the useful Stock of the Nation at least one third part and greatly â—ase the course of Trade as I humbly conceive this will do I hope none will deny but it may consist with the Wisdom of Parliament to create new Laws 3. Most of our Statutes were made in times before we understood Trade in England and the same Policy and Laws that were good then and may yet be good for a Country destitute of Commerce may not be so fit for us now nor for any Nation so abounding with Trade as England doth at present Object 2. May not this occasion many Cheats and Law Suites Answ. 1. I answer no Experience manifests the contrary not only in other Kingdoms and Countries abroad where Transferrance of Bills of Debt is in use but even in our own where we have for many Ages had the Experience of Indorsment on Bills of Exchange and in this present Age of the passing of Gold-Smiths Notes from one Man to another which two practices are very like to the designed way of Transferring Bills of Debt and yet no considerable Cheats or Inconveniencies have arisen thereby Answ. 2. No Man can be Cheated except it be with his own consent and we commonly say caveat emptor no Man is to be forced to accept anothers Bill that himself doth not approve of and no Man will accept of another Mans Bill except he know him or until he hath used means to satisfie himself concerning him no more then he will sell his Goods to a Stranger unless he hath some reason to believe he is able to pay him Object 3. Will not such a Law as this be very troublesom especially in Fairs and Markets and also to Gentlemen and Ladies when they shall be forced for all Goods they buy above the value of 10 l. to give Bills under their Hand and Seals I answer this Law will not at all Incomode Gentlemen as to what they Buy in Shops c. neither those that converse in Fairs and Markets for that which Gentlemen Buy in Shops c. and others in Fairs c. they either pay or promise ready Money or else say nothing of the time or payment which the Law understands to be the same with a promise of present pay so that if they give no Bills there is no penalty attends the neglect or refusal but only that the contract between the Buyer and Seller shall be presumed in the Law to be as if it were made for ready Money CHAP. VI. Concerning a Court Merchant I Have conceived great hope from the late most Prudent and Charitable Institution of that Iudicature for determination of Differences touching Houses Burned by the late Fire in London that this Kingdom will at length be blessed with a happy method for the speedy easie and cheap deciding of Differences between Merchants Masters of Ships and Seamen c. by some Court or Courts of Merchants like those which are established in most of the great Cities and Towns in France Holland and other places the want whereof in England is and hath ever been a great bar to the Progress and Grandure of the Trade of this Kingdom as for instance if Merchants happen to have differences with Masters and Owners of Ships upon Charter-parties or Accounts beyond Sea c. The Suite is commonly first commenced in the Admiralty Court where after tedious Attendance and vast Expences probably just before the Cause should come to Determination it is either removed into the Deligates where it may hang in suspence until the Plantiff and Defendant have empty purses and grey Heads or else because most Contracts for Martain Affairs are made upon the Land and most Accidents happen in some Rivers or Harbours here or beyond Sea are not in alto mari The Defendant brings his Writ of Prohibition and removes the Cause into his Majesties Court of King's-Bench where after great Expences of Time and Money it is well if we can make our own Council being common Lawyers understand one half of our Case we being amongst them as in a Foreign Country our Language strange to them and theirs as strange to us after all no Attestations of Foreign Notaries nor other publick Instruments from beyond Sea being Evidences at Law and the Accounts depending consisting perhaps of an hundred or more several Articles which are as so many Issues at Law the Cause must come into the Chancery where after many Years tedious Travels to Westminster with black Boxes and green Bags when the Plantiff and Defendant have tired their Bodies distracted their Minds and consumed their Estates the Cause if ever it be ended is commonly by order of that Court referred to Merchants ending miserably where it might have had at first a happy issue if it had begun right From whence follows these National Inconveniencies 1. It is a vast Expence to the Persons concerned 2. It takes off Men from following their Callings to the Publick loss as well as the particular Damages of the concerned that time being lost to the Nation that is spent in Law-Suits 3. It makes Men after they have once attained indifferent Estates to leave Trading and for ease to turn Country-Gentlemen whereas great and experienced Men are the only Persons that must mate the Dutch in Trade if ever we do it 4. It is my opinion a great cause of the Prodigality Idleness and Injustice of many of our Masters of Ships in England and consequently a wonderful bar to the growth of our English Navigation who knowing that their Owners cannot legally eject them especially if the Master have a part of the Ship himself but that Remedy to the Owners will be worse then the Disease which occasions Masters to presume to do those things and be guilty of such neglects as naturally they would not if they stood more upon their good behaviour I could say much more of the Damage this Nation sustains by the want of a Law-Merchant but that is so evident to all Mens Experience that I shall not longer insist upon it but proceed humbly to propose some particulars which being duely considered may peradventure by wiser Heads be improved towards the cure of this evil viz. 1. That it be Enacted that there shall be erected within the City of London a standing Court-Merchant to consist of twelve able Merchants such as shall be chosen by the Livery Men of the said City in their common Hall at the time and in the manner herein after limitted and appointed 2. That the said twelve persons so to be Elected or any three or more of them sitting at the same time and place and not otherwise shall be accounted Iudiciary Merchants and Authorized to hear and determine all Differences and Demands whatsoever which have arisen and are not hitherto determined or may any ways arise between Merchants Trades-Men Artificers Masters and Owners of Ships Sea-Men Boat-Men and Freighters of Ships or any other Persons having relation to Merchandizing Trade or Shiping for or concerning any
Buyers will raise the price of Land If they trade they encrease the number of Traders and consequently the bulk of Trade and let their Money lie dead by them I think I have fully proved they cannot in an addition I published to my first Observations 4. By reason for first whilst Interest is at 6 per Cent no man will run an adventure to Sea for the gain of 8 or 9 per Cent which the Dutch having Money at 4 or 3 per Cent at Interest are contented with and therefore can and do follow a vast trade in Salt from St Vuall Rochel and other parts to the Baltiquâ— Seas and also their fishing Trade for Herrings and Whale-fishing which we neglect as being not worth our trouble and hazard while we can make 6 per Cent of our Money sleeping For the measure of Money employed in Trade in any Nation bears an exact proportion to the Interest paid for Money As for instance when Money was at 10 per Cent in England no man in his wits would follow any Trade whereby he did not promise himself 14 or 12 per Cent gain at least when Interest was at 8 the hopes of 12 or 10 at least was necessary as 8 or 9 per Cent is now Interest goes at 6 per Cent the Infallible Consequence whereof is that the Trades before recited as well as those of Muscovy and Greenland and so much at least of all others that will not afford us a clear profit of 8 or 9 per Cent we carelesly give away to the Dutch and must do so forever unless we bring our Interest nearer to a Par with theirs and hence in my poor Opinion it follows very clearly that if our Interest were abated one third part it