Stone of the Castle was shaken or any of their Men had lost the least hair of their Heads they Dishonourably Surrendred the Fort for which Treachery tho so profitable to the Enemy yet he commanded them to be Fetter'd in Chains and basely intreated in close Prisons till they had dearly redeem'd their Liberty But on the other hand in that story 't is pitty to omit an Instance of the Loyalty Fidelity and Resolution of the Lord Delacy Governor of another English Garrison in France who having received of King John the Custody of that goodly Castle Rock Andley did bravely bear of the Siege and power of King Phillip of France and his Host almost a whole Year yet they could never make entry upon them but were repulsed with slaughter till his Provision of Victuals being spent he called his Souldiers together encouraging them that it was more noble for Souldiers to Dye Fighting than Famishing and together with their own Lives to Sacrifice to their Countries Honor the blood slaughtred Enemies Whereupon fiercely Sallying forth with his Resolutes after a blody shambles made in the midst of his belegers he was by Multitude over-born and taken But in regard of his Exemplary Faith and prowess in maintaining his charge he was by King Phillips express command tho' an Enemy Honourably used and without restraint of a Prison yet this very King Phillip just as Lewis now shortly after used such Instruments to get other places that he first corrupts them that they might corrupt others to defection with great rewards and greater promises that he might in time obtain the English Diadem from King John which was very near obtained at that time in the mean-time go Roan and so all Normondy which had been in the hands of the English Kings viz. King John and his Predecessours about Two hundred Year and no less Treacherously dealt Phillip the French King with them when he caught them with the Trap of glossing proffers causing without delay their Cities goodly Walls to be utterly demolished and giving strict charge never to be built again It may not be amiss to relate the occasion why Normondy was so soon lost to the French and thereby afterwards Lewis Phillips Son to come here as by and by more of Lewis when King John had notice of the French Kings design on Normondy he prepared a very great Army and Ships accordingly to Transport them and when ready to Embark Hubert then Bishop of Canterbury that he might faciliate the French Kings design prevented that enterprise threatning Excommunication from his Holiness at Rome if he attemptsd it The like have been by some others done by hindring our attempts upon the French when opportunities have been offered but to return by King John's being hindred from going to France and loosing so much expence here and his Intrest in Normondy by which means and his adhearing to Rome the Barons War began which gave opportunity for the French King Phillip to put in Execution what he did aim at before viz. The Crown of England and to that end his Son Lewis being invited came over with an Army and after great destruction by that War as King John was going from Lynn in Norfolk to give Lewis Battle as he was passing the washes in Lincoln-shire with his Army in those Sands all his Carridges Treasure and Provision himself and his Army hardly escaping were Irrecoverably lost many likewise were the grievances into which the Barons the mean while were plunged to see their Native Country thus horribly Massacreed their own Castles and Possessions ruined by the King and which bred in them most Anxity their Faithful service in their Faithless adherance not so respected by Lewis as he and their foreruning hope had promised them while he conferred only on his French all such Territories and Castles as the hand of Victory had lent him but their distress were yet greater than those their jealousies could comprehend till a Noble French Man Vicont de Modan a Man of great esteem with Lewis having his Soul in his Sickness deadly wounded with the Sin of his Health desired private conference on his Death-bed in London with those English Barons to whom Lewis had committed the Custody of that City to whom he imparted what lamentable desolations and unsuspected ruines hung over their Heads for that Lewis with sixteen other his chief Earls and Barons whereof himself was one avowing it on the Salvation of his now departing Soul had taken an Oath if ever Englands Crown was setled on his Head to Condemn unto perpetual Exile all such as now adhered to him against King John as Traytors to their Sovereign and all their Kindred in the Land utterly to Extirpate So Coucelling them timely to prevent their misery which by the sudden Death of King John and Crowning Henry the Third was accomplished and then Lewis was forcest to be gone which had not King John been taken away so soon great misery had then befaln England I would upon this occasion crave leave to look back and consider how seasons and opportunities have been neglected to have