haughty Opinion he conceives of his being the only Person qualify'd for the Goverment of more Worlds than one declares his Resolutions of admitting no Rivals in Soverainty looking upon all other Princes but as so many smaller Stars or wandering Planets compar'd with him the Sun from whom after the antiquated and justly exploded Opinion of som Philosophers they are to receive their borrowed Light or Power as it shal please his Mightiness to dispense So that Crowned Heads Princes and Republics as wel as their Subjects are to expect the same meat that of Slavery and tho that be not sweet yet the sawce wil be sorer poinant to all tho perhaps a little differenc'd The former may be allow'd Golden while the later are to be manacled with Iron-Chains In order hereunto his Ambition has made him resolve the Conquering of the World after the Example of Alexander whose Title of Great as an earnest of his future Hopes he has already assum'd He has vow'd to make himself as Famous to Posterity by his Sword tho not by his Pen as Caesar has don That Paris shal give Law to the Universe as Rome once did and that the Ocean shal yield no less to the Sene than formerly it did to Tyber Now if England which alone is able to do it prevents the Execution of these vast Purposes what can we expect but that one time or other he wil seek a Revenge and notwithstanding his Promises and solem Confirmations of Peace try against us the success of his Arms and by numbers endeavour for this mighty Insolence to chastise those for whom even their own Histories wil convince them they are Man to Man a very unequal Match The dis-banding his Forces for the present is far from being a security since he may raise them again at his Pleasure Nor indeed do I imagin he wil discharge his Armies since that were to give them an opportunity of Rebelling for which he is sensible his People are sufficiently prepar'd and only want either Domestic Heads and Partisans or Forrein Assistance to rescu themselves from Tyranny and Oppression And is it fit while so potent and so near a Monarch is in Arms that we shâ—ud stand with our hands in our Pockets No I am perswaded tho a present Peace shoud be concluded that the King and his Ministers wil think it for the common safety and the particular Interest of England not only to enter with the Confederats into a strict Allyance offensive and defensive but also to put themselves into a Posture of War both at Sea and Land The end of War is Peace but a Peace with France seems to me to be the beginning of War or at least a Preparation for One and I must ingenuously profess tho War be a great Evil yet from all Appearances I dread the Consequences of a Peace more for that without great care it wil be of the two the most fatal to England But this Consideration as most fit I leave to my Superiors and wil only ask You whether before we engage in a War abroad it be not fit To secure a Peace at home To reconcile by Toleration our Differences in point of Religion That the French Emissaries or others may not be able to strike Fire into the Tinder already prepared for the least Spark It must not be forgot That to divert or disable Queen Elizabeth from assisting France or defâ—nding Holland Phillip the Second of Spain incouraged and assisted Tyrone to Rebel in Ireland That in the long War between Us and France it was the frequent Practice of that Crown to incite the Scots to make Incursions upon us And I presume it wil be consider'd Whether some ambitious Men of that Kingdom may not influence the People to favor or side with a Prince who maintains great numbers of their Nation by the Considerations that they are now but a Province that England denyes them an equal Freedom in Traffic That they may have better Terms from the French in that and Religion in which by denyal of Liberty they seem dis-satisfy'd Tho such persons can't possibly work on the Wise the considerative of the People yet sure it were not improper to study a course to prevent the unthinking Croud the Rabbles being deluded by such fals and groundless pretensions which in my Opinion are with more care to be provided against in Ireland where 't is said those and other Motives may be urged For there are computed to be in that Kingdom about eleven hundred thousand persons of which 800000 are Irish and of them above 10000 born to Estates dispossest these for their losses and others for restraint in matters of Religion are discontented not considering their own Rebellion occasion'd their Ruin by their Murmurings I perceive let the Sentence be never so just it wil not hinder the condemn'd from railing against the judg That besides their suffering in Estate and Religion they are yet further beyond the Scots renderd uncapable of injoying any Office or Power Military or Civil either in their native or any other