would occasion the employment of one third part more of Men Shiping and Stock in foreign and domestick Trades This discovers the vanity of all our Attempts for gaining of the White-Herring Fishing-Trade of which the Dutch as every body observes make wonderful great advantage though the Fish be taken upon our own Coasts I wish as many did take notice of the reason of it which therefore I shall say something of now though I have touched it in my former Treatise The plain case is this A Dutch-man will be content to employ a Stock of 5 or 10000 l. in Burses materials for Fishing Victuals c. for the carrying on of this Trade and if at the winding up of his Accounts he finds he hath got clear communibus annis for his Stock and Adventure 5 per Cent per Annum he thanks God and tells his Neighbours he hath had a thriving Trade Now while every sloathful ignorant man with us that hath but wit enough to tell out his Money to a Gold Smith can get 6 per Cent without pains or care Is it not monstrous absurd to imagine that ever the English will do aâ—y good upon this Trade till they begin at the right end which must be to reduce the Interest of Money Secondly The depraved nature of man affecting ease and pleasure while use of Money runs at 6 per Cent hath always at hand an easie expedient to indulge that humor and reconcile it to another as considerable viz. his Covetousness by putting his Money to use and if a Merchant through his youthful care and industry arrive to an Estate of 20000 l. in twenty Years trading whilst Money is so high and Land so low he can easily turn Country Gentleman or Usurer which were Interest of Money at 4 per Cent he could not do and consequently must not only follow his Trade himself but make his Children Traders also for to leave them Money without skill to use it would advantage little and purchasing of Lands less when the fall of Interest shall raise them to twenty or thirty Years purchase which I hope yet to live to see Thirdly From this necessity of Merchants keeping to their Trade and Childrens succeeding their Fathers therein would ensue to Merchants greater skill in Trade more exact and certain correspondency surer more trusty Factors abroad those better acquainted concatinated together by the experimental links of each others Humors Stile Estate and Business And whereas it is as much as a prudent man can do in ten Years time after his settling in London to be exactly well fitted with Factors in all parts and those by Correspondency brought into a mutual Acquaintance of each other and honest Work-men and Masters of Ships c. And by that time he hath traded ten Years longer if he succeed well it is six to one but he leaves Trade and turns Country Gentleman or Vsurer and so that profitable Engine the Wheels whereof by Correspondency move one another in many parts of the World which he hath been so long a framing within a few Years after it is brought to work well is broken to pieces and the benefit thereof to the Kingdom which is ten times more then to him that made it is lost whereas in Holland and Italy where Money is at 3 and 4 per Cent and consequently Merchants forc'd to keep and trust to their Trades only their Businesses are and must be so ordered and carried on from the beginning that when a Man dies the Trade is no more disturbed then when the Wife dies in England I am ashamed of the odious Prolixity and Repetition I am contrary to my Nature forced to use but my Opposer doth so often and I think disingenuously upbraid me with begging the Question that I am compelled to it The fourth thing I am to prove is that It multiplies Domestick Artificers If the former be true that it encreases foreign Trade I suppose no man will have the confidence to deny this to be a necessary and infallible consequence of that For we see throughout the World where-ever there is the greatest Trade there are the most Artificers and that since our own Trade encreased in England our Artificers of all sorts are proportionably encreased The building of London hath made multitudes of Bricklayers and Carpenters much use of Shiping will make Ships dear and the dearness of Shiping will make many Shipwrights much foreign Trade will encrease the vent of our Native Manufactures and much vent will make many work-men and if we cannot get and breed them fast enough our selves we shall draw them from foreign parts as the Dutch draw away ours it being a wise and true observation of as I remember Sr Walter Rawleigh That no Nation can want People that hath good Laws The fifth thing to be proved is that It enclines a Nation to thriftiness this is likewise consequent to the former and by experience made good in England for since our Trade encreased though the generality of our Nation are grown richer as I have shewed and consequently more splendid in Clothes Plate Jewels Houshold-stuff and all other outward signs of Riches yet are we not half so much given to Hospitality and good House-keeping
as it is called as in former dayes when our greatest Expence was upon our Bellies the most destructive Consumption that can happen to a Nation and tending only to nourish Idleness Luxury and Beggary whereas that other kind of Expence which follows Trade encourageth Labour Arts and Invention To which give me leave to add that The abatement of Interest conjoynt with Excises upon our home consumption if the later could be hit upon without disturbance to Trade or danger of continuation are two of the most comprehensive and effectual Sumptuary Laws that ever were established in any Nation and most necessitating and engaging any People to thriftiness the high Road to Riches as well for Nations as private Families The frugal Italians of Old and the provident Dutch of latter times I think have given the World a sufficient proof of this Theorim and if any shall tell me it is the nature of those People to be thrifty I answer all men by nature are alike it is only Laws Custom and Education that differ men their Nature and Disposition and the disposition of all People in the World proceed from their Laws the French Peasantry are a slavish cowardly People because the Laws of their Country have made them Slaves the French Gentry a noble valiant People because free by Law Birth and Education In England we are all free Subjects by our Laws and therefore our People prove generally couragious the Dutch and Italians are both frugal Nations though their Climates and Governments differ as much as any because the Laws of both Nations encline them to Thriftiness other Nations I could name are generally vain prodigal not by Nature nor for want of a good Country but because their Laws c. dispose them so to be The sixth proof of the Proposition is that It employes the Poor which is a ne-necessary Consequence likewise of the encrease of Trade in Cities and Emprovement of Land in the Country which is well and truly demonstrated from Experience by the Elder and Younger Sr Thomas Culpepper to whom to avoid Prolixity I must refer the Reader Seventhly It encreaseth the People of a Nation this also necessarily followeth the encrease of Trade and Emprovement of Lands not that it causeth married men to get more Children But 1 st a trading Country affording comfortable Subsistances to more Families then a Country destitute of Trade is the reason that many do marry who otherwise must be forc'd to live single which may be one reason why fewer People of either Sex are to be seen unmarried in Holland at 25 years of age then may be found in England at 40 years old 2 dly Where there is much Employment and good Pay if we want Hands of our own we shall draw them from others as hath been said 3 dly We shall keep our own People at home which otherwise for want of Employment would be forcd to leave us and serve other Nations as too many of our Sea-men Ship-wrights and others have done 4 thly Our Lands and Trade being improved will render us capable not only of employing but feeding a far greater number of People as is manifest in that instance of the Land of Palestine And if these will be the effects of abating Interest then I think it is out of doubt that the Abatement of Interest is the cause of the encrease of the Riches of any Kingdom for quicquid efficit