given that common Enemy of mankind a very great check and freed England from those losses lately in our Turky Fleet and and fears of more who knows how things may be for the future or who may hereafter call any thing their own things are so uncertain whether we believe it or no I wish I may be deceived in my fears I would upon this occasion as being not Impertinent recite a passage that the Turkish History affords us viz That at the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet the Great at which time the Riches of the Conquered were no better then poverty and beauty worse than deformity but to speak of the hidden Treasure there found passeth credit The Turks themselves wondering thereat whereof if some part had in time been bestowed upon the defence of the City the Turkish King had not so easily taken both it and the City But every Man as now here was careful how to encrease his own private wealth few or none regarding the publick state its still our case until in fine every Man with his private abundance was wrapped together with his needy Neighbour in the self same common misery yet the security of the Constantinopolitans was such that tho' being always environed with their Mortal Enemies yet had they no care of Fortifying of so much as their inner Wall of the City but suffered the Officers which had the charge of it to convert the greatest part of the Money into their own Purses as appears by one Manuel Geogrius a little before a very poor Man and likewise by Neophilu an Officer who had in a short time gathered together Seventy Thousand Florens which becometh a worthy prey unto the greedy Turks Upon the whole matter I must conclude that if our Intrest and the Glory of our Nation be things of value I humbly submit to better Judgments whether the things before mentioned duly
THE Usurpations of France UPON THE TRADE OF THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE OF ENGLAND BRIEFLY HINTED AT Being the EFFECTS of Thirty Years Observations by which that King hath been Enabled to wage War with so great a Part of EUROPE OR A Caution to England To Improve a Season now put into Her Hand to Secure Her Self By WILLIAM CARTER LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin at the Oxford-Armes in Warwick-Lane and Joseph Fox at the Cap in Westminster-Hall MDCXCV THE PREFACE THE Subject of the following Discourse being matter of Fact the less Apology will be required nor needs it many Arguments to Demonstrate what we see and feel viz. That the French have within this 40 Years not only by Increase of Trade Enriched their Country but also Multiplied their Shipping to that degree that the Effect thereof hath occasioned the Effusion of so much Blood and Treasure in these late Years and how much more few can tell The Consequences that have happened I long since fore-saw and publickly declared my Fears that unless some speedy method were taken the French would in a short time Engross the whole Woollen-Manufacture and consequently Trade it self to the irreparable Damage of this Kingdom And tho' the War with France hath cost Vs so many Millions yet I question not but the Perusal of the following Sheets will convince all Persons that rather regard the Publick Interest than some Private Convenience that may attend themselves that had there been no War speaking humanely we should have ere this time lost the whole Profit of the Exportation of the said Woollen-Manufacture amounting to several Millions in Value Yearly the French before the War having made so great Progress therein that they had not only Prohibited our Cloth and Stuffs to be Imported into France but had also so far advanced themselves in that Manufacture as to Export the same into many Foreign Parts as Mr. Andrew Marvel hath formerly shewed at large in a Paper Printed in the Year 1677 a part of which is inserted in the following Discourse And if this be the true state of the Case in the Infancy of the said Woollen-Manufacture in France as it was before the War if a Peace were concluded what the Consequences will be when that King shall enlarge and bring it to a greater Perfection rational and wise Men may judge And when ever a Peace may be Concluded betwixt England and France unless such a Provision be made while we are at War to keep the Ballance of Trade I do foresee who have been almost 30 Years observing the Designs of France to get the Trade from Vs the evil Consequence to England of that Peace which may end in our Ruine as was admirably well observed lately by another Hand viz. That Peace made up with an Enemy whose Power is too Strong and his Fidelity too Weak is only a Cob-Web-Lawn to break through at pleasure and a Reconciliation of Friendship with such a Prince is the only means to Impower him to be more Dangerous because then a more Surprising Enemy Should France in her Present or rather Late Greatness give a Cessation to Hostillity 't is certain she can never give a Cessation to her Ambition and 't is as certain that