of their Princes Countryes Their folly having thus reduced them to a condition more like that of Slaves than Subjects many of the Gentry go frequently into other Kingdoms but most into France who may possibly be incouraged to return to move the People to a new Sedition especially if they can give them assurance of forrein Assistance The King wisely foreseeing this directed in 1673. his late vigilant and prudent Vicegerent the Earl of Essex to disarm the Irish Papists and netwithstanding the exact execution of that command it s said that his Majesty intends to put himself to the further Charge of increasing his Army in that Kingdom beyond what now it is and to appoint a considerable Squadron of Ships to guard and defend its Coasts from any Attempts of Invasion without which there is not the least fear of any intestine Commotions This with the charge he has bin at in Erecting a new Fort in the Harbor of Kinsale the most likely place to prevent the entring of any Forrein Power into that Country shews he has bin watchful to secure himself and People against the French desines And now I touch upon Ireland I have heard som say that it is not only convenient but necessary to unite that Kingdom to this To make a new division of Shires To send only so many Members to Parliament as coud no more join to out-Vote us than Cornwal and Devonshire with two or three other Countyes But I see not if they were thus made one wherein their interest woud be different from ours many rather think they woud be losers by the Bargain Others fancy Pointings Act shoud be repeal'd that at first tho a trick it was necessary but now is not all the power and almost all the Land being devolved upon such as are mediatly or immediatly English and Protestants And that by an easy contrivance they might be still oblig'd to a dependence on the Crown
it Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not for they lye I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and know that I have loved thee Well Sir I am sorry my Tender of peace is so scornfully rejected upon the misapplication of such Texts of Scripture as equally and indifferently serve all Parties or are nothing to the present purpose You must not be angry if I strike the first blow rather than suffer you to take your own opportunity to knock me o th head When the cause comes to be tryed before equal Umpires you will be judg'd out of your own mouth that challeng'd Liberty which you wou'd not grant For you have transgrest the great Rule of Righteousness not to do to others what you wou'd have done unto your self Upon these terms the pretences to Liberty are destroy'd But if the Wisdom of any State shall confine their Indulgencies to Pious Obedient and Charitable Dissenters I cannot perceive the prejudice which difference in speculations and disputable Points can do in Religion or the Power of the Magistrate But at the same time I cannot but admire the admirable Temper and Moderation which is shew'n in the Church and Goverment of England That requires nothing necessary to Salvation but the acknowlegement of the Ancient Creeds That teaches nothing but what is Pious and Charitable Whose Lyturgy is Grave Wise and Holy whose Rites are few and material Whose Laws are full of Candor and Compliance allowing freedom to any Five Dissenters together to worship God in their own way Whose true Sons and Subjects are the greatest Favorers of Christian Liberty which are in the World And I pray God to give all people that disown it Wisdom to understand it THE Publisher to the Reader HAving I must own not without Pleasure read the following Papers and believing they might in several Instances I do not say all give som satisfaction to others and contribute to the Public Good for which I perswade my self even those Notions that seem most od and impracticable were intended I resolved to make them public But was check't again by calling to mind That he from whom I in some sort extorted them oblig'd me not to discover him Nevertheless considering I might do the One without the Other I pursued my former Resolutions yet taking this further care That even the Printer should not know from whence they came And now let me tell you whatever you shall think of this Discourse 'T is the Issu of a sober Brain tho perhaps a little too much inclin'd to Humor and rigid Vertu and not so agreeable or smooth as you would have had it if my Friend had dressed it for the eyes of any other besides my self to whom he sent it Sheet by Sheet and having writ it in less than eight of the last Holy-dayes you may believe had I allowed more time it would have come even to me reviewed As it is I make it yours and assure you what ever Censure you pass upon Him or Me we shall both be unconcern'd As Complesance made it mine so a good Intention of serving my