrafts-men which now are grown so high that we have lost the Trade of Foreign Consumption because abroad Wool and Leather and the Manufactures thereof are sold at lower Rates than we can afford ours at This Mischief of high Wages to Handicrafts-men is occasioned by reason of the Idleness of so vast a number of people in England as there are so that those that are Industrious and will work make men pay what they please for their Wages but set the Poor at Work and then these men will be forced to lower their Rates whereby we shall quickly come to sell as cheap as Foreigners do and consequently engross the Trade to our selves There are many ways to set the Poor at work both old and young Women and Children by Spinning of Linnen Woollen and Woolsted Carding Combing Knitting Working Plain-Work or Points Making Bone-Lace or Thred-or Silk-Laces Brede and divers other things The Linnen-Trade if well regulated would employ some hundred thousands of People and if brought to perfection might save vast Sums of Money within the Kingdom which now are sent out for the same The Woollen and Leathern-Manufactories would employ Multitudes of Men and young youths and vast quantities of Wooll might be manufactured and consumed in England more than now is if all the Tapestry we now use were made here which is now imported from beyond the Seas Also if the Act for Burying in Flannel as ridiculous as men make it were put in Execution seeing Flannel would be as good for that use as Linnen abundance of our Poor would be employed in making these things And the Money now paid for these Foreign Manufactures would be kept in England and defray the Charge of the Manufacturing of them at home It is not to be imagined how many thousands of Men Women and Children the Fishing-Trade which is that I principally aim at would keep in employment The making of the Nets Sayls Cordage and other Materials for that use the Building of Fishing-Vessels and the Catching and Curing of the Fish when catch'd would find work for above two hundred thousand People and would encrease the number of Sea-men Ship-wrights and many Handicrafts-men A great Revenue if well managed would thereby arise to the Publick and the Fish taken would be as good to us as so much Ready-Money and be taken off beyond Seas in Exchange for such Goods as we necessarily want and have from Foreign Parts and now pay Ready Money for To conclude Were the things Proposed as aforesaid done as desired Trade would be encouraged and encreased the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom be in far greater quantities consumed both at home and abroad the Price of Lands would be raised Tenants be enabled to pay their Rents the Kingdom would be greatly enriched and in a few years the Publick Debts of the Kingdom might be discharged without Imposing any considerable Tax upon the People FINIS
ones must be persons coming out of the Country which makes so many Inhabitants the less there where they are most needful and wanting For the occasion of the Rents of Lands falling every year arises not so much from Lands growing worse as because of the want of Tenants with good Stocks to manage the Farms they take And this mischief hath been and is in great measure occasioned by these additional Buildings for had they not been erected those who inhabit them would have been in the Country living an Industrious and Laborious Life improving their Stocks and thereby advantaging Gentlemens Lands and the Trade of the Nation But now if a Man get two or three Hundred pounds in his Pocket up he comes to London takes a House payes a Fine layes out the rest of his Money in furnishing it for Lodgers thereby promising himself a lazy Life free from care or else he sets up an Alehouse or Brandy House both tending to the debauching and destroying of Youth when as had there not been these Buildings to draw them hither and give shelter then those Men with their three or four hundred pounds a piece Stocks employed in the Country might have made each of them a good Tenant for a Farme of 100 or 200 l. per annum which Farms by their removing to London are thrown into the Landlords hands so that by a moderate Calculation it is judged that there are 60000 Families at least now in and about London more than would or could conveniently have been if these Houses had not been Built which Families if they had continued in the Country would have kept up the value of Lands which fall only for want of Tenants If therefore more Buildings should be hereafter erected more Mischiefs in all probability will be done of this kind to the Country And really Gentlemen may thank themselves for the prejudice they receive by these means they having given the example and been the occasion thereof For they never thinking their Estates would have an end weary of an honest and commendable Country-life come up to London to see fashions fall into ill company learn how to run out of all their Estates in a short time by extravagant Habits gaming drinking and other debaucheries destructive to their Healths as much as Estates As if to have lived in the Country upon their own Estates and to have taken care of and managed them and kept a handsome retinue of Servants and a good House of Hospitality and to have taken off their Tenants Provisions for their Family expences in part of their Rents relieving and setting the Poor at work and incouragement of Art Industry and Labour were not