Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
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A47431
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Animadversions on a pretended Account of Danmark
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King, William, 1663-1712.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing K522; Wing K543A; ESTC R2390
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79,308
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234
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hâ—nce that Trade is not discouraged in Danmark p. 81. since by his Confesâ—â—â—on Courtierâ— and great men become Undertakers It is certain likewise that in Danmark several Manufactures have succeeded very well others indeed have noâ— had the same success not because property is not secur'd but because they can have the same Commodities cheaper from Holland Spain or England The making Silks and Drinking Glasses though these latter are made in great perfection in Copenhagen did not turn to account because there is no property in Danmark Should you Sir take Sir Robert Viners House in Lombardstreet and set up a Manufacture for the making Tacks at three pence a thousand and employ about 500 Smiths to furnish London with 'em and this project should not turn to one per cent must I attribute this misfortune to the unsecureness of the English property or rather to the discretion of the Ironmongers who can have them about II d. in the Shilling cheaper if they will but send to Brumigham Who thinks his Estate to have the worse title because he sees People daily fling their Money away in Stock-jobbing There being an impossibility of having Manufactures introduc'd into Danmark p. 84. trading Towns and Villages are all fallen to decay Kioge once a flourishing little Sea-Port Town lent Christian IV. two hundred thousand Rixdollars but upon occasion of the late Poll Tax the Collectors were forced to take Featherbeds Brass Pewter c. in lieu of Money That trading Towns should fall to decay when Trade encreases will scarce gain belief As for Kioge that Town lying within four Leagues of Copenhagen 't is no wonder if the Trade is in some measure decreased since the flourishing of that City We have this Authors word for it that Kioge raised so much money in four and twenty hours time Two hundred thousand Rixdollars and those as was said before equivalent to English pounds is a good round summ for a little Town to lend in a days time they lent so much then that it is no great wonder they have no great plenty now However it was no such great sight in England even in King Charles's time to see a sturdy fray between a Collector of Chimney-money and an Old Woman in behalf of her Porridge Pot and batter'd Pewter Dish the only Ornament of her Cupboard And yet I suppose the Author does not take us to have been undone then though such an instance which he has only by hear-say p. 85. is enough to prove all the Danes to be ruin'd If this be the Case of the Gentleman and Burgher what can be expected to be that of the poor Peasant p. 86. What indeed In Sealand they are all as absolute Slaves as the Negroes are in Barbadoes but with this difference that their fare is not so good For indeed every body knows that there is great care taken by the Planter throughout all the West Indies to provide dainties for their Negroes which consist of Pork very seldom and Potato's always The Author is to bâ— excused for his mistakes in this paragraph because they cannot so easily be rectified without the Danish Law which I suppose he never consulted It must be known that from immemorial time in Sealand there has been a Law about Vornede as they are called in Danmark that is Vassals the â—â—â— whereof is that a Boor born upon a Landlord's Land is obliged to stay there and not to leave his Service except he is freed by his Landlord But first what he says that neither they nor their Posterity to all Generations can leave the Land to which they belong p. 86. is far from being true for the Landlord may make them free when he pleases which is often practised Or they may obtain their freedom for a small summ of money which is done commonly Or if it happens that a Vassal comes away and stays ten years in a City or twenty in the Country any where without his Landlords ground he is free from his claim Secondly That Gentlemen count their Riches by their stocks of Boors as here with us byour stocks of Cattle p. 86. is of the same stamp As we say such a Gentleman has so many Tenants by which we mean so many Farms so throughout all Danmark they say he has so many Boors not that he has many head of Boors as we would say of Cattle Thirdly That in case of Purchase they are sold as belonging to the Freehold just as Timber Trees In England when a Mannor is sold all the services due to the Mannor are sold with it and it is no otherwise in Danmark Further the Landlord cannot go for the Law says the Landlord may make his Vassal free but he must by no means sell him to another if the Vassal be sold then he 's free both from him that sold and bought him Neither fourthly Do the Boors with all that belongs to them appertain to the Proprietor of the Land For such a Vassal owes nothing more to his Landlord than that he shall stay on his Land till his Ground and pay him his Rent which when it is done reasonably the Landlord can require nothing more of him so that this Law of Vassals in Sealand was principally introduc'd that the Landlords might not want Tenants These Vassals may be transplanted from one Farm to another The Vornede are only in Sealand and the King would have given them freedom there since the Alteration but that he was shewed there would have been several inconveniencies attending it As to the condition of the Country People throughout the rest of Danmark and Norway it is just like that of the Farmers in England paying their Rent and Due to the Landlord or leaving his Farm when they cannot agree together They do indeed â—â—arter Souldiers but it is in the manner before described And they are bound to furnish Horses and Waggons for the Kings Baggage and Retinue when he travels These are provided by an Officer in the nature of our Constable who takes care that there shall be an equal share for every Peasant throughout Sealand and other Provinces where the King of Danmark travels so that it does not come to the same Boors turn above once a year for not only they that live near the Road but those likewise who lye farther off must attend in their order This seemed to our Author to be the greatest hardship imposed on these poor Peasants He has seen 'em so beaten and abus'd by Lacqueys that it has often mov'd his pity and indignation to see it p. 90. Tender hearted Gentleman There was no Provocation on the Boors side I warrant you They are generally better bred than to give ill language If you were so touched with this how would your Pity Sir have been mov'd had you seen a Dane's head broke in a violent Passion because he could not leta Draw-bride down soon â—nough or had you seen one of the Kings Huntsmen cut over the pate by a Footman