Country makes it yours For my self I do not aim at being Richer or Greater The Patrimony left me satisfyed and invited my unambitious Mind to the Retirements of a privat Life which I have made easie by innocent Recreations Company and Books It was not my own seeking that I am now plac'd in a more public Station wherein tho perhaps I have done no Good yet I am pleas'd I never did any Hurt having alwayes pursu'd without Passion or Interest what ever my Conscience the best Rule and severest Iudge of Men's Actions convinced me was best As to my Friend he is one has read some Books and more Men thanks God he is that which the World calls a Fool a Good-natur'd Man one that heartily loves all Mankind and has so particular a Zeal for the good of his Country that I believe he would sacrifice his Life to serve it But almost despairing That ever Things will be better than they are and finding by what he has seen abroad That a Man may live more happily in England than in any part of Europe and now grown old by Temper more than Years he has resolv'd chiefly to mind himself whom to enjoy more fully he has bid adieu to all Thoughts of Business to which having never been bred by any Calling he has had the more Opportunities of considering all of improving himself and observing most sorts of Men and as a speculative Philosopher to the Entertainment of Himself and Friends he passes very free Remarks on all Actions and Things he judges amiss and being byass'd by no manner of Interest I am perswaded he speaks his Conscience And he has the good Fortune to make others often conclude He do's not only speak a great deal of Truth but also further satisfies them That it is much easier to find Faults than mend them That there ever were and ever will be Disorders in all Human Societies That there are fewer in that of England than in any other and that they are there more curable Thus much I thought fit to tell you to prevent any Misapprehensions concerning the Persons who are the occasion of this Trouble or Diversion call it what you please The CONTENTS 1. STate Affairs not fit to be discoursed by privat men Page 7 2. Of the Rise of Parliaments 11 3. Origin of Government with a brief account of Laws Revenues Trade and Natural Religion 12 4. A new Method of Electing Members Objections against this Present Parliament and their Answers 29 5. Of Lawes c. 37 6. Of better restraint of Offences than Punishment by death 48 7. Of Courts of Iudicature 60 8. Of Liberty Property and Religion 73 9. Differences in the last nor hurtful nor restrainable 81 10. How Toleration may be safely granted 92 11. How to prevent Divisions among Christians and to make all really not nominaly such 99 12. To Regulate and Reform the abuses of the Press the inconveniencies of Printing as now managed 104 13. The Intrest of England in Reference to France 116 14. Reasons why the King did not declare War against that Crown 119 15. The King's Care of Ireland to prevent French Designs 140 16. Of an Union between England and Ireland or the Repealing Poynings Act. 143 17. Of Taxes to make them great and perpetual most for the Peoples ease and common good 148 18. That 100 l. formerly was in Real value equivalent to 300 l. now and in use to 3000 l. With the reasons of the disparity 161 19. The dangers of not perpetuating apportioning and applying the Revenue to the particular charge and uses of the Crown or State and the advantage of doing so 166 20. The Objections against perpetuating the Revenue considered and removed 167 21. That French or any other Commodities are better Restrained by height of Duty than absolute
two following in sixty-five and seventy-one blowing up the Feuds on both sides pretending to take part with each but not really purposing it with either Having the same Desine of weakning both Parties as the Brittains formerly had in throwing a Bone of Contention between the Picts and Scots that they might in the end be the better able to overcom both In the mean time the French King gain'd an opportunity of building Ships of War and training up Seamen of which he was before destitute so that had not these Quarrels and our late Civil Wars given him a pretence of increasing his Maritin Power we might stil even by threats of burning the Ships upon the Stocks or in the Harbors as did Queen Elizabeth have kept that People under and our selves from fear But since by unavoidable Accidents the Dice are so thrown as that the Fore is lost let 's use the best of our art and skill to retreive an After-Game There is no need to attempt the proof of what is as evident as the Sun at Noon-day That the French King has a Power great enuff considering the present Circumstances of Europe to make him hope and al others dread his effecting that old Define which has bin the end of al Actions of that Crown for