War is only rak'd up not quench'd when the Coals of Ambition are still glowing that at any convenient Rupture may set it fresh a blazing to that Aspirer that so visibly aims at Universal Monarchy Universal Peace can be no more than a Disguise In short in any present Accommodation with France her holding her Hand will be no other than to take Breath to enable her to make a stronger Blow The Consideration of these Things hath all along prompted me as an English Man to use the utmost of my Endeavours in the Post I have stood in for so many years to prevent the Designs of France on England that those Things threatnea may be prevented otherwise I had not appeared in Print at this Time being rather enclined to be more Retire especially when I Reflect upon the Discouragement and Difficulties I have met withal in my former Vndertaking of which I have given a short Account in the close of this Discourse but more at large in another written by me sometime since for the clearing my self of some Malicious Imputations suggested against me in my said former Vndertakings nor did I however intend to be named in this Paper when I put it to the Press but finding my Name made use of in several Projects about Raising of Money and in bringing in a Bill to lessen the Penalties about the Exportation of Wool and which occasioned the Mistake of divers of my Friends who thereby were induced to believe me concerned in Matters which were utterly against their Opinion and indeed I may presume to offer my thoughts will instead of preventing be rather an Encouragement to the said Exportation and if Experience for near Thirty Years may be credited there is nothing now wanting in Point of Law but Execution and if there were a Thousand Laws made and not Executed it is just the same as if none at all These Reasons amongst others have prevail'd with me to Subscribe my Name and to make use of this Opportunity to declare That I am not Engaged in any of those Matters which my Friends might take to be against my former Opinion in this Case and which I believe will rather redound to the prejudice than good of the Publick not that I would be construed to Reflect upon any Person under Mistakes being charitable to all tho' in the following Discourse I have been somewhat sharp on those I judged to be willful Enemies to their own Trade and Nation William Carter The renewing of a CAVEAT Entred in our Court several Years agoe against the Growth of FRANCE ALthough it be beyond all Dispute that the French King who not many years ago was very inconsiderable both in Trade and Shipping is now become so formidable as to be able to make War with so great a part of Europe insomuch that very lately he bid fair to be Emperor thereof And though the Matter of Fact be clear yet it is by many made a Question How so prodigious an Alteration should come to pass in so short a time For notwithstanding it be notorious that that King's Interest was very great in the two last Reigns and thereby he obtain'd many Advantages here not only Moulds of our best Ships of War but some Materials for their Building and had it not been for a great Man now of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council much of our best Timber had been long since in France For the Dutchess of Portsmouth having a Grant of Forty thousand Pounds which was to be raised out of the Timber growing in the New Forrest and that of Sherwood his Lordship prevented that Mischief which had it not been done with great Prudence it would have been of a had Consequence to England For which he was suddenly after and for
from thence that our Shipping is Employed and our Mariners bred if it be from our Trading alone and from the Riches which our Trading brings in that their Majesty's Customs are Raised and that our Fleets have been hitherto Built and Maintained and the Dominion of the Seas preserved then it is and must be from our Manufactures that our Trade is increased and by which the Rents of the Nobility and Gentry have been advanced And therefore it may be easily granted that there is no higher Temporal Interest in the Nation than that which sustains the Nobility and Gentry's Rents that which preserves their Majesties Revenues and increases our Navy and Shipping Then in regard our Manufacture doth this the Encouragement of it must necessarily be the greatest Interest of the Nation to preserve it but for the want of due care therein the French have gained so much from us as before mentioned which hath so highly contributed to their Riches and Strength at Sea and consequently to the Impoverishing of us even the whole Kingdom of England Which Evils I did not only long since foresee but publickly declare above 20 years ago and with some warmth too and also with no little Importunity presented the same to King Charles II. and upon several occasions since renewed the same viz. that France was then Learning to be too hard for us which is too too true to be denied And as I did it to those in Authority