are taxed by the King when he pleases This is called Byskat or Town-Tax and is contributed towards the City Stock and is a very small matter nothing near 4 per Cent. as he afterwards p. 103. would perswade us In the oâ—her Cities of Danmark this Tax was never known to be paid to the King but in Copenhagen such a thing may have happened once instead of another Tax which then ceased We come next to six very edifying Pages viz. p. 103 104 105 106 107 108. where any one that is curious may know the Excise upon Mustard seed Eggs Tripe and Coleworts also upon Eels Soap and Herrings which sheet of his Book can be no where more acceptable nor of greater use than for the more careful Preservation of those Commodities when they are to be carried from Leaden-hall or Newgate Market Publick Mills it seems there are p. 109. where all the Inhabitants of Copenhagen are bound to grind and to pay the Summs above-mentioned for grinding There are such Mills but they cause no new Tax and what is paid for grinding there is as cheap as it would be done any where else they being appointed only that so the Consumption Tax may not be avoided Having gone a second time over his Taxes and given an account oâ— some that had never been and others that have seldom been he comes at last p. 113. to one that had like to have been For if the Kings only â—aughter had been married to the Elector of Saxony as she was about â—o be a Tax had certainly been levy'd Perhaps there might in the mean time what does this Tax do here Especially when in the very next words â—e supposes that by this an English Reader has taken a Surâ—eit of his account of Taxes For if he must have surfeited us it might have been with something to the purpose I confess no Tax the Danes lye under surfeits me half so much as the having paid three Shillings for such a Narrative After all that he has said it is easily imagined that a Fleet and Army cannot be maintained without Taxes which are raised either upon Land by Poll-money or Excise His present Majesty has with great Wisdom caused a vâ—luation of all Houses in Cities and an admeasurement of all â—ands in the Country p. 110. from whence every man pays in proportion to his Estate and each Farm is tax'd higher or lower according to the Fertility of the Land Seasonableness of the Year or Ability of the Landlord pâ—101 so there is an eâ—uality of the Taxes and the manner of Taxing p. 247. This makes the People both willing and able to bear them and as the contrary viz. unequal Taxation was the cause of the Alteration of the Government so this is the Preservation of it Were Danmark in a profound Peace as the Author imagins p. 114. then he might have cried out with some reason Pax servientibus gravior est quam liberis bellum But when the greatest Princes of Europe are in Arms during the Noise and Tumult of War the Peace of Danmark cannot be so profound And I believe that it is no ill Maxim for a Neuter Prince to take care whilst his Neighbours are in War that the Conqueror shall not be able to hurt him Danmark endeavours to do this and accordingly keeps up a Fleet and Army so that if a War should happen he need not be in suspence whether his Subjects could possibly bear a greater Burthen p. 110. for there would not be a necessity for much more towards maintaining them and then besides the disciplining of the men there would be all that charge sâ—ved which attends upon the Levying of new Souldiers From this account of Taxes the Author brings us to a Catalogue of other Miseries The number of trading Ships is decreased and does not come up to what it did within these 30 years p. 116. and the foreign Trade of Norway is considerably diminisht sâ—nce their late Quarrel with the Dutch p. 115. whereas in truth the Trade never was greater than it is now and the Dutch can so little be supplied with their Wooden Commodities from Sweden that they are glad to refix their Commerce with Norway again He gives us p. 117. his computation of the Ships that Trade thither and that pass the Sound yearly but I never lik'd his computations because I have before found him wrong in his Arithmetick and at present there is a difference that I cannot easily reconcile In his Chapter of the Sound p. 23 24 25. he recites a Letter from a very Understanding Person March 31st 1691. which gives him to understand that since the Peace with Sweden the Sound has not yeilded above 80000 Rixdollars per annum and the last Year past it did not reach to full 7â—000 Now if I should have believed his understanding Friend what a mistake I might have run into For when the Author himself comes to give us his opinion of it p. 115. he says that in the years 1690 and 1691 it amounted not to much more than 65000 Rixdollars at which rate we may judge it likely to continue Seeing this disagreement between him and his understanding Friend what credit can we Strangers give to the Letter of Advice when there are at Least 4000 Rixdollars in the account between 'em which he will not take his Friends word for There is another branch of the Kings Revenue p 117. which is least considerable and arises from the Rents of the Crown Lands and confiseated Estates The latter are in the Kings hands either upon account of Forfeiture for Treason and other crimes or by reason of Debt and Non-payment of Taxes but notwithstanding this addition of Lands the King is so far from being the richer that he is the poorer for it And were the thing true that Estates fell into the Crown rather than pay Taxes it would be great pity that the King should receive no advantage by them but such Surrenders are as imaginary as his Confiscations for Treason and other crimes For Danmark is that happy Country where according to his own words p. 139. You never hear of any Person guilty of the crime of Treason against the King there are no Clippers and Coyners no Robbers upon the High-way nor House-breakers So that if he being an exact Arithmetician will put together the Rents of Estates given to the King rather than pay Taxes the Rents of Estates confiscated for Treason Rents of Estates forfeited for Coyning Robbing and House breaking to the Money arising to his Majesty from the Tax which might have been p. 113. the Summ total will probably be just nothing But farther as for this sort of Land it generally turns to Forest and contributes to his Diversion though little to his Purse p. 113. It is a sign his Purse needs no supply when he can afford so much ground for his Diversion And then the Royal Palaces run to decay ib. And so they do in all Countries when the Prince