tale est magis tale Now to answer his four recited Reasons viz. First he saith If a low stated Interest by Law be the cause of Riches no Country would be poor all desiring Riches rather then Poverty and all having it in their power to state their Interest as low as they please by Law I answer first Whatever Nation doth it gradually for so it must be done as it hath been hitherto in England 2 per Cent being enough to abate at one time will find those effects I have mentioned but it is a work of Ages and cannot be done at once For Nec natura aut lex operantur per saltum Secondly It is great Imprudence to imagine that any Country understanding their true Interest so well as by degrees to abate Use-Money will not likewise by the same Wisdom be led to the instituting of many other good Laws for the encouragement of Trade as our Parliaments have still proceeded to do as Interest hath been abated His second Reason is That if the lowness of Interest were not the effect of Riches in Holland they might take as much Vse-Money as they could get there being no Law against it I answer There were formerly Laws in Holland that reduced Interest to 8 and 6 and afterwards to 5 per Cent Anno 1640. and since in the Year 1655. to 4 per Cent the Placart for which I have seen and have been told and do believe they have since reduced it by Placart to 3 per Cent as to their Cantors and all publick Receipts which in Holland is as much in effect as if they had made a general Law for it because the most of their Receipts and Payments are made in and out of the aforesaid publick Offices or else into and out of their Banks for which no Use-Money is allowed which several gradual and succesful Abatements of Interest did occasion their Riches at first and brought their People to that consistency of Wealth that they have since wrought themselves into such an abundance that there are more Lenders now than Borrowers and so I doubt not but it will be with us in a few Years after the next Abatement of Interest is made by Law which I have good reason to conclude not only from the visible operations of nature in all other things and places but from Fact and Experience in this very case being certain that the Gold-Smiths in London could have what Money they would upon their Servants Notes only at 4 l. and 4 l. 10 s. per Cent before the late Emergencies of State which I could demonstrate have very much obstructed the natural fall of Interest with us something more I have said in answer to this in the addition to my former Treatise and this may serve likewise for an answer to his third Reason Fourthly he saith That which I must prove to make good my Assertion is that any Country in the World from a poor and low condition while Interest was at 6 per Cent was made rich by bringing it to 4 per Cent or 3 per Cent by a Law I answer If the instance of Holland and Italy were not sufficient to satisfie him in this point yet that having proved which he cannot deny that our own Kingdom hath been enriched consequently constantly and proportionably to and after our several Abatements of Interest by Law from an unlimitted rate to 10 from 10 to â— and from 8 to 6 per Cent I think it may rationally be concluded that another Abatement of Interest in England would cause a further encrease of
a Fine of Fifty Pounds and the success hath been answerable For the first Company settled upon that narrow limitted Interest although their Stock was larger then this decayed and finally came to ruin and destruction Whereas on the contrary this being settled on more rational and consequently more just as well as more profitable Principles hath through Gods Goodness thriven and encreased to the trebling of their first Stock CHAP. IV. Concerning the Act of Navigation THough this Act be by most concluded a very beneficial Act for this Kingdom especially by the Masters and Owners of Shiping and by all Sea-men yet some there are both wise and honest Gentlemen and Merchants that doubt whether the Inconveniencies it hath brought with it be not greater then the Conveniencies For my own part I am of Opinion that in relation to Trade Shiping Profit and Power it is one of the choicest and most prudent Acts that ever was made in England and without which we had not now been Owners of one half of the Shiping nor Trade nor employed one half of the Sea-men which we do at present but seeing time hath discovered some Inconveniencies in it if not Defects which in my poor opinion do admit of an easie Amendment and seeing that the whole Act is not approved by unanimous consent I thought fit to discourse a little concerning it wherein after my plain method I shall lay down such Objections as I have met with and subjoyn my Answers with such Reasons as occur to my memory in confirmation of my own Opinion The Objections against the whole Act are such as these Object 1. Some have told me That I on all occasions magnifie the Dutch policy in relation to their Trade and the Dutch have no Act of Navigation and therefore they are certainly not always in the right as to the understanding of their true Interest in Trade or else we are in the wrong in this I answer I am yet to be informed where the Dutch have missed their proper Interest in Trade but that which is fit for one Nation to do in relation to their Trade is not fit for all no more then the same Policy is necessary to a prevailing Army that are Masters of the Field to an Army of less force then to be able to encounter their Enemy at all times and places The Dutch by reason of their great Stocks low Interest multitude of Merchants and Shiping are Masters of the Field in Trade and therefore have no need to build Castles Fortresses and places of Retreat such I account Laws of limitation and securing of particular Trades to the Natives of any Kingdom because they viz. the Dutch may be well assured That no Nation can enter in common with them in any Trade to gain Bread by it while their own use of Money is at 3 per Cent and others at 6 per Cent and upwards c. Whereas if we should suffer their Shiping in common with ours in those Trades which are secured to the English by Act of Navigation they must necessarily in a few Years for the Reasons above 〈…〉 eat us quite out of them Object 2. The second Objection to the whole Act is Some will confess that as to Merchants and Owners of Ships the Act of Navigation is eminently beneficial but say that Merchants and Owners are but an inconsiderable number of men in respect of the whole Nation and that Interest of the greater number that our Native Commodities and Manufactures should be taken from us at the best rates and foreign Commodities sold us at the cheapest with admission of Dutch Merchants and Shiping in common with the English by my own implication would effect My answer is That I cannot deny but this may be true if the present profit of the generality be barely and singly considered but this Kingdom being an Island the defence whereof hath alwayes been our Shiping and Sea-men it seems to me absolutely necessary that Profit and Power ought joyntly to be considered and if so I think none can deny but the Act of Navigation hath and doth occasion building and employing of three times the number of Ships and Sea-men that otherwise we shouâ—d or would do and that consequently If our Force at Sea were so greatly impared it would expose us to the receiving of all kind of Injuries and Affronts from our Neighbours and in conclusion render us a despicable and miserable People Objections to several Parts of the Act of Navigation Object 1. The Inhabitants and Planters of our Plantations in America say This Act will in time ruin their Plantations if they may not be permitted at least to carry their Sugars to the best Markets and not be compell'd to send all to and receive all Commodities from England I answer If they were not kept to the Rules of the Act of Navigation the consequence would be that in a few Years the benefit of them would be wholly lost to the Nation it being agreeable to the Policy of the Dutch Danes French Spaniards Portugals and all Nations in the World to keep their external Provinces and Colonies in a subjection unto and dependency upon their Mother-Kingdom and if they should