so I did it also both to the Merchants and Clothiers and not resting there I have also spent the greatest part of my small Estate and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as lost a profitable Trade about it with the frequent hazard of my Life together with many and great Indignites which I have born up under because my Labour has not been altogether Fruitless though by my Importunity I have rendred my self Burdensome to some a Scorn and Reproach to others when I have only Reasoned in my Discourse and publickly declared what I had too much ground for viz. that the Diligence of the French to enrich themselves upon us hath so far exceeded our Care to preserve our selves that it is cometo if not beyond a Question Who have the greatest benefit of the Manufacture of English Wool of so great consequence They who have no Right unto it or to whom of right it doth belong as the very Foundation of all our Riches and Strength that it is so is too too obvious viz. that France will be too hard for us by the steps already made therein desiring a serious consideration and comparing the Practice of the French King assisted by the Counsel and Advice of Monsieur Colbert bred a Merchant with what was done formerly by King Edw. the 3d that as the said King Edward wisely transacted his Affairs in Flanders in bringing over hither the Manufacturers to the Wool in England so the said French King by his Agents here is using no less Policy in gaining oar Wool to his Subjects for his own advantage for without our Wool they could never imitate our Manufacture all other Wool being insufficient for that use but having our Wool in such great Quantities even in the Years 1669 1670 and 1671 that they gave out that they could make as good Manufacture as ours and further added that they were got into a way of making a low sort of Cloth called Serge De-berry which comes as cheap as Northern Cloth but made of English Wool After all these Transactions comes forth an Answer by way of Objection against what I had done Entitled Reasons for a limited Exportation of Wool pretending it was for England's Interest which came forth in the year 1676. to which I made my Reply which I shall not here insert but only crave leave but to abstract the Introduction to that Discourse viz. I must needs say that I had no thoughts of appearing in Publick any more and could not easily have been moved thereunto my discouragements having been so great had not the importunity of some Friends dealing much in that Manufacture and my Zeal and Affection to the Trade and Commerce of this my Native Country which is at present solely maintained by the Woolen Manufacture of it raised my fears so far as to believe a great Prejudice is coming upon us and so far as to doubt also that we may be hastning of it by those very Means we would endeavour to prevent it And therefore I cannot but like the dumb Child speak when he saw a Knife at his Fathers Throat I mean when I consider the extremity we are like to be in from the French Kings Vigilancy and the endeavours that he hath of late used to acquire the making of the Woolen Manufacture in his own Dominions and what Artifices and vast Expence he doth use and is at to effect his said Design both in France and by his Agents here in England even at this very day notwithstanding he is engaged in a War with so great a part of Europe and if he doth this in the very midst of his Distractions what will he not do or what may we not expect hereafter when he shall be at Peace with all his Neighbours And if the French King he designing by all ways and Means to under mine our Commerce and by it prejudice us in our Trade and Strength by Sea I may I hope be pardoned if I am more than indifferently concerned or more than ordinarily warm to think we should endeavour to perfect his Design by delivering up our Wool the Foundation of so Rich a Manufacture into his hands nor can we think hereafter to recover our Woollen Manufacture once lost or to preserve the King's Customs or the Strength of this Kingdom without it for we must be very short-sighted if we understand not that after he hath supplied his own Country he will also supply other foreign Markets as already begun which will appear by the Testimony of another hand which I shall add to gain an advantage to himself for if he may as he already does break the Laws of Commerce and lay what Impositions he pleaseth upon our Cloth c. yea prohibit the same while we had a Peace with him why may he not also lay what Imposition he please upon our Ships that may come near his Territories And when our Commerce is lost and our Manufacture gone and our Ships imposed upon that shall pass the Seas what shall be left to defend our selves from whatsoever he shall for the Greatness of his Name think fit to require of us Give me now leave to add the Testimony of another person who wrote upon this Subject about the year 77 but came lately to my hands Mr. Andrew Marvell who observes That the French who were not long since at best but the Milliners of Europe are now become or pretend to be the Cape-Merchants and their King gives not only the Mode but Garment to all Christendom and the World puts it self into his Livery