many years past which before he coud put in Execution his great Obstacle and Rival the Spaniard was to be removed out of the way in order to which he judg'd necessary to fortify himself with some Allyes and engage others Newters But foreseeing it was the interest of England and Holland to oppose the one and assist the other and therfore despairing to prevail upon either he contriv'd to make both fall out not long after he took the advantage of unexpectedly invading the Spanish Netherlands even while his Agent then in Spain was perswading that Crown of his Masters good intentions to continue in intire Peace and Amity with them The consequence of which we wisely foreseeing occasion'd our setting on Foot the Tripple League in the year 1668. by which a stop was put to his further Progress And now perceiving himself disapointed he makes various Attempts in the Years 1669 and 1670 to invite England to break that Alliance But finding his fineness Vain he oblicly endeavors it by renewing the old and inventing new grounds of Quarrels by such Agents and Pensioners in the State of Holland as his wealth had purchas'd which at last made them commit such insolence against the Honor of this Crown and the Interest of the People in point of Trade as brought upon 'um the last fatal War into which he no sooner drew the Hollanders than he rush'd into the very Heart of their Country This sudden event made them confess their Error and our King the sooner to conclude a Peace The Parliament was then and since very desirous His Majesty shoud ingage with the Dutch and Spaniards against France and without doubt he knew it woud be his interest so to do but not at that time For tho the undoubted Prerogative of the Kings of England intitle them to make War and Peace he did not wave the former because the Parliament urged it as the malicious suggest but because he saw it not convenient 'T is tru the Kings of England have bin pleas'd to advise in such matters with their Parliaments But that was an Act of Grace and condescension and ought not now if at al to be insisted on so as to deny the King that liberty which as a Man he cannot want that of examining and approving or disapproving what his great Council shoud advise For no man in his Wits wil dream the Lords and Commons have a power of imposing what they please upon the King when without his Assent they have neither Power nor Right to make any Act. The King considered That Peace is the happiness of a Kingdom That War being a real evil is never to be undertaken but to avoid a greater That his Treasures were exhausted by the War just finisht That his People had not recover'd their losses by the Plague Fire and Wars and therfore were unable to bear the Burden of heavy Taxes which of necessity must have bin imposed to carry on a new one for which great preparations ought to be made both of Men Mony and Shipping the former were no less wanting than the last much impaired and diminish't He consider'd That the French King had not only bin amassing great Treasure for many but had also bin three years training up an Army in al the Disciplines of War That it was necessary before one King entred into a War to compare his own and the others strength whether with Ten he were able to meet him with Twenty Thousand That he ought to make Alliances and to have cautionary Towns before we declared our selves Enemies That so great a desine was not to be made public before things were Ripe least the Dutch and French might clap up a Peace and that potent King turn against us the fury of his Arms for whom certainly in those circumstances we shoud have bin a very unequal match I am perswaded That these with other much wiser considerations not obvious to every man convinced the King A War was on no score at that time seasonable And to this Opinion I am mov'd by my sense That the King coud not but reflect That when the French King had subjected al the rest of Europe he woud not fail to ad England to his Conquests in which our Kings losse must needs be greater than his Subjects For it is unreasonable to think that tru Policy woud let the French King suffer any of the Royal Family especially the King of England and France at whose Title and Arms-bearing he is not a little offended to outlive the loss of the Crown since he coud not but believe they woud be perpetually endeavouring the regaining their own Right For tho subjection be unequal to al 't is not so intolerable to any as to those us'd to govern And therfore t is an idle and and senseless inconsiderat fancy to imagin the King and Duke coud forget their own Interest or be Frenchifi'd upon any promise or bargain as is maliciously insinuated that they might be more absolute which can't possibly be in their thoughts or wishes Who know that between Kings or States Covenants are binding no longer than convenient that the French King has ever shewn that his Interest only or his Wil is the Rule of convenience That he that makes War for his Glory has more ambition to put his Chains upon Princes than on the People his thoughts are as large as any of the Roman Emperors and they esteemd it a greater Glory to lead one King in Triumph than many thousands Subjects of several Kingdoms And it is not to be suppos'd that the natural strength and situation of England can be a sufficient Defence against the Power of France when to that he has already is added that of
