such parts as are found useful and to add such other Restrictions Penalties and Provisions as may effectualy attain the End of this great Work The Laws hereunto relating are numerous but the Judgment and Opinions given upon them are so various and contradictory and differ so in sundry places as to be inconsistent with any one general Scheme of Management Tenthly That proper Persons be appointed in every County to determine all Matters and Differences which may arise between the Corporation and the respective Parishes To prevent any ill Usage Neglect or Cruelty it will be necessary to make Provision that the Poor may tender their Complaints to Officers of the Parish and that those Officers having examin'd the same and not finding Redress may apply to Persons to be appointed in each County and each City for that purpose who may be call'd Supervisors of the Poor and may have Allowance made them for their Trouble and their Business may be to examine the Truth of such Complaints and in case either the Parish or Corporation judge themselves agriev'd by the Determination of the said Supervisors Provision may be made that an Appeal lie to the Quarter Sessions Eleventhly That the Corporation be oblig'd to provide for all publick Beggars and to put the Laws in Execution against publick Beggars and idle vagrant Persons Such of the publick Beggars as can work must be employ'd the rest to be maintain'd as impotent Poor but the Laws to be severely put in Execution against those who shall ask any publick Alms. THis Proposal which in most parts of it seems to be very maturely weigh'd may be a Foundation for those to build upon who have a publick Spirit large enough to embrace such a noble Undertaking But the common Obstruction to any thing of this Nature is a malignant Temper in some who will not let a publick Work go on if private Persons are to be Gainers by it When they are to get themselves they abandon all Sense of Virtue but are cloath'd in her whitest Robe when they smell Profit coming to another masking themselves with a false Zeal to the Common-wealth where their own Turn is not to be serv'd It were better indeed that Men would serve their Country for the Praise and Honour that follow good Actions but this is not to be expected in a Nation at least leaning towards Corruption and in such an Age 't is as much as we can hope for if the Prospect of some honest Gain invites People to do the Publick faithful Service For which Reason in any Undertaking where it can be made apparent that a great Benefit will accrue to the Common-wealth in general we ought not to have an evil Eye upon what fair Advantages particular Men may thereby expect to Reap still taking care to keep their Appetite of getting within moderate Bounds laying all just and reasonable Restraints upon it and making due Provision that they may not wrong or oppress their Fellow Subjects 'T is not to be deny'd but that if fewer Hands were suffer'd to remain idle and if the Poor had full Employment it would greatly tend to the Common Welfare and contribute much towards adding every Year to the general Stock of England Among the Methods that we have here propos'd of Employing the Poor and making the whole Body of the People useful to the Publick We think it our Duty to mind those who consider the Common Welfare of looking with a compassionate Eye into the Prisons of this Kingdom where many Thousands consume their Time in Vice and Idleness wasting the Remainder of their Fortunes or lavishing the Substance of their Creditors eating Bread and doing no Work which is contrary to good Order and pernicious to the Common-wealth We cannot therefore but recommend the Thoughts of some good Bill that may effectually put an end to this Mischief so scandalous in a Trading Country which should let no Hands remain useless 'T is not all difficult to contrive such a Bill as may Relieve and Release the Debtor and yet preserve to his Creditors all their fair just and honest Rights and Interest And having in this Matter endeavour'd to show that to preserve and increase the People and to make their Numbers useful are Methods conducing to make us Gainers in the Ballance of Trade we shall proceed to handle the second Head SECT III. Of the Land of England and its Product IN treating of this Matter we shall again produce one of Mr. King's Schemes which are all of them so accurately done that we may venture to say they are not to be contraverted in any Point so material as to destroy the Foundation of those Reasonings which the Writer of these Papers or any other Person shall form upon them He computes that England and Wales contain 39 Millions of Acres according to the following Scheme Vide Scheme E. Scheme E.  Acres Value per Acre Rent   l. s. d. l. Arable Land 9,000,000 0 5 6 2,480,000 Pasture and Meadow 12,000,000 0 8 8 5,200,000 Woods and Coppices 3,000,000 0 5 0 750,000 Forests Parks and Commons 3,000,000 0 3 8 570,000 Heaths Moors Mountains and barren Land 10,000,000 0 1 0 500,000 Houses and Homesteads Gardens and Orchards Churches and Church-yards 1,000,000 The Land 450,000 The Buildings 2,000,000 Rivers Lakes Meers and Ponds 500,000 0 2 0 50,000 Roads Ways and wast Land 500,000 0 0 0  In all 39,000,000 about 6 2 12,000,000  True Yearly Value Value as rated to the 4s Tax Produce of the 4s Tax  l. l. l. So the yearly Rents or Value of the Land is 10,000,000 6,500,000 1,300,000 The Houses and Buildings 2,000,000 1,500,000 300,000 All other Hereditaments 1,000,000 500,000 100,000 Personal Estates such as have been reach'd in the 4 s. Aids 1,000,000 550,000 100,000 In all 14,000,000 9,050,000 1,800,000 So that whereas the Tax of 4 s. per Pound one Aid with another has produc'd but 1,800,000 It should produce if duly Assess'd 2,800,000 Place this Scheme p. 70. SCHEME F. The Produce of the Arable Land he thus Estimates in a Year of moderate Plenty  Bushels per Bushel Value   s. d.  Wheat 14,000,000 at 3 6 2,450,000 Rye 10,000,000 at 2 6 1,250,000 Barly 27,000,000 at 2 0 2,700,000 Oats 16,000,000 at 1 6 1,200,000 Pease 7,000,000 at 2 6 857,000 Beans 4,000,000 at 2 6 500,000 Vetches 1,000,000 at 2 0 100,000 In all 79,000,000 at 2 3 4 7 5 9 9,075,000 This is only the Neat Produce exclusive of the Seed Corn which in some sorts of Grain being near 1 5 of the Produce and in others 1 8 may in general be reckon'd about 11 Millions of Bushels more which makes the whole Produce to be 90 Millions of Bushels which at 2 s. 3 4 7 5 9 d. per Bushel in Common is about 10,338,600 l. Note That this Value is what the same is worth upon the Spot where the Corn grew but this Value is increas'd by the Carriage to the