at their own Expences well may We therefore complain of the Death rather than Deadness of our Manufacture when from this Cause it receives such an Obstruction even to Suffocation when we are not only deprived of that general and gainful Vent that we had formerly in France it self but in all other places where we Traffick we meet the French at every Town and the Foreign Post brings News from all parts that they come before us and have undersold us in the same Commodities And to this Disease so Mortal and which is beyond any private Men to remedy we do more particularly contribute by those vast quantities of Wool which are Transported to France so that Calice is still no less our Staple than when it was formerly under the English Dominion From the whole matter I then conclude viz. in the year 1677. That not only the Clothing Trade but the very Interest of the Nation was at Stake and in hazard to be utterly lost which there was just cause to suspect would come to pass if the same were not with Industry and Diligence prevented and if this all would not move us I thought it then impertinent to insist on lesser Arguments upon which consideration I was then as also before prompted singly as an English-man to use my utmost Endeavour and unwearied Diligence to try what might be done towards the finding out some Method that might prevent the threatned Ruin by the French King and that some good part of what is lost may be regain'd and why not that Kingdom be under the English Government as well as part of the Tithes of our King These endeavours being used in the two late Reigns in which I drew up the Hill and strove against the Stream yet it 's visible I did many a time stem the Tide till huge Torrents came down upon me yet I did nevertheless recover again though with hard Rowing and in the very last year of the late King when Addressing his Majesty with some Clothiers of Exon and Taunton in behalf of 200 that then kept 100000 poor people at work complaining of the French prohibiting the English Woolen Manufacture after that Discourse was over the King then told me That the French Embassador had complain'd that I had disturbed the French King's Fishermen I did return this Answer that I owned the Charge and was glad of the Season for I had heard before of Complaints of that nature made at the Treasury and at the Custom-House where I made my Defence and prevented the said Design to give his Majesty an Answer I did confess that I had disturbed them by causing above 20 of them to be taken and condemned to his own use for that they had broken the Laws and came on shoar and fetched our Wool that was the Fishing which was disturb'd which I told his Majesty was the Foundation both of his Riches and Strength and moreover I added that had I not been greatly discouraged those Gentlemen then present Addressing his Majesty would not have had the occasion of giving him that trouble this Relation is nothing but truth the persons then present being my Witnesses I may without offence add that the Season of this Address was such that his Majesty was then in a quarter of an hour after we came forth from his Presence visited by Father Peter Sir Edward Hales and Sir John Gage that came to intercede for three persons then Prosecuted for Exporting of Wool to France one of which was the then Mayor of Galloway who confest a Judgment of 22000 l. and the Earl of Tyrconel wrote in his behalf but the said King rejected the Motion but the Matter was again endeavour'd at the Treary which I still watched and put in Caveats and prevented the design of his Discharge Now if I did go so far then against the French Interest shall I despond now in this Government when not only England but a great part of Europe is in actual War with them Now is the Season in this very thing to Humble France which if we let slip it 's very probable there may never be the like Opportunity But after all I suppose another Question may arise viz. How this may be done I answer though 't is not in my power to do yet to propose to such as can I shall readily as I have not omitted hitherto what lay in my power in order to the compleating so great an Undertaking but there are many things not so proper to be made publick that may greatly contribute to the effecting so necessary a Work which I shall not only offer with all Submission when called thereto but really and indeed put in practice when commanded and therefore desire to be excused from offering that to publick View which may furnish French Agents with such Matter as may render the whole abortive For tho' we have seen and too much felt the power of France and that some persons are very apt to magnifie that Monarch and yet the poverty of the generality of that People with the Inland Countries being