not do so the Dutch who as I have said are Masters of the Field in Trade would carry away the greatest of advantage by the Plantations of all the Princes in Christendom leaving us and others only the trouble of breeding men and sending them abroad to cultivate the Ground and have Bread for their Industry Here by the way with entire submission to the greater Wisdom of those whom it much more concerns give me leave to Query Whether instead of the late prohibition of Irish Cattle it would not have been more for the benefit of this Kingdom of England to suffer the Irish to bring into England not only their live Cattle but also all other Commodities of the Growth or Manufacture of that Kingdom Custom free or on easie Customs and to prohibit them from Trading homeward or outward with the Dutch or our own Plantations or any other places except the Kingdom of England Most certainly such a Law would in a few Years wonderfully encrease the Trade Shiping and Riches of this Nation Query 2. Would not this be a good addition to the Act of Navigation and much encrease the employment of English Shiping and Sea-men as well in bringing from thence all the Commodities of that Country as supplying that Country with Deals Salt and all other foreign Commodities which now they have from the Dutch Que. 3. Would not this be a means effectually to prevent the Exportation of Irish Wool which now goes frequently into France and Holland to the manifest and great damage both of England and Ireland Que 4. Would not this be a Fortress or Law to secure to us the whole Trade of Ireland Que. 5. Would not this render that which now diminisheth and seems dangerous to the value of Lands in England viz. the growth of
now and have been for two or three Ages past divided in Opinions they are necessary Relatives one to the other and neither of them can stand long alone without the other Time in innumerable instances having proved it a most manifest Error in our Kings Lords and Gentlemen that they attempted by Laws to compel all the People of England to a Conformity to the National Church And no less Error was it in the Dissenters and their Adherents in the late Civil VVars to think to enjoy long the Fruits of their Fighting and Conquests by keeping all Forms of Religion loose and equally capable of preferment to the publick Revenues without Establishing any National Church the publick Revenue whereof none should be capable of enjoying but such as were of it Many of the Dissenters are so ingenuous as to confess this to be a very great Truth and that England cannot long enjoy a lasting Peace and Quietness without it But then they say Open your Church-Doors wide remove all stumbling Blocks such things as give offence to pious and learned Men in your Articles Canons and Liturgy and probably I may herein incline to be of their Opinion But yet I tell them I am a Subject and have now by Law a liberty to worship God as I think he ought to be worshipped and enjoying that 't is my Duty in Reason as a Man and in Religion as a Christian to acquiesce without murmuring that the King Lords and Commons who are the natural and proper Legislators of England should enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences to contrive or settle such a National Church as they shall think fit and in their Judgments most agreeable to the Scriptures and the publick Peace of the Kingdom and methinks he that is not satisfied with this doth apparently violate that righteous Rule of our Saviour of doing as he would be done unto 2 dly Such dissatisfaction at what our lawful Superiors do in this matter of Religion while we enjoy our own Liberty may be deemed and will by many be said to proceed rather from Faction Covetousness or Ambition than from pure Religion But some Dissenters are ready to reply Why should we be kept out of the publick Employments of our Country Are not we as good Protestants as great lovers of our Country as virtuous in our Lives as diligent and inoffensive in our Callings and as true to the present Government as any Church of England Men whatsoever I say admit all that and I cannot upon this occasion forbear to say what I have often declared That I do believe that the Protestant Dissenters are to a Man throughout England true to that Government which the divine Providâ—nce hath most mercifully miraculously set over us yet you being private Subjects and having the liberty of your own Consciences you are not to disturb the present Government settled by your lawful Legislators but must allow them your Governours the liberty of their Consciences in settling the National Church or you are unjust in the sight of God and Men When you are called to the Parliament then you will have the freedom of declaring your Opinions as you think fit 2dly I tell them great Mutations upon a sudden in the Fundamentals of Government such as changes in the National Church are dangerous to the publick Peace and that our Superiors being placed upon the advantage of a better prospect can see the danger in a better light and at a more remote distance then we who converse only in the Valleys 3dly That many Gentlemen who bear no unkindness to the Dissenters are yet affraid of their fickle uncertain tempers not having forgot that after our late Civil Wars when the Power was mainly in their own Hands they themselves made several Governments yet were never long contented with any of their own Creation 4thly That they are not yet agreed among themselves what the Errors or Stumbling-blocks in the Church of England are that they would have amended or removed 5thly I tell them that this repining temper at the determinations of Superiors in them who are at perfect ease themselves as to their Liberties and Properties looks very like the Spirit of Persecution against which they have always appeared to contend Lastly To conclude this subject for the love I bear to all my honest Country-men as well of the one perswasion as the other I pray the Church of England Men to be indulgent to the Dissenters and I entreat my old Friends the Dissenters to put on Patience and not to censure or repine at the Acts of their Superiors but to hope and expect that God who hath wrought this late most signal deliverance for them and the Nation in general and who hath secured to them by Law the Liberty of their Consciences which they could never obtain by all their Fightings Strivings Victories and Conquests will in his due time give them such favour in the Eyes of the King and Parliament that they may be admitted by degrees into such publick Trusts and Employments wherein they may not be judged dangerous to the National Church or State THE PREFACE THe following Answer to that Treatise entituled Interest of Money mistaken I wrote long before the last Session of Parliament that began the 19th of October 1669. but fore-seeing that that Session might be engaged in greater Debates of another Nature and in consequence not have leisure to consider this subject I deferred the Printing of it since which I have seen another Treatise wrote by Thomas Manly Gentleman endeavouring to prove That it will be for the advantage of this Kingdom to continue the Interst of Money at 6 per Cent but after several perusals of his Treatise I must needs say that either I understand nothing of this subject or else this Gentleman is the greatest Stranger to it that ever undertook to discourse it he having writ much but in my Opinion nothing to the purpose more than was much better though brieflier said by the Author of the fore-mentioned Treatise out of which most of his seems to be borrowed though the Words be varied with some additions of Interrogations Expostulations Similes and Circumlocutions Besides the Gentleman taking up things at random and for want of a due understanding of the matter is very unfortunate in his Instances of Fact viz. In his Preface about the middle his Words are Has Abatement of Vsury or some other sublime Policy obliged the French of late to set upon Trade and Manufactures And then he affirms that I dare not touch on that String in regard that Nation hath not for many Years altered Interest from 7 per Cent. To his Interrogation I answer possitively that the Abatement of Usury hath done it and if you will not believe me read the French Edicts themselves and they will tell you so an Abstract of one whereof I have recited in the following Treatise To his Affirmation that I dare not touch upon this String I say I dare do it