so commendable in them or so much for their Advantage and Honour as to live idly in London pursuing their lustful pleasures paying whilest their own houses stand empty and go to ruine for want of being inhabited more for their Lodgings than would maintain their Families handsomely in the Country and encrease the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom than which nothing can conduce more to the Improvement of Land I would desire to know of any sober Person how far the many Gentlemen who have thus foolishly and idly run themselves out of their Estates have done good with the same who is the better for it Is the Country where their Estates lie or their Tenants that rent them or the poor Inhabitants about them No not at all but all are the worse and undone thereby for when these Persons come first to London they bring up all the Money they can get in specie and no sooner do their Rents grow due in the Country but they or their Bailiffs or Stewards rack the poor Tenants for the same gather in all that they can get and sue or distrain where Money is not presently to be had taking away Tenants Cattel selling them for half their worth and thereby ruine not only idle Persons or ill Husbands that have run out of their Stocks but also many Industrious men and great husbands who have Stock and Goods enough if sold wherewith to answer the Rent and the want of a vent for the product of their Farms is the only reason why they could not raise present Money for their Landlords How many persons by these means have been undone forced to leave their Farms which thereby have been thrown into their Owners hands who have been forced both to abate Rents and keep their Farms a year or two without making any thing of them before they could dispose of them again And I know none the better for these things but the Gentries and Nobilities Bailifs and Stewards who being entrusted to Let and Set Receive Rents and manage their Masters Estates do by their neglecting to call them to account or looking after and disposing their own Affairs grow vastly Rich and frequently in Trustees names become Purchasers of their Masters Estates whilst they in the mean time by means as aforesaid become greatly impoverished The rather for that frequently when they receive their Masters Rents they pretend the Tenants have them in their hands and put their Masters thereby under necessity of borrowing Money for their present Supplies which when they have done they being imployed to procure the same do frequently furnish them with their own Money making them pay Brocage Procuration and Continuation-Money and Interest for the same which helps forward their Ruine In short these New Buildings are advantageous to none but to the Owners of the Ground on which they are built who have raised their wonted Rents from a hundred pound to five or six hundred pound per annum besides the Improvements in Reversion or to the Builders who by slight building on long Leases make ten or twelve pound per cent of their moneys But the advantage of these persons being the Countries great prejudice Therefore in my poor Opinion it seems agreeable to Reason that they ought to help to pay the publick Debts of the Kingdom and the Country who are hurt by them should be eased And for them to pay one year or a year and halfs Improved Rent to the King would not be much considering the greatness of the Improvement they have and are like to make So that admitting that there are 30000 Houses Built upon New Foundations as aforesaid and that each of those Houses one with another should pay but 10 l. per annum Rent and the King should have but one years Rent from each House the same would amount unto above 300000 l. which would go a great way in the discharging the publick Debts But one years Rent from each of these Houses it is conceived would come to above 500000 l. and the enforcing them that have Built contrary to the Statute to pay such a Fine would deter others from Building for the future of which there can be no need considering that there are above 3000 brave Houses which for the Honour of the Nation are at great
their Masters or Mistresses more than it is already The answer is plain at home they drink small or strong drink brewed by their Masters that pay no Excise but whatever they drink at Inns pays the Kings duties And all Inn-keepers do declare that they sell not half the drink nor pay the King ½ the Excise they did before these coaches set up 2ly These Coaches and Caravaus are destructive to the Trade and Manufactories of the Kingdom have impoverished and ruined many thousands of Families whose subsistence depended upon the Manufacturing of Wool and Leather two of the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom For before these Coaches were set up Travellers rode on Horseback and men had Boots Spurs Saddles Bridles Sadle-clothes and good riding Suits Coats and Cloaks Stockings and Hats whereby the Wool and Leather of the Kingdom was consumed and the poor people set at work by Carding Combing Spinning Knitting Weaving Fulling And your Cloth Workers Drapers Taylors Saddlers Tanners Curriers Shoemakers Spurriers Lorayners Felt-makers had a good imploy were full of work got money lived handsomely and help'd with their Families to Consume the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdoms But by means of these Coaches these Trades besides many others depending upon them are become