Depopulated by which a great scarcity of Corn have been the effect thereof and the great loss in their Trade at present ought a little to be considered to ballance their greatness And tho' we have too much cause to fear but not despair that we are in a languishing condition yet when I have considered how near Ireland was lost I would in my greatest despondency entertain some hope for England also Tho' 't is the fear of some and too justly that without more than ordinary skill to abate the power of France all our endeavours to that end will prove Fruitless There was a time and that not long since when England alone was able to Bridle that Prince and hold the Reins so as to be able to have turned about that Monarch as it pleased but now we see that neither England or Holland or both with their united strength at Sea nor all the Confederates at Land can as yet give check to the Ambition of that aspiring King And altho' in England we have formerly made several Acts to curb that Prince and continued two of them lately which were ready to expire yet the experience of the time past hath demonstrated that little hath been done and as little may be expected for the future till those Acts are put into strict Execution without which they are dead and useless which if we design to do we must reasume that antient and generous Temper that heretofore ran so freely and did circulate in English Veins which did preserve the liberty of free born English-Men and not to suffer our selves to be imposed upon and made Slaves to France by our own folly for if we expect to live by our Laws as a free People we ought to use the means to support them by a strict Execution and that cannot be well done but by such persons who will make it their Interest as well as their duty to Execute the
same and also made capable of it And if our Predecessours that were instrumental in procuring for us some of those great Priviledges which we now enjoy were short of that experience which we have since attain'd to it should call upon us to consider what may be expected from us who have arrived to greater knowledege and have more and better Laws to assist us for our preservation and thereupon we ought to Improve our Priviledges as a free People and to have attained many more and greater advantages since the Reign of that Famous Queen Elizabeth whose Ministers agreed altogether against the common Enemy which was then the Spaniard and tho' we have to our shame lost many of those advantages which was once in our hands to have kept the French King lower yet now if we were once true to our reall Interest we might give a great check if not a turn to that Haughty Prince but then there must be a great change amongst us for notwithstanding our present War with France and the prohibition of French Commodities yet our general desire is for that which hath the name of France writ upon it tho' we have already paid and like to pay dearer yet wherein I need not descend to particulars but incert one Parragraph out of Mr. James Whiston Discourse of Trade Printed the last Year viz. But if there be a necesity that our Luxury must be indulged there is nothing to that purpose that France could afford which the Industry of our Friends and Confederates cannot supply us withal having of late in their several Countries set up some Manufactors which if the War continues will be so Established that neither we nor they shall ever stand in need of being beholding to France for them again to the utter and Irreparable damage of that Kingdom And thereby we shall vent greater quantities of our own Commodities in return for what we receive from them whilst our Trade with France did nothing but furnish us with Trifles in lieu of those vast Sums of Sterling they have drawn from us And though we shall in a great measure enrich several of our Confederate Neighbours as well as Advantage our selves yet it will never put them into such a condition of doing us hurt as our Trade with France hath done I will add another Parragrah out of the same Author viz. Where Trade is there will be Imployment where Imployment is thither People will resort and where People resort there will be a Consumption of Commodities and thereby the Publick Revenue will be raised So that would we once make Trade flourish we need not doubt but People from all parts of the Glob would resort hither to enjoy themselves and improve their Stocks which formerly by reason of the Shackles upon Conscience the continuance of which so long Depopulated this Nation both by discouraging Ingenious Persons from repairing hither and Cramping the Industry of others that remain by rendring them a prey to each other which deadly wound did not end here but Debauchery and Prophaness were encreased to such a degree that the Nation was dissolved in Luxury and Intemperance whil'st the French had the wit to take the Advantage of our negligence by Encouraging Industry and Commerce which all the while we were labouring to overthrow and undervalue