and put the whole issue upon this for the French in fact have brought down the Use of Money under 6 per Cent and that to 5 per Cent lately as I have been credibly informed and do believe and if they had omitted this all their bussling in other things would signifie very little in conclusion The Sweeds likewise since they established their Council of Trade and set themselves to the consideration of making themselves considerable by Trade have reduced their Interest from 10 to 6 per Cent. His following Words are Do Italy and Holland owe their Trade and Riches to the lowness of Vsury or to thâ—ir innate Frugality wonderful Industry and admirable Arts c I answer low Interest is the natural Mother of Frugality Industry and Arts which I hope the Gentleman's Eyes will be open enough to see by that time he hath read a little further and considered two or three Years longer But it may be said How can a low Interest be the natural Mother of Frugality when if this Gentleman be to be believed Abatement of our Vse-Money brought in our Drinking which he does not only say but prove as he thinks by an instance of Fact for he says we now spend usually twenty thousand Tuns of French Wine and he believes that a far greater quantity is yearly Imported and that the computation of Spanish Rhenish and Levant Wines far exceeds the former so that by his calculate as he says grounded upon a very good authority viz. a Report to the House of Commons it should seem that there is about the quantity of forty five thousand Tuns of Wine of all sorts Imported annually into England But if it shall appear in Fact that before the last abatement of Interest from 8 to 6 per Cent we did usually import near twice the quantity of Wines annually we now do and that now in all sorts of Wines we do not import above the quantity of twenty thousand Tuns yearly then what will become of his large Structure built upon a Sandy Foundation Reader this is the Case and the matter of Fact truly recited by me which many of the honourable Members of the House of Commons well know and mistaken by him from whence I might with much more reason infer that the abatement of Interest drove out our Drinking so pro tanto it did but I know there were likewise other Causes for it especially the additional Duties that from time to time have been laid upon Wines But before I part with the Gentleman on this point I must note to him another monstrous mistake in Fact or at least in his Inference viz. he says that twenty thousand Tuns of French Wines at 2 s. 8 d. per Gallon amounts to 640000 l. and concludes if I understand him that so much is lost to England whereas were the matter of Fact as he supposeth which it is not so in any measure this inference would be strangely erroneous for by the expence of such quantity we can rationally lose only the first cost which is but about 6 or 7 l. per Tun and that amounts to but 120000 l. or 140000 l. at the utmost all the rest being Freight Custom and Charges paid to the King and our own Country-men and consequently not lost to England To conclude this Head I do agree fully with the Gentleman that Luxury and Prodigality are as well prejudicial to Kingdoms as to private Families and that the expence of foreign Commodities especially foreign Manufactures is the worst expence a Nation can be inclinable to and ought to be prevented as much as possible but that nothing hath or will incline this or any other Nation more to Thriftiness and good Husbandry then abatement of Interest I think I have proved in the following Discourse and that therefore all that this Gentleman hath said about Luxury c. is against himself and for lessening of Interest The Gentleman at the beginning of his Preface saith He will not enquire into the lawfulness of Interest but leave the scrupulous to the several Discourses made publick on that subject For my part I shall agree with him in that likewise And to the intent that what hath been made publick formerly may the better be known I would entreat those that would be throughly satisfied therein diligently to peruse an excellent Treatise entituled The English Vsurer or Vsury condemned being a Collection of the Opinions of many of the learned Fathers of the Church of England and other Divines Printed at London Anno 1634 now about to be Reprinted But upon this occasion I shall humbly presume to say that if by the following Discourses it shall appear that the Interest of England being higher then that of our Neighbour Country it doth render our Lands our common Mother of vile and base esteem doth prevent the cultivation and improvement of our Country as otherwise it might and would be improved doth hinder the growth of Trade and imployment and encrease of the Hands of our Country doth encourage Idleness and Luxury and discourage Navigation Industry Arts and Invention then I make no question but the taking of such an Interest as exceeds the measure of our Neighbours is Malum in se by the light of Nature and consequently a Sin although God had never expresly forbid it But the Vsurer may say suppose the Borrower makes 12 per cent of my Money is it a Sin in me to take 6 per cent of him I answer between them two there may be no commutative Injustice according to my weak Judgment while each retains a mutual Benefit the Vsurer for his Money the Borrower for his Industry but in the mean time if the Rate given and taken exceed the Rate of our neighbour Nations these fatal National evil Consequences will ensue to our common Country by such a practice which therefore I conclude to be Malum in se And peradventure therefore the Wisdom of God Almighty did prohibit the Iews from lending upon Use one to another but allowed them to lend to Strangers for the Enriching of their own Nation and Improvement of their own Teritory and for the Impoverishing of others those to whom they were permitted to lend being such only whom they were commanded to Destroy or at least to keep Poor and Miserable as the Gibeonites c. hewers of Wood and drawers of Water I purpose to do the Gentleman that right as not to omit taking notice of any thing he hath of novelty in relation to the present Controversie whether it be material or no and in order thereunto the next thing I observe new in his Treatise is Page 9. It is saith he Dearness of Wages that spoils the English Trade and abases our Lands not Vsury and therefore he propounds the making a Law to retrench the Hire of Poor mens Labour an honest charitable Project and well becoming a Usurer the Answer to this is easie 1st I affirm and can prove he is mistaken in fact for
Answer to the aforesaid Question wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the Poor are now so much neglected I think it is a scandalous ungrounded Accusation of our Contemporaries except in relation to Building of Churches which I confess this Generation is not so prophense to as former have been for most that I converss with are not so much troubled to part with their Money as how to place it that it may do good and not hurt to the Kingdom For if they give to the Beggars in the Streets or at their Doors they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that Lazy Unprofitable kind of Life and if they give more then their Proportions in their respective Parishes that they say is but giving to the Rich for the Poor are not set on Work thereby nor have the more given them but only their Rich Neighbours pay the less And for what was given in Churches to the visited Poor and to such as were impoverished by the Fire we have heard of so many and great Abuses of that kind of Charity that most Men are under sad discouragements in relation thereunto I write not this to divert any Man from Works of Charity of any kind He that gives to any in Want does well but he that gives to Employ and Educate the Poor so as to render them useful to the Kingdom in my judgment does better And here by the way not to leave Men at a loss how to dispose of what God shall incline their Hearts to give