almost useless and they with their Families reduced to great necessity insomuch that many thousands of them are cast upon the Parishes wherein they dwell for a Maintenance Besides it is a great hurt to the Girdlers Sword-Cutlers Gunsmiths and Trunk-makers most Gentlemen before they travelled in their Coaches using to ride with Swords Belts Pistols Holsters Portmantues and Hat-cases which in these Coaches they have little or no occasion for For when they rode on Horseback they rode in one Suit carried another to wear when they came to their journeys end or lay by the way But in Coaches a Silk-Suit and an Indian Gown with a Sash Silk-Stockings Beaver-Hats men ride in and carry no other with them because they escape the wet and dirt which on Horse-back they cannot avoid whereas in two or three journeys on Horseback these cloaths and hats were wont to be spoiled Which done they were forced to have new very often and that encreased the Consumption of the Manufactures and the imployment of the Manufacturers which travelling in Coaches doth no way do And if they were women that travelled they used to have Safeguards and Hoods Side-saddles and Pillions with Strappins Saddle or Pillion-cloths which for the most part were either laced or imbroydered to the making of which there went many several Trades seeing there is not one Side-Saddle with the furniture made but before it be furnished there are at least thirty several Trades have a share in the making thereof most of which are either destroyed or greatly prejudiced by the Abatement of their Trade Which being bred unto and having served seven years Apprentiship to learn they know not what other course to take for a Livelyhood And besides all these Inferior Handy-Craftsmen there are the Mercers Silkmen Lace-Men Milliners Linnen and Woollen Drapers Haberdashers and divers other Eminent Trades that receive great prejudice by this way of Travelling For the Mercers sold Silk and Stuff in great quantities for Safeguards Hoods and Riding Clothes for women by which means the Silk-Twisters Winders Throseters Weavers and Dyers had a fuller Imployment the Silk-men sold-more Lace and Imbroidery which kept the Silver-Wyre-Drawers Lace-makers and Imbroyderers And at least ten Trades more were imployed The Linnen-Draper sold more Linnen not only to Sadlers to make up Sadles but to Travellers for their own use nothing wearing out Linnen more than riding Woollen-Drapers sold more Cloth than now Sadlers used before these Coaches were set up to buy 3 or 400 l. worth of Cloth apiece in a year nay some Five hundred and a Thousand pounds worth which they cut out into Saddles and Pillion-Cloths though now there is no Sadler can dispose of One hundred pounds worth of Cloth in a year in his Trade The Milliners and Haberdashers they also sold more Ribbons Gloves Hoods Scarfs and other things belonging to their Trade the dust dirt and rain and riding on Horse-back spoiling and wearing them out much more than travelling in a Coach And on Horseback these things were apter to be lost than in a Coach Trade is a great Mysterie and one Trade depends upon another Were it not too tedious I could shew you how many several Trades there are that go to the making of every one of the things aforementioned and demonstrate that there is scarcely a Trade in England but what is one way or other concerned and prejudiced by these Stage-Coaches especially the Countrey-Trade all over England For passage to London being so easie Gentlemen come to London oftner than they need and their Ladies either with them or having the conveniencies of these Coaches quickly follow them And when they are there they must be in the Mode have all the new Fashions buy all their Cloaths there and go to Plays Balls and Treats where they get such a habit of Jollity and a love to Gayety and Pleasure that nothing afterwards in the Countrey will serve them if ever they should fix their minds to live there again But they must have all from London whatever it costs And there is one grand mischief happens to the Countrey thereby for Gentlemen drain the Countrey of all the money they can get bring it to London and spend it there Whereas if they stayed at home bought their Cloaths and other Commodities of their Neighbours money would be kept circulating amongst them and Chapmen that have served Apprenticeships and set up near them would have a good Trade pay their Rents and live handsomely the Trade betwixt them and the City of London would be renewed Countrey Ladies would be as well pleased provided they be kept from London as if they had all the rich Clothes Modes and Fashions vainly and extravagantly invented and worn in the City assoon as they have them there and Gentlemen would not only save the money they spend in Journeys to buy Cloaths but have as good as need to be worn in the Countrey at easier rates than they must pay at London if they buy when the Fashion comes first up 3ly These Coaches and Caravans hinders the Consumption of all sort of Provisions for Man and Beast thereby bringing down the Rents of Lands For instance a Coach with four Horses carries six Passengers a Caravan with four or five Horses carries twenty or five and twenty These when they come to their Inn club together for a Dish or two of Meat and having no Servants with them spend not above twelve pence or sixteen pence apiece at a place yet perhaps foul four five or six pair of sheets Horses they have none but what draw them and for those the Coach-men agree with the Innkeeper before hand to have their Hay and Oats at so low a rate that he loseth by them and is