By which means chiefly he is become so troublesome to us and so dreadful to some of our Neighbours To stop this humour if we consider the many Millions France hath gained this way upon us as before alledged we may observe that as Trade in general is introduced by rational Methods so it ought to be supportod by the same means and it should be so in this case that as France hath gained upon us in our Trade partly by stealth and openly by imposing upon us for the time past so also we ought to consider the same for the future and put no vallue upon their fancies but more upon our substantial commodities which are staple ceasing to Imitate their vain and wastful Fashions for all other ways and means were there a Peace will be totally insignificant to us for that Prince will not be held in by any other ways unless it be in that wherein his strength lyes which is Trade as before in short hinted for otherwise Samson like he will break all other tyes of humanity c. And we at length shall be made both poor and miserable and tho' there is nothing speaking generally more certain than that most persons pursue those things wherein they suppose their interest doth consist yet 't is as true that many times they are apt to mistake the way to that Interest and if so it s no marvel those measures are taken that tends to their great and inevitable prejudice That this is the case of too to many of our English Men in relation to France woful Experience proves and nothing is more plain than matter of fact for as France and England about Forty Years ago had an equal Trade supposing in vallue two Millions of Pounds per Annum each from other so it is as true that within those few last years even before the War the Trade of the English Woollen Manufactuary was prohibited in France but the Importation of French Commodities were rather more increased into England that this is so is not to be denied but how it is so I shall endeavour with submission to demonstrate but before I come to speak of that in general would crave leave to be particular only in the County of Kent where the great mischief is and where I meet with the greatest opposition whose People always pleads the loss to them by hindring the Exportation of Wool I will therefore state the case thus viz. That there was only Kent in England that did produce Wooll and admit that there grows Yearly 6000 Packs and admit to be worth 10 l. per Pack which amounts to 60000 l. and supposing for Arguments sake that if it were freely exported as desired by some it would raise the price 40 s. per Pack which amounts to 12000 l. whereas if the said Wool was wholly Prohibited and fully Manufactured in England and supposing in Kent and there exported to France and the same valued at 579999 l. in the particular sorts as I have elsewhere more enlarged before it s put on Board let us now therefore compare the profit and loss of this County of Kent viz. The Wool with its supposed advance vallued at 72000 l. and Manufactured to be vallued at 579999 l. so that the County of Kent would lose 502999 l. by that Trade but I would come a little nearer to the Gentlemen in Kent being owners of Wool by the Sea-side and admitting for arguments sake that the Land there would advance 10 l. per cent per Annm more then in other parts and supposing that one Gentleman had in value two or 300 l. per Annum by the Sea-side and the same Gentleman had two or 3000 l. per
be Exported till about the Month of January 1692 There being three Vessels Loaden with the said Clay and Ry-ding at Ancor in the River of Thames and entred in the Custom House of London to be Exported thence to Holland as Potters Clay but some of the Officers being jealous that it was Fulling Clay or scowring Earth made a stop of it and it coming to the Ears of the Searcher whose said Office it is to look after the same it being as well Fellony in them to suffer it to be Exported if it were Fulling Clay as in the Exporter which Officers being as well Men of some Reputation as Experience in their Office before any seizure was made to give the Merchant any needless trouble caused Experiments to be made of the said Clay at several places and times and found it to be a very good sort of Fulling Clay upon which Experiments they caused the said Clay to be Landed and put into their Majesties Seller or Warehouse and ordered the same to be laid in three distinct places and then Exhibited an Information in the Court of Exchequer against the Merchant for one of the said Ships Loading on the Statute of XII Car. which makes the Forfeiture three Shillings in the Pound as it is Fellony by the XIV of the same King and the Officer is at Liberty to Prosecute upon which Statute he pleaseth but not on both and tho' the Forfeitures was so great yet the Officers were so tender of ruining the Merchant that in case he would not continue Exporting of it they would not take the Advantage of the Forfeitures but he declining that offer the said Officers did prepare for