for the Benefit of the Poor I think it not Impertinent to propose the Hospitals of this City and Poor Labouring People that have many Children and make a hard shift to sustain them by their Industery whereof there are multitudes in the out Parts of this City as the best Objects of Charity at present But to return to my purpose viz. to prove that the want of Charity likewise that is now and always hath been in relation to the Poor proceeds from a defect in our Laws Ask any Charitable minded Man as he goes along the Streets of London viewing the Poor viz. Boyes Girles Men and Women of all Ages and many in good Health c. why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor Creatures to Work Will he not readily answer that he wisheth heartily it could be done though it cost him a great part of his Estate but he is but one Man and can do nothing towards it giving them Money as hath bâ—en said being but to bring â—hem into a liking and continuance in that way The second Question then is Question 2. Wherein lies the defect of our present Laws relatiâ—g to the Poor I answer that there may be many but I shall here take notice of one only which I think to be Fundamental and which until altered the Poor in England can never be well Provided for or Employed and that when the said fundamental Error is well amended it is almost impossible they should lack either Work or Maintenance The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it to the care of every Parish to Maintain their own Poor only upon which follows the shifting off sending or whiping back the poor Wanâ—erers to the Place of their Birth or laâ—t Abode the practice whereof I have seen many years in London to signifie as much as ever it will which is just nothing of good to the Kingdom in general or the Poor thereof though it be sometimes by accident to some of them a Punishment without effect I say without effect because it reforms not the Party nor desposeth the minds of others to Obedience which are the true ends of all Punishment As for instance a poor idle Person that will not Work or that no Body will Employ in the Country comes up to London to set up the Trade of Begging such a person probably may Begg up and down the Streets seven years it may be seven and twenty before any Body asketh why she doth so and if at length she hath the ill hap in some Parish to meet with a more vigilant Beadle then one of twenty of them are all he does is but to lead her the length of five or six Houses into another Parish and then concludes as his Masters the Parishioners do that he hath done the part of a most diligent Officer But suppose he should yet go further to the end of his Line which is the end of the Law and the perfect Execution of his Office that is suppose he should carry this poor wretch to a Iustice of the Peace and he should order the Delinquent to be Whipt and sent from Parish to Parish to the place of her Birth or last Abode which not one Iustice of twenty through pitty or other cause will do even this is a great charge upon the Country and yet the business of the Nation it self wholly undone â— for no sooner doth the Delinquent arrive at the place assigned but for Shame or Idleness she presently deserts it and wanders dirâ—ctly back or some other way hoping for better Fortune whilst the Parish to which she is sent knowing her a Lazy and perhaps a worse qualited person is as willing to be rid of her as she is to be gone from thence If it be here retorted upon me that by my own confession much of this mischief happens by the non or ill Execution of the Laws I say better Execution then you have seen you must not expect and there was never a good Law made that was not well executed the fault of the Law causing a failure of execution iâ— being natural to all Men to use the remedy next at hand and rest satisfied with shifting the Evil from their own Doors which in regard they can so easily do by threatning or thrusting a poor Body out of the verge of their own Parish it is unreasonable and vain to hopâ— that ever it will be otherwise For the Laws against Inmates and empowering the Parishioners to take Security before they suffer any poor Person to Inhabit amongst them it may be they were prudent constitutions at the times they were made and before England was a place of Trade and may be so still in some Countries but I am sure in Cities and great Towns of Trade they are altogether improper and contrary to the practice of other Cities and Trading Towns abroad The Riches of a City as of a Nation consisting in the multitude of Inhabitants and if so you must allow Inmates or have a City of Cottages And if a right course be taken for the Sustentation of the Poor and setting them on Work you need invent no Stratagems to keep them out but rather to bring them in For the resort of Poor to a City or Nation well managed is in effect the conflâ—x of Riches to that City or Nation and therefore the subtil Dutch receive and relieve or employ all that come to them not enquiring
Ireland advantagious by encrease of Trade and Shiping and consequently the power of this Kingdom Object 2. The second Ojection to part of the Act of Navigation is usually made by the Eastland and Norway Merchants who affirm that in effect their Trade is much declined since the passing the Act of Navigation and the Danes Sweeds Holsteners and all Easterlings who by the said Act may Import Timbâ—r and other Eastern Commodities have encreased in the number of their Shiping imployed in this Trade since our Act of Navigation at least two third parts and the English have proportionably declined in the number of theirs imployed in that Trade I answer That I believe the matter of Fact asserted is true as well as the cause assigned viz. the Act of Navigation and yet this should not make us out of love with that excellent Law rather let it put us upon contriving the Amendment of this seeming Defect or Inconvenience the Cure whereof I hope upon mature consideration will not be found difficult for which I humbly propound to the Wisdom of Parliament viz. That a Law be made to impose a Custom of at least 50 l. per Cent on all Eastland Commodities Timber Boards Pipe-Staves and Salt imported into England and Ireland upon any Ships but English built Ships or at least such only as are sailed with an English Master and at least three fourths English Marriners And that for these Reasons Reas. First If this be not done the Danes Sweedes and Easterlings will certainly in a few Years carry the whole Trade by reason of the difference of the charge of building a Ship fit for that Trade there or here viz. a Fly-boat of 300 Tuns new built and set to Sea for such a Voyage may cost there 13 or 1400 l. which here would cost from 22 to 2400 l. which is so vast a disproportion that it is impossible for an English man to coape with a Dane in that Navigation under such a discouragement to ballance which there is nothing but the Strangers duty which the Dane now pays which may come to 5 or 6 l per Ship per Voyage at most one with another which is incompitable with the difference of Price between the first cost of the Ships in either Nation And this is so evident to those who are conversant in those Trades that besides the decrease of our Shiping and encrease of theirs that hath already happened ours in probability had been wholly beaten out of the Trade and only Danes and Easterlings freighted had we been necessitated to build English Ships and had not been recruited on moderate Prices by Fly-boats being Ships proper for this Trade taken in the late Dutch War and by a further supply of Scotch Prizes likewise through his Majesties permission and indulgence Reas. 2. Because the number of Strangers Ships imployed in the aforesaid Trade yearly I estimtae to be about two hundred Sail which if such a Law were made must unavoidably be all excluded and the Employment fall wholly into English Hands which would be an excellent Nursery and give constant Maintenance to a brave number of English Sea-men more then we can or do employ at present Reas. 3. The Act of Navigation is now of seventeen or eighteen Years standing in England and yet in all these Years not one English Ship hath been built fit for this Trade