forced to beat down the price of them in the Market yet must let the Coachman have them for what he pleaseth otherwise he carries his Passengers to other Inns by which means the Inholders get little or nothing cannot pay their Rent nor hold their Inns without great Abatements Two third parts of what they formerly paid is in some places abated Upon such accounts as these Innholders where these Coaches do come are undone And if so since most Travellers travel in Coaches what must become of all the rest of the Inns on the Roads where these Coaches stay not Believe it they are a considerable number take all the grand Roads in England as York Exeter Chester c. There are about 500 Inns on each Road and these Coaches do not call at fifteen or sixteen of them then what can follow but that the rest be undone and their Landlords lose their Rents But were these Coaches and Caravans down and travelling on Horseback again come into fashion first every Passenger that now travels in Coach would have one Horse at least many of them one two or three Servants with them who now ride sneaking without any Attendants at all whereby in all probability according to moderate Computation there would be at least forty or fifty horses upon the Road instead of nine or ten that draw the Coach and Caravan 2ly These Travellers would disperse themselves into the several Inns upon the Road each man where he could find the best Entertainment whereby Trade would be diffused Innholders be enabled to pay their Rents and encouraged to provide accommodations fit for the reception of Gentlemen 3. Most Horses go to grass in the Summer time which would raise the Rents of pasture-Pasture-Lands about Cities and Corporations and other Towns upon the Roads above what formerly they were which of late years by means of those Coaches have fallen half in half even in Middlesex and other places adjoyning to London it self And nâ— other reason for it can be given but this That Citizens and Gentlemen about the City do not keep Horses as formerly they did Neither doth there now come a fixth part of the Horses to London that used to do but if Stage Coaches be supprest there will be a necessity for men to apply themselves to the breeding keeping and using Horses as formerly they did and it will necessarily occasion the Consumption of five times the quantity of Hay Straw and Horse-Corn that now is consumed whereby Farmers will have a vent for their Commodities and be enabled to pay their Rents for not only will there then be four times the number of Horses travelling upon the Roads as there are now but in the City of London and all the great Towns in England there would be great numbers of good Horses kept by Gentlemen Merchants and Tradesmen for their own uses and by others also to let out to hire to such as shall have occasion to ride and keep not Horses of their own It is very observeable that before these Coaches were set up what with the Horses kept by Merchants and other Tradesmen and Gentlemen in or near London and the Travellers Horses that came to London That City spent all the Hay Straw Beans Pease and Oats that could be spared within twenty or thirty miles thereof And for a further supply had vast quantities from Henly and other Western parts and from below Graves-end by Water besides many Ships Lading of Beans from Hull and of Oats from Lynn and Boston and then Oats and Hay and other Horse-Meat would bear a good price in that Market which was the Standard for all the Markets in England But now since these Coaches set up especially in such multitudes and those so nigh London London cannot consume what grows within twenty miles of it But if they were down the Consumption in London would quickly be as great as ever and that would raise the price of the Commodities advance the price of Lands and cause Rents to be well paid again Not only would every Traveller that now rides in a Coach travel on Horseback if Coaches were down and some of them with two or three Servants and so occasion a greater Consumption of the Provisions for Cattel But further every of these several Travellers who before clubbed together for a Dish or two of Meat would have one two or three Dishes of Meat for himself and his Servants which would occasion the Consumption of six times as much Beef Veal Mutton Lamb and all sorts of Fish Fowl Poultry and other Provisions as is now consumed on the Roads And such Consumption would raise the price of Lands and cause better payment of Rents especially if it be considered That not only will the Consumption be increased by those that travel the Roads but ten-times more would be spent by those who would be imployed in the making those things that Travellers must have when they ride who if they have work and can earn Money will Eat and Drink of the best as formerly they did when several Handicraft Tradesmen in London kept 20 30 or 40 Journeymen at work spent a quarter of Beef and a Carcass of Mutton in a week in their Houses who since these Coaches set up have fallen to a couple of Apprentices and though as eminent of their Trade as any about London yet can hardly earn Bread to put into their heads If it be so then that Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans are so injurious to the