Place where it is at last spent at least ¼ part more These 79 Millions of Bushels of Grain are the Product of 8 of the 9 Millions of Acres of Arable Land the other Million of Acres producing Hemp Flax Woad Saffron Rape Hops dying Weeds c. the Value of the Product thereof may be about One Million Sterling So that the Rent of the corn-Corn-Land being about 2,200,000 l. per Annum and the Neat Produce thereof above 9,000,000 l. the Produce is full four Rents But deducting 1 13 part of the Neat Produce or 700,000 l. in lieu of Tyths there remains 8,375,000 l. or three Rents and near 8 10. Now the Rents or yearly Value of the Pasture and Meadows Woods Coppices Forrests Parks Commons Heaths Moors Mountains and Barren Land being about 7,000,000 l. The Produce being but 12,000,000 l. does not make fully two Rents there being little Charge either in cultivating the Land or gathering the Product thereof comparatively to what there is in the Arable Land This Produce is principally in and by Cattle Hay Timber and Fire-wood  l. The Produce by Cattle in Butter Cheese and Milk may be about 2,500,000 The Value of the Wool yearly shorn about 2,000,000 The Value of the Horses yearly bred about 250,000 The Value of the Flesh yearly spent as Food about 3,350,000 The Value of the Tallow and Hides of the Cattle about 600,000 The Value of Hay yearly consum'd by Horses about 1,300,000 The Hay yearly consum'd by other Cattle about 1,000,000 The Timber yearly fell'd for Building and such Uses about 500,000 The Wood yearly spent in Firing and petty Uses about 500,000 So the Produce including 1 Million in Hay spent by Cattle may be in all 12,000,000 SCHEME G. An Estimate of the Live Stock of the Nation  Yearly Bread or Increase The whole Stock Value of each besides the Skin Value of the Stock    l. s. d. l. Beeves Sterks and Calves 800,000 4,500,000 2 00 00 9,000,000 Sheep and Lambs 3,600,000 12,000,000 0 07 04 4,400,000 Swine and Piggs 1,300,000 2,000,000 0 16 00 1,600,000 Deer and Fawns 20,000 100,000 2 00 00 200,000 Goats and Kids 10,000 50,000 0 10 00 25,000 Hares and Leverets 12,000 24,000 0 01 06 1,800 Rabits and Conies 2,000,000 1,000,000 0 00 05 20,833  7,742,000 19,674,000 0 00 00 15,247,633  l. So the value of the live Stock for Food may be 15,247,633 The value of the Horses c. being 1,200,000 at 2 l. 10 s. each breeding Annually 100,000 may be 3,000,000 The value of the Pelts and Skins over and above the Wool 2,400,000 The value of the Wool Yearly shorn or pelted 12,000,000 of Fleeces at 3 s. 4 d. per Fleece 2,000,000 The value of the whole Stock of Tame Fowl as Geese Turkeys Hens Ducks Pigeons Swans and Peacocks 460,000 The whole Stock of Wild Fowl about 12,000 In all 23,119,633 From these Schemes we shall make such Observations as we think may relate to our present Subject Of the 39 Millions of Acres in Territory belonging to England he lays down that there may be above a fourth part viz. ten Millions of Acres in Heaths Moors Mountains and Barren Land three Millions of Acres in Woods and Coppices and three Millions in Forests Parks and Commons This Division of the Land seems to be made with great Judgment First Because it agrees very well with the Consumption of several Commodities of which we can come at a near knowledge by the Excises now in being Secondly It corresponds exactly with that Increase in the Kingdoms General Rental which for these last hundred Years may have been observ'd from the Produce of divers Land-Taxes and from several other Particulars And there are undeniably Reasons to be given That this General Rental Anno 1600. did not exceed six Millions per Annum but through the help of that Wealth which has flow'd in to us by our Foreign Trade it has advanc'd in several Periods of time from 6 to 8 from 8 to 10 and from 10 to 14 Millions per Annum When the General Rental was but six Million per Annum there was a great deal more barren Land of that which was cultivated very much was capable of Melioration and there were more Forests Woods Coppices Commons and wast Ground than there is now which our Wealth did enable us from time to time to inclose cultivate and improve And for the future as we grow in Riches and as our People increase those many Millions of Acres which now are Barren will by degrees most of them be improv'd and cultivated for there is hardly any sort of Ground which Numbers of Men will not render fertile but then it must be suppos'd that we do not go backward in our Trade for if that should happen instead of improving what is wast that which is improv'd and cultivated will rather return to the Wildness and Desolation of former Times for as we have said in our former Discourses Land and Trade rise and fall together Trade brings in the Stock this Stock well and industriously manag'd betters Land and brings more Product of all kind for Exportation the Returns of which Growth and Product are to make a Country Gainers in the Ballance As to our quantity of Land in Relation to its Inhabitants as the Case stands we