the reason whereof is that before mentioned viz. that it is cheaper freighting of Danes and Easterlins and it being so and all men naturally led by their Profit it seems to me in vain to expect that ever this Law will procure the building of one English Ship fit for that employment till those Strangers are excluded this Trade for England and much more improbable it is that any should now be built than it was formerly when the Act was first made because Timber is now at almost double the price in England it was then The consequence whereof is That if timely Provision be not made by some additional Law when our old Stock of Flemish Prizes is worn out as many of them are already we shall have very few or no Ships in this Trade The Objections which I have heard made to this Proposition are viz. Object 1. If such an Imposition be laid on those gross Commodities imported by Strangers Ships that will amount to the excluding all Strangers from this Trade we shall want Ships in England to carry on the Trade and so the Commodity will not be had or else will come very dear to us I answer â—f the Commodity should be somewhat dearer for the present it would be no loss to the Nation in general because all Freight would be paid to English men whereas the freight paid to Strangers which upon thâ—se Commodities is commonly as much or more then the value of Goods is all clear loss to the Nation 2 dly If there should be a present want of Shiping and the Parliament shall please to enjoyn us to build English Ships for this Trade This extraordinary good Effect will follow viz. It will engage us to do that we never yet did viz. To fall to building of Fly-boats gâ—eat Ships of burthen of no force and small charge in sailing which would be the most profitable undertaking that ever English men were engaged in and that which is absolutely necessary to be don if ever we intend to board the Dutch in their Trade and Navigation these Fly-boats being the Milch-Cows of â—olland from which they have suckâ—d manifoldlâ— greater Profit than from all their Ships of force though both I know are necessary But if at first the Parliament shall think fit to enjoyn us only to Ships sailed with an Enlish Master and three fourths English Marriners the Danes and Easterlins being by this means put out of so great an Employment for their Shiping we shall buy Ships proper for this Trade on easie terms of them perhaps for half their cost which under value in purchase will be a present clear profit to England Object 2. If this be done in England may not other Princes account it hard and unreasonable and consequently Retaliate the like upon us To answer this Objection its necesary to enquire what Kingdom and Counâ—ry will be concerned in this Law 1 st Then Italy Spain and Portugal will be wholly unconcerned 2 dly So will France who if they were concerned can take no offence while they lay an Imposition of 50 or 60 per Cent upon our Drapery 3 dly The Dutch and Hamburgers would not by such additional Law be more excluded then now they are and the latter would have an advantage by it in case the Danes should as it may be supposed they will lay a Tax upon our Shiping there for the consequence thereof would be that much of those kind of Commodities we should fetch from Hambrough where they are plentifully to be had though at a little dearer Rate and yet not so dear but that the Dutch fetch Yearly thence 350
order to the building and supplying our Shiping that without them other Trades could not be carried on It will not be denied by the honourable East-India Company but they import much more Goods into England than they export that to purchase the same they carry out quantities of Gold Silver annually yet no man that understands any thing of the Trade of the World will affirm that England loseth by that Trade The Dutch with good reason esteem the trade of the East-Indies more profitable to them than are the Mines of Gold and Silver in America to the King of Spain and if the English Companies were vested by Act of Parliament with so much Authority as the Dutch have and thereby encouraged to drive as full a Trade thither as the Dutch do I doubt not but it would be so not so much to the private gain of the Members of that Company as the publick profit of this Kingdom in general however as it is it will not be difficult to prove that it is the most beneficial Trade this Nation drives at present For 1 st That trade constantly employes twenty five to thirty Sail of the most War-like Ships in England with Sixty to a Hundred Men in each Ship and may in two or three Years more employ a greater Number and in order to the carrying on that Trade that Company hath lately unconstrained given considerable Encouragements for the building of great Ships which hath had good effect 2 dly It supplies the Nation constantly and fully with that in this Age necessary material of Salt-Petre 3 dly It employs the Nation for its Consumption with Pepper Indico Calicoes and several useful Drugs near the value of 150000 l. to 180000 l. per Annum 4 thly It furnished us with Pepper Cowryes Long-Cloth and other Callicoes and painted Stuffs proper for the Trade of Turkey Italy Spain France and Guiny to the amount of 2 or 300000 l. per Annum most of which Trades we could not carry on with any considerable advantage but for those supplies and these Goods exported do produce in foreign parts to be returned to England six times the Treasure in Specie that the Company exports from hence Now if not only the aforesaid advantages be seriously considered but also what detriment the Nation would sustain if we were deprived of those supplies both in point of Strength and War-like Provisions in regard of Shiping and Salt-Petre but also in respect of the furtherance it gives to many other Trades before-mentioned it will easily appear that this Trade though its Imports exceeds its Exports is the most advantagious Trade to England and deserves all encouragement for were we to buy all our Pepper and Callicoes c. of the Dutch they would raise our Pepper which now standâ— the Nation but about 3 d. per pound in India to or near the proportion which they have advanced on Nutmegs Cloves and Mace which cost the Dutch not much more per pound in India than Pepper since they engrossed the Trade for those Commodities and the use of Callico in England would be supplied by foreign Linnen at greater Prices so that what may be secured from this Nation 's consumption would in probability cost them above 400000 l. per Annum more then now it doth and our foreign Trades for Italy Guiny c. would in part decay for want of the afore-said supplies There is another Notion concerning the Ballance of Trade which I think not impertinent here to take notice of viz. Some are of opinion that the way to know whether the Nation gets or loseth in the general by its fore-going Trade is to take an inspection into the course of the Exchange is generally above the intrinsick value or Par of the Coins of foreign Countries we not only lose by such Exchanges but the same is a demonstration that we lose by the general course of our foreign Trade and that we require more supply of Commodities from abroad than our exports in Goods do serve to purchase And certain it is that when once the Exchaâ—ge comes to be 5 or 6 per Cent above the true value of foreign Monies our Treasure would be carried out whatever Laws should be made to prevent it and on the contrary when the Exchange is generally below the true value of the foreign Coins it is an evidence that our Exports do in value exceed what we require from abroad And so if the Exchange comes to be 5 or 6 per Cent below the true value of the foreign Coins returns will be made for England in the Coins of foreign Countries Now that there is also a great deal of truth in this Notion is not to be denied and that the diligent observance and consideration of the course of the Exchange may be of use and very necessary in many respects and is a very ingeniuous Study for any that would dive into the mystâ—ries of Trade yet because this is likewise subject to vary on many accidents of Emergencies of State and War c. because there is no settled course of Exchange but to and from France Holland