of Forrein Goods than we sel of our own this I am convinc'd we do in our French Trade 't is wel if we do not likewise play the Fool in others By the way you may observe That if we woud but moderate our Expences we might very wel bear our Taxes tho they were near thirty times greater than in that Kings Reign even with Allowance for the Alteration of Coyn. That the Exportation of Mony in specie is so far from being a Loss to the Kingdom that it may be gainful as it is to Legorn and other places That tho we did not export any Coyn yet we shoud not be the Richer since the over-ballance woud stil lye as a Debt upon our Trade which it must somtime or other pay in that or another Commodity or otherwise Break. And that the Council or Committee of Trade may find out the Wealth of the Kingdom which woud serve to many good Purposes by making a yearly Account of the Goods imported and exported best known by the Customs and has been Calculated by a Friend of mine in another Country These ought at least every seven Years to be reviewd supposing the Life of Commodities not longer than that of Man And according to their Alterations of usefulness or necessity to our selves or others the Impositions to be chang'd And here I must take leave to assert That all imported Commodities are better restrain'd by the height of Imposition than by an absolute Prohibition if sufficient Care be taken to oblige the Importers to a ful and strict Payment for this woud be a kind of Sumptuary Law putting a necessity upon the Consumer by Labor to enlarge his Purse or by Thrist to lessen his Expence And I am the more induc'd to this by my observation that notwithstanding the several Acts prohibiting the Importation of many forrein Commodities yet nothing is more worn or us'd especially the French in which Trade if the over-ballance which is said to be above 1600000 Pound were loaded with the Charge of eight Shillings in the Pound it woud make the Consumption of those Commodities 640000 pound dearer and if that woud not restrain our Folly it woud help to ease us in the public Taxes whereas now they are all imported without any other Charge than what is paid for Smuckling to tye up the Seamen's Tongues and shut Officers Eyes To prevent this it were fit that Men were undeceiv'd of the Notion they have taken up That the Law do's allow 'um their Choice either to pay the Duty or the Penalty if taken which sure cannot be the End of any Law which designes Obedience and active Compliance with what it injoins not a Disobedience or breaking what it positively commands If Penal Statutes be only conditional then the Traitor the Murderer or the Thief when he suffers the Punishment of Disobedience may be cal'd an honest Man and in another Signification than that of the Scotch Phrase A justify'd Person But the idle and unwarrantable Distinction of Active and Passive Obedience has don England greater Mischiefs The Revenu Acts give not the same Liberty that those Acts do which oblige the People to go to Church or to Watch and Ward under pecuniary Mulcts In these a Power of Choosing was designedly left which by many Circumstances appears otherwise intended by the other And indeed the Practice is not only unjust but abusive to the whole Body of the People who pay as dear for what they buy as if the Duty had bin paid to the King not put up in a few privat Mens Pockets It may likewise hinder Trade for if the Smuckler please he may undersel his Neighbor who honestly thinks 't is a Cheat and a Sin not to give Caesar his Du Therefore a Seal or som privat Mark shoud be contriv'd for all sorts of Commodities and Power given to seize them when and where-ever met in Merchants Retailers or Consumptioners Hands And to prevent the passing forrein Commodities as if made at Home for which lest any of these last shoud pass they shoud in the Town where they are made or expos'd to Sale be first mark'd or seal'd in an Office purposely erected without any Delay or Charge to the People That that part of the Act of Navigation be repeal'd which appoints three fourths of the Mariners to be English why not Scots Irish or any of the Kings Subjects or even Forreiners so the Ships do really belong to owners resident in England We want People therefore