seem now to have about 7 ¼ Acres per Head but there are many Reasons to think that England is capable of nourishing double its present Number of People which supposing them now to be 5,500,000 would be eleven Millions and even then there will be as many Acres per Head as they have in Holland And when we have this Complement of Men either in the natural Course of time or sooner by the help of good Conduct we shall be in a State of Power to deal with any Strength in Europe In the natural Course of time this cannot happen in a great while but the common Progression of things may be hasten'd by Art so that if we are studious to preserve and increase our People peradventure in not many Years we may have Hands enow not only to make us safe from the Insults of others but to render us formidable to all our Neighbours And Men being the truest Strength and Riches of a Country the Councils of all Wise States should tend to obtaining and keeping together as many as the Land will Nourish There are indeed Countries to whom their full Complement of Inhabitants would be dangerous and subject them to frequent Famines in bad and unseasonable Years for Corn. As for Example if France had had as many People as the Land will feed in times of common Plenty half of 'em must have perish'd during their late Dearths for want of Bread because they have a vast Inland Country and only the Out Parts upon such an Emergency can be reliev'd by the Assistance of other Places And we see that anciently before there was much Trade there were frequent Famines in the
no such a Measure would be right for England is humbly submitted to better Judgments Mr. King computes the Value of the Horses yearly bred to be about 250,000 l. This Estimate seems not to be out of the way and from it we shall observe that by good Laws and a due Care in their Execution and by Encouragement from the great Ones above it might peradventure be brought about to double our yearly Breed and if this could be compass'd and if great Numbers of them should be sold in Foreign Markets provided it be deem'd safe for the State 't would be a new Addition to our National Stock and be just so much put into the Scale yet more to incline of our side the general Ballance Our Mines are another Product of the Earth and undoubtedly capable of great Improvements we ought to respect them as the Parents of all our Trade and which made us known to the first Merchants of the World the Phoenicians We have Tin Lead Copper Calamy Iron Coal Culm Allom Copperas with other sort of Minerals and what is in this manner dug out of the Earth cannot be a less Article than about 7 or 800,000 l. per Annum in the whole Rental of the Kingdom They who work these Mines and deal in these Materials know best what Laws and Constitutions they want to make their Business more easie at Home and to give their Commodities a freer Vent Abroad but if they need any Help from the Legislative Power most certainly they ought to have it since their Stock and Labour turn so much to the Common Good for whatever their Product yields in Foreign Markets is clear National Profit There are lately publish'd some extraordinary Accompts of the Mines in Cardiganshire where 't is said there are Eight large Veins of Silver Lead and Copper Oar lying near together in one Mountain nigh a Navigable River and a good Port. 'T is alledg'd That these Mines with a large Stock in a few Years may be advanc'd to a clear Profit of 170,000 l. per Annum This Computation does not seem at all extravagant to those who have look'd into the Accompts of what Mines produce in other Countries provided the Oar be good the Vein like to last and large ones seldom fail and provided there be no invincible Impediment from Nature to their Working they have stood still several Years for want of a good Agreement among the Adventurers 'T is said Sir H. M. has put 'em in a way of being wrought but if his Expedient should not succeed and if new Differences should arise the Legislative Authority may very well and justly interpose even to compel the Partners to some Agreement whereby the Work may be carry'd on for 't is a Justice due to the Publick at no time to suffer a few Stock-Jobbing Citizens to stand in the way of any National Advantage the Fraud and Corruption of which sort of Men have hurt England in more than one Particular If these Mines come but any thing near the Value Mr. William Waller has put upon them and with Reasons very probable they are a fit Object of the States Care and upon Inspection into their true Worth if private Purses cannot raise a Stock sufficient to set 'em going it were better done upon some publick Fond to be repaid out of the Profits than to lose what is represented as so immense a Treasure But should it prove less 't is not to be neglected for Nations like private Men who will thrive must look into small Things as well as great and for this we have the Examples of France and Holland whose Ministers examine into the minutest Matters where the Publick may possibly Reap any Advantage and 't is a very commendable piece of Wisdom were it but for this single Reason That to do so constantly begets a Habit of Care and Diligence in things of higher Importance The Fishery should be here treated of as being the Product of the Peoples Labour but this Point we have elsewhere handled However it falls naturally into our present Subject to observe That to recover the Fishery and to bring us to the Height and Perfection our Coast and Situation are capable of would increase the Numbers of our People for Men always multiply where they have Conveniences of Living It would find Employment for the Poor It would raise Rents and give a higher Value to all that Land produces It would set us right in several Nations where we are believ'd to deal at Loss and particularly in