Flanders Hambrough Venice Legorn Genoa and that there are many other great and eminent Trades besides what are driven to those Countries this cannot afford a true and satisfactory solution to the present Question Thus having demonstrated that these Notions touching the Ballance of Trade though they are in their kind useful Notions are in some cases fallible and uncertain If any shall ask How shall we then come to be resolved of the matter in Question I answer first The best and most certain discovery to my apprehension is to be made fâ—om the encrease or diminution of our â—rade and Shiping in general for if our Trade and Shiping diminish whatever profit particular men may make the Nation undoubtedly loseth and on the contrary if our Trade and Shiping encrease how small or low soever the profits are to private men it is an infallible Indication that the Nation in general thrives for I dare affirm and that Catagorically in all parts of the whole World where-ever Trade is great and continues so and grows daily more great and encreaseth in Shiping and that for a succession not of a few Years but of Ages that Trade must be Nationally profitable As a Town where only a Fair is kept if every Year the number of People and Commodities do augment that Town however the Markets are will gain whereas if there comes still fewer and fewer Peâ—ple and Commodities that place will decline and decay Discoursing once with a Noble Lord concerning this measure or method of knowing the Ballance of our Trade or more plainly our general National gain or loss by Trade his Lordship was pleased to oppose by asking two very proper Questions viz. Quest. 1. Is there not a great similitude between the Affairs of a private Person and of a Nation the former being but a little Family and the latter a great Family I
should be called down To the First That Money hath long gone at Ten and things been well enough It is answered That it is not long that the practice of Usury hath been so generally used without any sence or scruple of the unlawfulness of it for mens Consciences were hardened to it with example and custom by degrees and not upon the sudden And as the beginning of many dangerous Diseases in healthful Bodies so the beginning of many Inconveniencies in a State are not presently felt With us after that with long Civil Wars the Land was half unpeopled so as till of late Years it came not to his full stock of People again there being the same quantity of Land to half the number of People the surplusage of our In-land Commodities must needs be so great that though Trade were not equally ballanced with us and other Nations we could not but grow rich Besides France and the Low-Countries were for many Years half laid waste with Wars and so did trade but little nor manage their own Lands to their best advantage whereby they did not only not take the Trade Market from us which now they do but they themselves were fed and cloathed by us and took our Commodities from us at great high great Rates Whereas now we see the Dutch do every where out-trade us and the French feed us with their Corn even in plentiful Years So as now our Land being full stocked with People our Neighbours industrious and subtle in Trade if we do not more equally Ballance Trade and bring to pass that we may afford the Fruits of our Land as cheap as other Countries afford the same of the same kind we must though we leave a number of our superfluities as God forbid but we should in a short time grow Poor and Beggarly And in this condition ten in the Hundred in a little more time will as well serve to do it as if Money were at twenty For as was before remembred in most of the Commodities the Earth bringeth forth the Stock employed in Planting and managing of of them makes a great part of their Price and consequently they may with great Gain to themselves under-sell us our Stock with us going at double the rate that theirs goes with them And this we see and feel too well by Experience at this present for having a great surplusage of Corn we can find no vent for it the French with their own the Dutch with the Corn of Poland every where supplying the Markets at cheaper rates than we can afford it And even our Cloaths which have hitherto been the Golden Mine in England I have heard many Merchants say That except it be in some few of the finest sort of them which is a Riches peculiar to this Nation other Countries begin to make them of their own Wool and by affording them cheaper then we may so to take our Markets from us And this I hope may in part serve for Answer to the next Objection that all great and sudden Changes are commonly dangerous for that Rule holds true where the Body Natural or Politick is in perfect state of Health but where there is a declining as I have some cause to fear there is or may soon be with us there to make no alteration is a certain way to Ruin To the Third That Money will be suddenly called in and so all Borrowers greatly prejudiced For that there may be a clause in the end of the Statute whensoever it shall be made That it shall be lawful for all that have lent Money at ten in the Hundred which is now forborn and owing to take for such Money so lent and owing during two Years after this Session of Parliament such Use as they might have done if this Act had not been made Whereby Borrowers shall be in less danger of sudden calling in of their Money then now they are for where the Lenders upon continuance of their old Security may take ten in the Hundred upon new Security they may be content with less so the calling in of their Money will be to their own prejudice And if there be any Borrower to whom this giveth not sufficient Satisfaction if such Borrower have Lands of value to pay his debt the worst condition he can fear is to have at the least twenty Years Purchase for his Land wherewith to clear his Debts for as I said before Land being the best Security and securest Inheritance will still bear a rate above Money And so there being no Use allowed for Money above the rate tollerated in other Countries Land will as readily sell at twenty Years Purchase as it doth now at twelve And I think there is no Borrower that hath Land of value to pay his Debts doth doubt if he will now sell his Land at ten Years Purchase he might soon be out of Debt To the fourth Objection That Money will be hard to be borrowed and so Commerce hindred I answer That it were true if the high rate of Usury did increase Money within this Land but the high rate of Usury doth enrich only the Usurer and impoverish the Kingdom as hath been shewed and it is the plenty of Money within the Land that maketh Money easie to be borrowed as we see by the Examples of other Countries where Money is easier to be borrowed then it is with us and yet the rate tollerated for Use is little more then half so much It is the high rate of Use that undoeth so many of the Gentry of the Land which maketh the number of Borrowers so great and the number of Borrowers must of necessity make Money the harder to be borrowed whereas if Use for Money were at a lower rate Land as hath been shewed would be much quicker to be sold and at dearer rates and so the Nobility and Gentry would soon be out of Debt and consequently the fewer Borrowers and so to Trades-men and Merchants Money easie to be had Further let us consider if Money were called down what Usurers would do with their Money they would not I suppose long be sullen and keep it a dead stock by them for that were not so much as the safest way of keeping it They must then either imploy it in Trade purchase Land or lend for Use at such rate as the Law will tollerate If it quicken Trade that is the thing to be desired for that will enrich the Kingdom and so make Money plentiful And yet need not any Borrower fear that Monâ—y will so be imployed in Trade as that there will not be sufficient of Money to purchase Land where the Purchaser may have as much or near so much Rent by the purchase of Land as he can by putting his Money to Use For a great number of Gentlemen and other in the Country know not how to imploy any stock in Trade but with great uncertainty and less satisfaction to themselves then the letting of their Money at a lower rate or