Tryal and in order to have more Experiments made of it I was amongst others desired to take a parcel thereof out of the Warehouse which I did and kept in my possession until I had made an Experiment of it in the Country in the presence of about Ten Clothiers and Fullers and found it to be better Earth for their use than any that those Clothiers or Fullers had used upon which Experiments the said Officers brought it on to a Tryal in Hillary Term 1692 And notwithstand there were above Twenty Witnesses produced viva voce and the Clothiers themselves upon which the Experiments were made were brought into Court yet the Jury found it for the Defendant the coullor for the Verdict being that tho' Skowring Earth was named in the Title yet it was not in the body of the Act. That after this Verdict the Clothiers that were then present Petitioned the Queen in Council to order a Second Tryal upon another of the Ships Loading and although there were several other Experiments made not only at the same Mills as before but also in more remote places viz. In Somerset Glocester and Worcestershires from which places Twenty seven Persons were then also produced and the Cloths upon which the Experiments were made not withstanding which yet it had the same fate as the other Tryal had the consequence of which will be very prejudicial not only in its self but also in the seizures of Wool and tho' those Officers were able to bear the charge of near three Hundred Pounds yet it s a great question whether any others will be at such vast expence to adventure to run such risks for uncertain gain tho' it hath been familliar to me which will be very bad to the Nation in the end I shall say the less here upon this head because I have enlarged upon it elsewhere wherein also I have in short hinted some of the obstructions and oppositions I have met withal in this Affair as those Officers have in this about Earth And tho' I am now growing Old having spent almost Thirty Year in the prime and strength of my time with much hazard cost and pains and tho' in reason I cannot expect my self to live and see its full effects yet I hope to dye in the Faith that others may live to see England again flourish and yet I would not omit any thing worthy of Imitation tho' in an Enemy and therefore will relate one project of the French King who hath within this Forty Years caused a Nursery of Young Oaks to be raised in a great part of Brittain that are now well grown for a Provision of Shipping against another Generation which piece of good Husband like policy does both softly call us thither to nip his future Ships in the bud the same way to beat him at the Sea for hereafter and loudly upbraids the neligence of us now in England whose posterity must needs complain of this present Age that contents its self not with the providence of our Predecessours but are rather in a prodigal and careless way of destroying that which they took so much care and pains to Erect And then another Advantage France hath over us is to encourage Industry and discourage the contrary viz. to pay well and punish well when as the contrary is toomuch in use at this time I dread to name my fears if we are yet careless if England that hath been so famous to all the World should now be given up to ruin and be a prey to the French King and thereby a scorn and a by word to the World by the Evil practices of its own Natives whereas were we unanimoufly true to our real English Intrest against the common Enemy we need not fear all the World But on the other hand if we persist in that careless way and prefer private Intrest so much in use amongst us what misery may be justly expected by us when we are so insensible of that Train that hath been so long laying by the French King's Intrest to blow up those good Foundations which have been long laid by our Noble Ancestors of all our English Liberties and Properties or to expose us to a lingring Consumption by a long and costly War Give me leave here to mention what those persons that are chiefly the Instruments of the great misery we are exposed unto which consists of three sorts viz. First Such as are Pensioners to France Secondly Such as that nothing is valuable with or pleasing but French Modes whose number is too great and Thirdly Such who are employed to conveigh those Commodities from France now at this time to England notwithstanding the War which are all betrayers of their own Country And tho' this Treachery be pleasing to and desirable by our Enemies for which they may well laugh at us yet the parties so doing cannot but expect to be hated by our very Enemies even the French themselves of which we may observe something of the like in former times viz. In the Reign of King John As that King had intrusted the Defence of the Famous Castle called Valle de Royal in France then under the English Government to two of his Nobles that he thought he had confidence in yet those persons when the French King Phillip set down before it before one