those Places where our Exportations bear no Proportion at least in Bulk with our Importations which might be supply'd by Fish We cannot therefore but earnestly recommend the serious Thoughts of this Matter and by what Methods it may be retriev'd to all such as love their Country and who wish to see us every Year more and more Gainers in the Ballance of Trade Having touch'd upon these Heads we shall proceed to say something of Wooll which is a main Article in the Produce of Land Mr. King computes the Value of the Wooll shorn to be about 2,000,000 l. per Annum And in the Discourses upon the Revenue and Trade we compute by a General Medium That the Material is improv'd one with another four-fold in the Workmanship so that the Value of the Woollen Manufacture made here may amount to 8,000,000 l. per Annum Perhaps neither of us are much out of the way in these two Calculations but suppose us a little under or over the Mark all People will agree with us That this Branch of our Product is very large and of the highest Importance The Writer of these Papers has an Accompt from a Person upon whose Judgment and Experience in these Matters there is great Reason to rely That our Exports of all kinds in the Woollen Manufacture amount to above two Millions per Annum which is so large a Part of our General Exportation that it must maim the whole Body of our Trade to receive any Hurt in so principal a Member Whatever Goods we make up of Foreign Materials and sell in the Markets abroad all above the Cost of the Materials is clear Gain to England in the same manner all our clear Returns from the Plantations which we Export are Neat Profit But where the Materials and Manufactures too are both our own as in this instance of the Woollen Goods two Millions carry'd out when the general Ballance of Trade is consider'd must be esteem'd as two Millions gain'd to the Kingdom for the Return of this Exportation supplies our Consumption of Foreign Goods which would otherwise be bought with Mony with some Overplus which Overplus is what must incline the Scale to turn of our side Some People have been apt to fear that we sink in the Woollen Manufacture because the Accompts of the fine Draparies exported have been heretofore larger than of late Years but such do not contemplate that tho' the Old may have
Material which Manufactur'd yields a good Price Hands will soon be invited over to work it up Fourthly But this holds more strongly where not only the Material but all sort of Provisions are cheap and in Countries which have not been yet improv'd where every new Commer hopes to make a sudden Fortune From which Positions it follows If Ireland be permitted to proceed in the Exportation of Woollen Goods First That in no long Course of time they may come to carry out to the value of a Million per Annum Secondly That the cheapness of Provisions will enable them to afford their Commodities cheaper than England can do in Foreign Markets All that have either writ or spoke upon this Subject agree That the whole Controversie turns upon this single Point whither they can make the same Woollen Goods cheaper there than here To set this in a true Light we must consider the first Material and those who work it up As to the first Material beyond all doubt Wooll is a third cheaper there than in England As to the Workmanship the Clothiers affirm Spinning to be one half of it and that of all Hands is agreed to be cheaper there than here And for the Combing and Weaving the Price of course must abate as Work-men increase for Handy-craft in Countries where Living is cheap can be dear no longer than till Artists are bred up And a great many Artists will be instructed before the Multitude of Inhabitants can render Provisions dear in such a Place as Ireland But to judge rightly of these Matters we must contemplate the Body of the People in each Country Sir William Petty affirms That the Inferior Rank of People in Ireland thro' whose Hands Spinning must pass do not expend one with another above 52 Shillings per Head The Expence of the same Rank cannot be less here than 5 l. per Head 'T is an undeniable Truth That the Common Provisions for Life are one half cheaper there than here 'T is likewise as plain That Meat and Drink are one half of Mankind's Expence reckon'd in a Mass together And these Advantages of Living must enable them to afford the same Commodity cheaper than we can do where not only our Numbers make Provisions dear but where new Excises give all things of our Home-Consumption yet a higher Price Mr. Clement's for we take him to be the Author of that Fine Discourse upon this Subject inscrib'd to the Marquiss of Normanby makes this Judicious Observation That if any one offers his Goods cheaper than the usual Price that will then become the Market Price and every one else must sell at the same or keep his Goods The Cheapness of Living and all other Circumstances consider'd it seems very probable That if they should come to have the necessary Complement of Workmen and to flourish in this Manufacture they will be able to sell it one third cheaper than we can do If they can make for a Million and afford it by one third cheaper than we it follows That at least one half of our Exportations in that Commodity must immediately determin And the Consequence of this would be That Rents must every where fall The Purchase of Land must sink The Poor must want Employment and grow upon us half our Foreign Trade must forthwith cease and in the other half we must be Losers in the Ballance which is chiefly kept of our Side by the Woollen Manufactures Not only a third but an Abatement of ten per Cent. forc'd upon us by the Rivalship in Trade of another Country would throw us into more Disorders than the most knowing Man in England can readily describe And to ask where will be the Stocks