Publick destructive to Trade and the occasion of the fall of Rents it would be worth time to consider what is in them worthy of their being countenanced and desired And whether the Inconveniencies be not much greater than the Conveniencies men receive by them If this way of travelling were the way that of all wayes appeared most beneficial least expensive conducing to Health advantagious to men in their business absolutely necessary to some useful to others and imposed upon none There were some reason for mens being in love with them but if the contrary be apparent then what madness possesseth men to court their Inconveniencies and Mischiefs Let us examine these things Men receive not the greatest benefit by travelling in these Coaches For can that way be beneficial to any that hinders and destroyes Trade prevents the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom and thereby lowers the Rents of Landlords For First Can a Gentleman receive benefit or advantage by saving 5 l. per Ann. in a journey when by his manner of travelling he lowers his own Rents three times as much in a year as he saves by his Journeys by countenancing that kind of conveyance that hinders the Consumption of the products of his own Estate and thereby makes his Tenants unable to pay their Rents 2ly Is it to be believed That a Tradesman arrives at any profit by these Coaches though he should save a little Money when he rides in them that he must necessarily expend if he
travels on Horseback No for this manner of travelling hinders the Sale of those Commodities they deal in of which much more would be consumed than is if such Coaches were down and by the Sale whereof they would get much more than they save by confining themselves to travelling as aforesaid so that plainly it is their interest to promote that way of travelling that tends to the greatest Consumption of the Manufacturies or Commodities wherein they deal 3ly The Husbandmen who live by the sweat of their Brows in manuring the Estates of the Gentry they are undone by this easie carriage for it hinders their selling their Corn Hay and Straw and other the products of their Farms and brings down the price of what they sell thereby rendring them unable to pay their Rents or to hold their Farms without considerable abatements which if not given them their Lands are thrown up into the Landlords hands and little or no benefit made by them 4ly The Grasiers they complain for want of a Vent for their Cattel which they had before these Coaches were erected Not that I do imagine Coaches to be the only reason of the want of that Consumption though it be evident they go far in the promoting that mischief for the want of People in England the loss of many thousands from amongst us of late years and the leaving of eating off Suppers by those that are left alive go a great way therein But these two may be easily remedied The former by the General Act of Naturalization and Liberty of Conscience proposed before which would bring all Foreigners in amongst us The latter by mens spending less in Taverns Playes and Balls and keeping up in lieu thereof the ancient laudable Customes of England of good House-keeping and thereby relieving the Poor Half the Money that Gentlemen idly spend in Taverns upon French Wines for which the Coin of the Kingdom is exhausted or upon Playes Bills treating Mistresses fine Clothes Toyes from France or other Foreign parts would defray the charges of having good Suppers every night whereby the product of our own Lands would be consumed and that would raise Rents Nay I am verily perswaded if it were duly considered and that all men as formerly would fall to eating of Suppers at least to dressing of them and when drest if they eat not themselves would give them to the Poor the increase of the Consumption would raise the Rents of Lands as much above what now they do go at at least in most places of England as would defray the charges of those Suppers If so would it not then be of great advantage to Men in their Estates and to the Kingdom in general But to proceed If the Gentlement the Tradesmen the Husbandmen the Grasier be not benefited by this travelling I am sure the last sort of Travellers To wit The Poor they cannot be profited thereby For Waggons or the Long Coaches first invented and still in use would be most for their interest to travel in being far less expensive than the other so that these Running Coaches are not most beneficial to every sort of Travellers Secondly Men do not travel in these Coaches with less expence of Money or Time than on Horseback For on Horseback they may travel faster and if they please all things duly considered with as little if not less charges For instance From London to Exeter Chester or York you pay 40 shillings apiece in Summer time 45 shillings in Winter for your Passage and as much from those places back to London besides in the Journey they change Coachmen four times and there are few Passengers but gives 12 pence to each Coachman at the end of his Stage which comes to 8 shillings in the Journey backward and forward and at least 3 shillings comes to each Passengers share to pay for the Coachmens Drink on the Road so that in Summer time the Passage backward and forward to any of these places costs 4 l. 11 s. in the Winter 5 l 1 s. and this only for eight dayes riding in the Summer and 12 in the Winter Then when the Passengers come to London they must