of Mony to set up so large a Manufacture is but an evasive way of Arguing for where the Prospect of Gain is certain Mony never fails to come And if it should ever be determin'd That England cannot restrain that Country in this Exportation Foreigners will carry Stocks to an Improving Place where they may reasonably expect many more Advantages than what shall arise from this Manufacture As for Example To lay out Mony upon good Securities at ten per Cent. Interest to buy Land capable of great Melioration at ten Years Purchase And to have almost all the Necessaries of Life half as cheap again as in other parts are not all these Circumstances sufficient to invite thither not only Foreign Stocks but very much of our own Mony and a great Number of our Work-men where their Industry will turn to a better Accompt than it does here No Wise State if it has the Means of preventing the Mischief will leave its Ruin in the Power of another Country And if Wars have been thought not only Prudent but just which have been made to interrupt the too sudden Growth of any Neighbour-Nation much more justifiable may a Mother-Kingdom exercise the Civil Authority in Relation to her own Children who from her had their Being and still have their Protection especially when her own Safety is so much concern'd Nor can this be thought Rigour 'T is but a reasonable Jealousie of State and only severe Wisdom which Governments should show in all their Councils 'T is a preventing Remedy which operates gently in the beginning of the Disease before there are many and those inveterate Humors to contend with And if a timely Stop be put to these Exportations from Ireland it will hurt but a very few which is never to be regarded where the good of the whole Publick is in Question and even that Few without any great difficulty may have their Industry turn'd to safer Objects For these and several other Reasons which will occur to such as think seriously of this Subject it seems for the Publick Good That the Legislature of England should by some Restrictions keep Ireland from interfering with us in this Principal Foundation of our whole Traffick And to do it by a Positive Law here and not to leave it to the Administration there as some propose appears to be the rather requisite because when this Step is made and when they are render'd incapable of Exporting Woollen Goods there will lie a Necessity upon the Governing Part and Landed Men of doing their utmost to promote other Improvements of which their Soil is capable Nor is it fair to urge That we may proceed from one Prohibition to another till we leave them nothing and till they are quite undone They can fundamentally hurt us no other way their Rivalship is dangerous in none but the Woollen Manufacture where all Lucrum Cessans is Damnum Emergens to England since all our Affairs abroad turn and depend upon it nor can we suffer any Competitors in it if we mean to flourish and be Gainers in the General Ballance of Trade To think this Kingdom will either pevishly or covetously hurt that Colony is an absurd Imagination 'T is obvious enough that too much depends upon the Possession of such an Island
of the Nation 's general Income which was our Condition before the War And unless this can be compass'd it will be found That in no long Course of Time we shall languish and decay every Year by Steps easy enough to be perceived by such as consider of these Matters Our Gold and Silver will be carried off by degrees Rents will fall the Purchase of Land will decrease Wooll will sink in its Price our Stock of Shipping will be diminished Farm-houses will go to ruin Industry will decay and we shall have upon us all the visible Marks of a declining People It may indeed be objected That France for about forty and Holland for above a hundred Years have thriven by Trade notwithstanding that all the while they have lain under the Burthen of heavy Taxes To which may be answered That where as in France the Administration in other Things is exact and right the Subjects though poor may enlarge their Traffick for general good Order makes amends for a great deal of Oppression but they would yet have had more Trade if their Prince had left 'em richer Besides Arbitrary Power has compell'd 'em to that Domestick Thrift which of it self goes very far to make a People succeed in Foreign Commerce tho' their Payments to the Publick are excessive And as to the Dutch they have been so long inur'd to this Parsimony that the more they are to pay the State the more they save at home and they always take care not to clog their Importations and from this Polity it comes that high Taxes are not hurtful to their Trade But in Countries where the Administration of Affairs is loose partly through the mildness of the Laws and partly through the bad Execution of 'em where the People have been in a long Possession of Ease and Plenty and where they think it an Essential part of Freedom to be as Expensive and Luxurious as they please and where no Man retrenches upon any publick Accompt whatsoever Among such a People high Taxes Duties and Impositions must inevitably occasion a decay of Trade and tho' their Dealings seem large and not to be interrupted they shall carry on such a sort of Traffick as will bring along with it at last their certain Ruin A variety of new Impositions and remote Fonds do not only hurt us in the Ballance of Trade as we have shown but they are dangerous to Liberty without which Trade can never truly flourish and without which it is indeed of no Importance for to what end should Men acquire Wealth which they cannot call their own And accordingly under Despotick Governments except in some places where the Administration of the Tyranny is very wisely carried on but few trouble themselves with the Thoughts of Foreign Traffick Whoever considers the vast number of new Duties now a-foot will find that 't is not impossible to make 'em the Engines wherewith bad Men some time or other may endeavour to undermine our Civil Rights 'T is true in this Reign we have no reason to entertain such a Fear but a Country that will preserve its Constitution must provide against remote Dangers At present we pay to the Government besides the Three Shillings Aid and Poll-Mony so many Duties Old and New as amount to about Three Millions and a half per Annum Some of 'em 't is true expire shortly But suppose Necessity or bad Management and there is nothing which ill Husbandry cannot devour should compel us to continue what is now expiring for a longer time and admit that for present Subsistance and to pay old Debts these Fonds of Three Millions and a half per Annum should be settled as a Security to Lenders for some certain time to come Suppose then a Government in the Possession of such a large Revenue at first legally granted put into a Method of Collection and to the Payment of which the People shall be accustomed And suppose in some future Reign the Ministers should be either weary or afraid of Parliaments and desirous to Govern by the Sword and without Law That this may happen is not impossible because we have heretofore seen Statesmen so dispos'd 'T is to be hoped this is a Danger very remote indeed but when a Ministry shall be so madly inclin'd the Symptoms of their approaching Frenzy will be evident enough for at such a Season we shall see 'em choose rather to be supply'd by distant Fonds than with what will produce ready Mony And they will take care that Revenues granted may not be well managed nor improved to the Height with this Design That the People may be kept in the dark both as to what they give and as to what each Branch is like to yield Suppose then an Ambitious and Desperate Set of Men with all these Thoughts about 'em and resolved to make their Master Absolute may they not with the Help of such an ample Revenue quite overthrow our Constitution Arbitrary Ministers have heretofore stopp'd the Exchequer and if we should ever see Men of the same Stamp upon the Stage of Business 't is not impossible but that they may run into the same wicked Measures especially if they should be back'd with the Support of a Standing Army The Liberties of a People are but in a very precarious Condition when they can be subverted by one pernicious Counsel It should therefore be the Care of such as love their Country to render this fatal Advice as dangerous and impracticable as Laws can make it At a time when there is such an Immense Revenue collected every Year it seems a Fault in our Constitution that sufficient Provision is not made against diverting and misapplying the Publick Treasure and against breaking into Appropriated Fonds And to speak in plain Words There is reason to fear that the Laws have not made it Criminal enough to stop Payments in the Exchequer When a Town that apprehends a Siege finds it self weak by Nature in one place the first Care of the Defenders is to fortifie that Post as well as ever they can In the same manner a Constitution that is attackable one way should strengthen that Part with severe Laws The Exchequer therefore should be fenced about with all possible Skill that it may never be invaded by bold and designing Ministers A Stop there would at once pull down all our Civil Rights Nay to stop the Principal only tho' the Payments of the Interest should be continued would be fatal to our Constitution for there would yet remain an Income large enough to make Parliaments useless And if wicked Men should thus set up for themselves they would still have Revenue sufficient to bear their Expences and to keep up an Army to awe such as their Conduct shall displease Some indeed will argue That a corrupted Ministry will as soon make new Levies of Mony as venture thus to divert what has been already granted and appropriated But this Objection has no weight in it The People more willingly
't is hop'd England will never fall into such destructive Hands Our Wealth and Greatness depend absolutely upon keeping the Legislative Power to future Ages untainted Vigilant for the Public Safety Jealous of the Peoples Rights Watchful over the Ministers and to have the Members not aw'd by Armies nor to be seduc'd by Preferments Bribes or Pensions That we are safe at present is granted and that we are not now under any Dangers of the like kind and that this important Post is well secur'd is allow'd But writing for Posterity to which these Papers may peradventure be transmitted we think it needful to give these Cautions While we preserve our Constitution as we receiv'd it from our Ancestors Bad Men may have a short Power to do Mischief however their Rage and Folly will be at last corrected but if we suffer our Civil Rights to be invaded and if our ancient Form of Government should be lost then ill Ministers will proceed without Comptrol they will in a short time dissipate the Nations Treasure the People will have no Stock for Trade they will lose their Industry they will grow inclinable to change Resty and Indifferent in the cause of Liberty and perhaps willing to submit to any foreign Force like Spain which has been both despotically and weakly govern'd Freedom and Wealth proceed hand in hand together and if one is lost the other will not long continue but this Notion is not much regarded by those who can only be great and have no ways of making their own Fortunes but by the destruction of their Country For such as propose to thrive by Disorder and Misgovernment have a strong Interest to beggar the People The Confusion which Public wants and Private Necessities introduce suits best with their Designs A wealthy Nation may be jealous of its Rights and watch any Invasions upon its Freedome and