have Lodgings which perhaps may cost them five or six shillings a week and that in fourteen dayes amounts unto 10 or 12 s. which makes the 4 l. 11 s. either 5 l. 1 s. or 5 l. 3 s. or the 5 l. 1 s. 5 l. 11 s. or 5 l. 13 s. besides the inconveniency of having Meat from the Cooks at double the price they might have it for in Inns. But if Stage-Coaches were down and men travelled again as formerly on Horseback then when they came into their Inns they would pay nothing for Lodgings And as there would excellent Horses be bred and kept by Gentlement for their own use so would there be by others that would keep them on purpose to Lett which would as formerly be let at 10 or 12 s. per week and in many places for 6 8 or 9 s. per week but admitting the lowest price to be 12 s. if a Man comes from York Exeter or Chester to London be five dayes a coming five dayes going and stay twelve dayes in London to dispatch his business which is the most that Countrey Chapmen usually to stay all this would be but three weeks so that his Horse-hire would come but to 1 l. 16 s. his Horse-meat at 1 s. 2 d. a day one with another which is the highest that can be reckoned upon and will come but to 1 l. 5 s. in all 3 l. 1 s. so that there would be at least 40 or 50 s. saved of what Coach-hire and Lodgings will cost him which would go a great way in paying for Riding-Clothes Stockings Hats Boots Spurs and other Accoutrements for riding and in my poor opinion would be far better spent in the buying of these things by the making whereof the poor would be set at work and kept from being burthensom to the Parish than to give it to those Stage-Coachmen to indulge that lazy idle habit of Body that men by constant riding in these Coaches have brought upon themselves Besides if thus their Money were spent they would save a great deal which now if Men of any Estates they pay for relief of those poor who for want of the work they had before those Coaches were set up and might have again if they were put down are fallen upon the several Parishes wherein they live for maintenance which charge would be quickly taken off if they were restored to their work Thus in proportion may a Man save from all longer or shorter Stages For instance from Northampton men pay for passage in Coach to London 16 s. and so much back from Bristol 25 s. from Bath 20 s. from Salisbury 20 or 25 s. from Redding 7 s. the like sums back and so in proportion for longer or shorter Stages Judge them whether men may not hire Horses cheaper than 5 s. a day I am sure they
last are brought to sell their Estates and being reduced to such necessities by the Subtilties of these persons are forced to be beholden to them to procure purchasers which when they perceive they usually play their game as followeth the seller is by them perswaded that they can get no purchaser but such as doth object against their Title or their persons using many frivolous delayes till they drive them to such distress that they must sell at any rate And then their living remote in the Country or being under protections as Parliament-Men or Courtiers or their Estates lying far from London or the uncertainty of what Incumbrances may be thereupon are Objections which they raise pretending that all Men they propose their Estates unto upon these or such-like accounts are afraid to deal with them unless such as wait for good bargains and will not purchase except they can buy below the Market-price By which means they so contrive the matter with the Venders that they enforce them to sell that for thirteen fourteen or fifteen years purchase which really is worth twenty And out of that Contract their manner is to bargain for a good Gratuity for themselves although they at the same time have agreed with the Purchaser that is to have the Land for one or two years purchase more than they are to pay to the Sellers And the better to manage their Designs the Buyers are concealed and the Land-Brokers and Jobbers of Land find other persons to personate the Purchaser so that the Vender is never suffered to know or see them till the Writings be drawn wherein the Considerations are frequently exprest to be a year or two's Purchase more than the Vender is to receive for the same Which when they question the Reason of they are informed that it is done only to enable the Purchasers to demand better prices when they sell the same and to keep up the reputed value thereof Thus do they enrich themselves by imposing upon Gentlemen in extremity through an artificial debasing the value of their Estates exacting great Gratuities from the Purchasers also This is the common Practice of your Land-Brokers and Jobbers and their Confederates But if Registers were setled and all Incumbrances registred so that men might be secure no dormant Securities after they have lent their Money upon Mortgages or purchased for valuable Considerations could be started up to defeat them of their Interests and then Gentlemen that have Money lying dead by them would be as glad to lend it at easie rates to honest Gentlemen upon good Security as those that want it would be to be supplied therewith And Lands undoubtedly would come to be worth as formerly twenty years purchase if Men could but be secured in their Titles So that all persons that either have or suppose they ever may have any Estate to sell or Money to borrow understand not their own Interest if they oppose the setling of the Registers proposed The last sort of people that I presume may be agriev'd at this Registry are such who having lived high and spent their Estates extravagantly and perhaps entred into Judgments Statutes and Recognizances to double the value thereof and have mortgaged their Lands over and over and then get Protections whereby they keep off Suits or abscond themselves so that they cannot be found by their Creditors and are wont thereby to keep their Estates in possession and can no way for the future live but by doing further acts of dishonesty which whilst their Estates remain in their possession they have opportunity to do Such unrighteous Actions will for the future be prevented and the present Designs of this nature be defeated if Registers be setled So that such persons are concerned to oppose the same But I hope such Creatures as these are and their Designs will easily be seen through and have little respect given them by Parliament In short Were the Registry as desired setled and the Profit arising thereby brought into the Exchequer the Work may be done good Allowances appointed for those that shall be imployed therein and but a small sum would be imposed upon the Subjects for Registring their Claim and yet by computation at least 50000 l. per annum be brought into the Treasury which would be an additional help towards payment of the Publick Debts IV. THe Fourth Thing Proposed is That an Act be passed for a general Naturalization of all Foreign Protestants and for granting Liberty of Conscience to such of them as shall come over and Inhabit amongst us and that the like Liberty be given to his Majesties Subjects at home There is nothing so much wanting in England as People and of all sorts of People the Industrious and Laborious sort and Handycraft-men are wanted to Till and Improve our Land and help to Manufacture the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom which would add greatly to the Riches thereof The two last great Plagues the Civil Wars at Home and the several Wars with Holland Spain and France have destroyed several hundred thousands of Men which lived amongst us besides vast numbers have Transported themselves or been Transported into Ireland and other our Foreign Plantations who when they were living amongst us did Eat our Provisions Wore off our Manufacturies imployed themselves in some Calling or other beneficial to the Nation the want of which calls for a supply of People from some place or other and it is in my judgment worthy our Observation That the Men thus lost from amongst us are of greater consideration and the loss more mischievous to the Kingdom than meerly the death or removal of so many Persons considering that they were Men in the prime of their years in perfect strength such who had they not dyed or been killed or removed might every year have begotten Children and thereby encreased the World So that three times the number of Children might have been better spared than they For instance Say there be but 100000 Men by these means gone from amongst us and instead of them 300000 Children had been taken away and the Men left it would have been much better for they in two years and a half or three years time might have gotten so many Children again but the Men dying or being gone and the Children living it may be ten or twenty years before they come to Marry and beget Children And notwithstanding the great mischief this Nation hath sustained by the loss of these Men yet so inconsiderate are the Inhabitants thereof concerning their own Interest which if possible is to have the Kingdom full of People that they are taking up another way to prevent the peopling thereof for the future there being almost all over England a Spirit of Madness running abroad and possessing Men against Marrying rather chusing to have Mistresses by whom very few ever have any Children And many Marryed Women by their lewd Conversations prevent the bringing forth many Children which otherwise they might have had These Humours and
Practices if continued will prove so mischievous that unless Foreigners come in amongst us in few years there will not be People to Manure our Lands Eat our Provisions Wear our Manufactures or Manufacture the Staple-Commodities that are of the growth of the Kingdom without which it is no wonder if Lands yield little Rent or Sell not for above 14 or 15 years Purchase And if Foreigners must come over or our Estates here grow worse there must then Encouragement be given them so to do else they will think themselves Well-Seated where they are following their Trades encreasing their Estates Enjoying all the Liberties and Priviledges of Free-born Subjects know how and have Liberty and Encouragement to improve their Estates and when they have got them can keep them therefore will never come themselves nor bring over their Families or Estates amongst us here to be accounted of as Aliens and Strangers such as may not purchase Estates amongst us and if they do shall not enjoy the same nor their Children after them That sort of people which we most want are such who though they would come over and dwell amongst us yet cannot spare 50 or 60 l. out of their Stock to procure themselves naturalized by Act of Parliament especially if they bring over Wife and Children with them which would be more advantageous for us than for them to come over alone Or if they should spare Money to Naturalize themselves yet perhaps they