a Rich Gentry may be unmanageable And such bad Men may think that the best Course to keep us humble is to make us poor If any should be so wicked to have Thoughts of enslaving England they will endeavour to Mate and Quell the Stomachs of the Common People by reducing them to the Misery and want which decay of Trade if it ever happens must bring upon this Nation And they will try to distress the Gentry in their Estates to that Degree as to make 'em rely upon the Court for a Livelyhood and Subsistance for which Reasons they will wink at the loss of our Foreign Traffick and perhaps contrive its Destruction knowing that upon the Prosperity of Trade Rents and Land have for many years depended Nor can ill Ministers desire a better Circumstance than to have Men of the best Fortunes reduc'd by their Necessities to come and Cringe and Sue to them for a small Employment Does not this bring all into their Power Must not such as shall have the Destribution of of these Favours be courted and follow'd by the major Part of the Gentry Would not so great a Capacity of helping others add to their strength make 'em rich and safe and indeed set them in a manner above Impeachments If bad Men should ever get into Power they will not only contribute to ruin our Foreign Trade but they will try to impoverish the Kingdom by exorbitant Taxes thereby to bring the Gentry and People yet more under their Subjection They will likewise plunge their Master into Debts and Necessities to render their Tricks and Arts of more use and to put a higher value upon the Band they shall have in pay for in former times we have seen that when a Court wanted they who procur'd Money to be given were thought to give it by which means they obtain'd Favour cheaply at the Expence of Others And this single Merit atton'd for all their Faults It excus'd false Steps and Negligence It shelter'd their Bribery and cover'd their Disability for the Public Service Besides they will intangle their Masters Affairs because a Prince that does not need Money may come not to need them whose Talents in all likelihood will consist in procuring Taxes not in well laying out the Summs granted Therefore a wanting State a troubled Government and an indebted Exchequer will be their Region Large Premiums Exorbitant Interest Diverting Appropriated Fonds Choice of Fonds on which to place their own Money Preferring one Debt and Postponing another will be always good Matter for ill Statesmen to work upon but afford much a better Harvest when the Government stands in want of Money Immense Summs given every Year will be a brave and ample Field for their Avarice to range in which would be cramp'd and confin'd if bound within the narrow Limits of what a Nation may be able to pay Of all things they love a long and an expensive War and fear Peace for Peace produces Order and gives the Prince leisure to enquire into the Abuses of the State It lets him into a right knowledge of Persons in the Kingdom and the Dregs which float upwards when the Liquor is stirr'd must sink to the bottom in quiet times Peace restores Liberty of Speech whereas in War all is silenc'd with the single word Necessity In Peace there is no need to court Factions Turbulent Spirits are not so useful Thrift may be introduc'd and such sudden Fortunes cannot be rais'd out of the Publick Grievances may be calmly debated The Management of the Revenues inspected The Conduct of the Ministers may be examin'd And good Laws may be propos'd without the Perpetual Objection of Are ye for bringing in the French and Popery But War will better answer their Designs who mean to thrive by the loose Admistration with which War is generally accompany'd and who propose to prosper by the Calamities and Misery of their Country The Business of Ireland at the beginning of the Revolution is a pregnant Instance how much designing Men love a long War That Kingdom might have been presently reduc'd the Nation was dispirited He who held the Government was ready to give up the Marks and Ensigns of his Authority with the Strengths depending on it They were struck with a Panic Fear and had readily submitted if in any reasonable time a small Force had been sent thither But one People does rarely yield so much to the Fame of another as to surrender without being ask'd or summon'd It was desir'd that a few Tropps might be carry'd over to confirm and countenance our Friends and to give our Enemies a fair Colour for pursuing that Course to which they were enough perswaded by their true Interest tho they could not modestly acquiesce unless something had been done that might save Appearances for a great Army could not with any Decency disband without so much as hearing of an opposite Strength to which in the general Fright that possess'd their Party they might have yielded with some Saving to their Honour But Ireland was for a long time slighted and the Natives were suffer'd to gather into a formidable Power
they who heretofore thought the best way to preserve their Civil Rights was to keep the Purse and to have always something to give should be for settling such an immense Revenue on the Crown as may make Parliaments unnecessary If they who were so careful in King Charles's Reign not to burthen the Nation with Taxes should give away the Peoples Wealth as if England were a Mine of Treasure never to be exhausted If they who have ever asserted that all Rents and Payments to the Crown were the Kingdoms Revenues and not Alienable but by Authority of Parliament should in a short space of Time come to Alienate all the Crown Land and to leave the King hardly a Turf of Ground either in England or Ireland If they who formerly thought it sufficient Matter of Impeachment for a Lord Treasurer or any Other intrusted by the King to pass large Grants from the Crown to Themselves should