may not have so much as to pay for the naturalizing of their Wives and Children who as our laws are cannot be permitted to Inherit what their Fathers purchase unless they be naturalized also So that an Act for a General Naturalization is absolutely necessary if we will be supplyed with People from Foreign parts But the passing such Act alone will not be sufficient to encourage Foreigners to come and dwell amongst us there must be Liberty of Conscience also granted unto them and they must be assured that they shall not be Imprisoned Banished or have their Estates seized and taken from them and sold only for differing from the Church of England in the way of their Discipline whilst they agree in the Fundamentals of Religion live peaceably under the Civil Government and disturbe not the Government of the Church established for they having such liberty abroad where they are will not without assureance of the same here be induced to come amongst us How many thousands have left England and gone to seek shelter in Forreign parts for the persecution they were under for their Consciences who otherwise with their Families would have Continued amongst us How many have been forced to leave their Trades by being kept in Prison and having their Goods and Estates taken from them How many for fear of being undone not knowing but that so soon as their Goods come into their Shops they may be seized for their having been at Conventicles have left their Trades drawn off their Stocks and keep up their Money not knowing how soon they may have occasion to make use of it in the time of their distresses which otherwise would have been imployed in Trade to the benefit of the Kingdom How many thousands of Farmers have been necessitated to leave their Farms and come to dwell in London or to live obscurely in the Country for fear lest when they should have imployed their Stocks Plowed and Sowed their Land Reaped their Corn and Stocked their pasture-Pasture-Land all should be taken from them and they imprisoned and forced from their Families for their Religion Are not these great mischiefs to the Kingdom and great reasons of the decay of Trade and of Gentlemen their wanting Tenants for their Lands a thing so generally complained of all over England that men are not suffered to live as they would do quietly and employ and improve their Stocks as they might do to the advantage of Trade and the Kingdom in General which if they were permitted would occasion the Consumption of more of the provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom Imploy more poor people at Work and thereby Improve the Rent of Lands and would send many of the Gentry and Farmers who left the Country for the Reasons aforesaid and now live obscure in London and some other places back to their Country-houses or to their Farms again it would remove their Fears quiet their Minds and cause their Purses again to be opened and every one would be putting himself upon some way of Improving his Estate and not live upon the main Stock as now they are forced to do It were greatly to be wished that there were more love and Charity amongst us And that all men would Consider seriously what they do when they take upon themselves thus to impose their own Principles upon all others as such that are only right and Condemn all others as Erroneous this is to magnifie themselves as Infallible and despise all others Upon all these Reasons I humbly submit to Judgment whether an Act for a general Naturalization and Liberty of Conscience be not absolutely necessary at this time And whether the Passing thereof may not be of great advantage to the Kingdom since it would increase Trade Promote a vast Consumption of the Manufactures and Provisions of the Kingdom make us more Industrious Imploy more of our Poor Increase his Majesties Revenue of Customs and bring our Lands to let for greater Rents and to sell for more years Purchase than ever heretofore they would have done V. THe Fifth Thing Proposed is That the Act for Prohibition of the Importation of Foreign Cattle so far as it relates to Ireland and Westphalia-Hams may be Repealed This Act hath no way answered the end designed by the passing thereof but on the contrary proved First Very prejudicial to his Majesty in his Revenue of Customs Secondly To all or most of the Land-Owners in England Thirdly To the Navigation and Trade of the Kingdoms 1. To his Majesty for before this Act passed there were so many great Cattle and Sheep Imported from Ireland as Computing the Custom paid for them and for the other Commodities exported out of England into Ireland in lieu of them amounted yearly to 80000 l. besides the Customs of all Norway Spanish and Westphalia Hams which sum the King loseth every year and the Kingdom to their Vast prejudice have lost that Trade 2. To Land-Owners this prohibition must necessarily be a great prejudice If it be considered 1. That the Breeding-Lands of England are not able to raise a sufficient Stock for the feeding six months feeding being as much as four years Breeding 2. That by reason of the scarcity of such Stock the Breeders Impose a greater price on Lean Cattle then they will yield when fatted whereby Feeding-Land becomes worth little or nothing 3. That for want of Irish Cattle the Victualling both for Home-Consumption and Foreign Trade and Naval Provisions most of it is transferred from England into Ireland which is a great prejudice