give to their Creatures and share among one another in a few years of Crown Lands near to the Value of two Millions If the very Men who have Asserted and Claim'd it to be their true antient and indubitable Right and that it ought to be esteem'd allow'd adjudg'd and deemed That the Raising or keeping a Standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with the Consent of Parliament is against Law If they who once believ'd this Eagle in the Air frighted all Motions towards Liberty If they who heretofore thought Armies in time of Peace and our Freedoms inconsistent If the same Men should throw off a Whig Principle so fundamental If they should become the open Advocates for standing Forces and even submit to Troops compos'd of Fâ—reigners If in this manner the Old Whigs whose Foresight and Courage has hitherto preserv'd England should quite change their Minds and go thus retrograde from all their former Speeches Actions and Councils If they should thus come to cloath themselves with the Foul Ridiculous and Detested Garments of the Tories and give into the worst of their Measures And if all that has been here discours'd should happen then would the Constitution of this Country be utterly subverted For Men finding themselves thus forsaken by the Antient Friends to Liberty would believe they were bought and sold They would imagine that there was no such thing as Virtue and Honesty remaining in the Kingdom They would think all Pretensions to the Public Good to be nothing but Designs of Ambitious Persons to lift themselves up to high Honours upon the Shoulders of the People And when Nations have before their Eyes an Arm'd Power to Fear and none in whom they can put any Trust they seldom fail of submitting to the Yoak Free States yield to Slavery when the Men best esteem'd and most in Vogue are generally thought to be corrupted This was the Condition of Rome under Augustus as Tacitus finely describes it Vbi Militem donis Populum Annona Cunctos dulcedine otii pellexit insurgere paullatim Munia Senatus Magistratuum legum in se trahere nullo adversante cum ferocissimi per acies aut proscriptione cecidissent Ceteri Nobilium quanto quis servitio promptior opibus ac Honoribus extollerentur ac novis ex rebus aucti tuta praesentia quam vetera ac periculosa mallent neque Provinciae illum Statum rerum abnuebant suspecto Senatus populique imperio ob certamina potentium avaritiam magistratuum invalido legum auxilio quae vi ambitu postremo pecunia turbabantur When the best and noblest Spirits were all extinct and when 't was seen that the Remainder were contented with Wealth Titles and Preferments the Price of their Submission the Romansthought it their safest Course to commit all to the Care and Wisdom of a Single Person In the same manner If in times to come it should happen that our Nobility and Gentry should be more sollicitous to get a small Employment than to keep a great Estate If the Persons of Note and Figure shou'd be sway'd by their private Interest without any Regard to the Public Good If it should be visible to the Counties and Burroughs that Men covet to be chosen not for their Country's Service but in order to serve themselves If it should grow apparent that neither Side is at bottom better principled than the Other that Court and Country Party Whigs and Church-men are nothing but the Factions of Those who Have and Those who desire Preferment If in this manner the whole Mass of Blood in the Body Politick should be corrupted the Nation will throw off that Reverence to Parliaments which has hitherto preserv'd our Liberties and like the Neighbouring Countries either terrify'd or allur'd they will by degrees submit to unlimited Monarchy And so we shall lose one of the best Constitutions that was ever set afoot for the well Governing a People Handling as we do the Methods whereby a Nation may Increase in Wealth and Power we thought it necessary to describe those Parties and Factions which probably hereafter may come to influence in its Councils And this has been done in order to incite Good Men to watch over their Growth and Progress and such Good Men chiefly as design to engage on neither Side but to bend all their Care that no Side may be able to hurt the Commonwealth And if it should be ask'd Why the Care of Liberty and preserving our Civil Rights should be so much recommended in a Paper relating to Trade We answer that herein we follow Machiavel who says That when a Free State degenerates into a Tyranny the least Mischief that it can expect is to make no farther Advancement in its Empire and no farther Increase either in Riches or Power but for the most part it goes backward and declines This deep Statesman has a saying in another Place well worthy of eternal Remembrance That the Prince who aims at Glory and Reputation in the World should desire a Government where the Manners of his Subjects are corrupted and depraved not to Subvert and destroy it like Caesar but to rectifie and restore it like Romulus than which the Heavens cannot confer nor Man propose to himself greater Honor. It may be objected that in France where all Thoughts of Liberty are extinguish'd Trade and Riches have of late Years very much increas'd But this admits of an easy Answer An absolute Prince with great Abilities and Virtues by Care and Wisdom may make his Country flourish for a time However if his Successors are weak or wicked all shall be soon unravell'd and go backward and Poverty shall soon invade the same People which before began to thrive for to make a Nation very Rich and Powerful there must be a long Succession of good Princes which seldom happens or a long Succession of good Laws and good Government which may be always had in Countreys that preserve their Freedom And without doubt 't is on this Accompt that Machiavel has asserted That no