ought to invite more not restrain any This Act is a Copy of that made by the Long Parliament and their General the Usurper who being in War with Scotland and Ireland in rebellion thought fit to deny them equal privileges in commerce But this Loyal Parliament wil I hope consider that the three Kingdoms are not to be thus divided in Interests while under one Monarch That his Naval Power their joint strength is increas'd by the growth of shipping in any of ' um If the sence of this wil not prevail upon them to allow 'um the same freedoms yet sure I am they must from thence perceive England wil have a great advantage by suffering all the Kings subjects of Ireland and Scotland to enjoy the benefit of this Act. That there be two Free Ports appointed one in the South another in the North with convenient rules and limitations That the duty impos'd upon any of our exportations whether of our own growth or manufacture of forrein materials be not so high as may either wholy restrain those abroad from buying or enable others to furnish them cheaper That education of Children in forrein parts in Colleges or Academies be prohibited and Provision found or made at home for Teaching Languages and the exercises of Rideing Fencing c. That Banks and Lombards be speedily Erected this in a little time woud make a Hundred pound to be as useful to the Public as two Hundred real Cash is now But in order thereunto let there be a voluntary Registry of Land c. which in a few years wil raise their valu considerably By this way no man indebted or whose estate is incumbred is obliged to make discoveries Yet if he has but half free the Registring of that wil the better enable him to discharge the other part If a Registry must not be obtain'd that at least the selling or morgaging over and over secret conveyances Deeds of trust or any other Trics by which the Lender or Purchaser is defrauded and abus'd be made Felony without benefit of Clergy and the cheating person oblig'd to pay the sufferer treble Dammage and as much more to the Public This which certainly all honest men judg as reasonable as what is practis'd for far smaller evils or offences wil without any innovation in the Laws or other alleg'd inconveniences to the People secure us in our Rights and perhaps answer al the ends of a Registry of which tho very convenient I am not so fond as to
prohibition 173 22. Several Taxes considered Excise Hearth-Mony c. 174 23. A Tax upon New Buildings a Pole-mony and how to secure it against frauds 178 24. A Tax upon unmarried people 180 25. Of Trade of the value of Labour how the People and Riches may be encreased c. 184 26. That Forreigners are to be Invited and how 190 Many other things for Advance of Trade as Registries or their equivalent on Practisers of Fraud how Work-houses may be Erected all Poor and Beggars provided for and a Nursery for an Army either for Land or Sea-Service to be suddenly raised on any emergency without grievance or pressing of the People c. Errata IN the Title page for Member in read Member of P. 2. to the Reader read unfashionable rigid virtue p. 18. l. 14. r. extravagance p. 21. l. 15. r. destructive p. 28. l. 3. for and policy r. or Policy ibid. l. 13. r. as head p. 63. l. 3. r. actual summons p. 69. l. 4. r. arising p. 82. l. 5. r. End ibid. l. 10. for clearer r. cleaner p. 91. l. 19. r. a Red Sea p. 105. l. 9. r. Sacrament p. 112. l. 22. r. have slay'd p. 113. l. 25. dele til they p. 118. l. 20. r. finesso p. 122. l. 10. for unequal r. uneasy p. 143 l. 15. r. Poynings p. 145. l. 7. r. claim a greater p. 149. last l. for make r. may p. 159. l. last r. Haver p. 176. l. 22. r. Brewers only p. 178. l. 13. r. but also p. 188. l. 23. r. twice stronger p. 191. l. 2. r. many many p. 200. l. 5. r. shal not be p. 207. l. 2. r. representative p. 239. l. 4. r. Bettor The Introduction SIR HAd you only commanded me to have given you an account of the Laws and Customs of another Utopia an Isle of Pines or of O. Brazil tho unfit even for such a Task I wou'd not have disputed it But finding you have impos'd upon me who am neither States-man nor Merchant a necessity of playing the Fool by treating of Englana's Policies and Trade I confess I cou'd not without great reluctance comply with so severe an injunction I have always been averse to discourses of this kind which in Privat men are no farther tolerable than as idle Philosophers to pass away their vacant hours in such otherwise useless speculations And in them too I have heard 'um oftner condemn'd than commended the Authors esteemed foolish and impertinent troublesom or dangerous And som we know by indulging themselves too much in this vanity have straitned if not wholly lost their Liberty and Fortunes We live not in Plato's Commonwealth but in foece Romuli where a ful Reformation of Laws and Manners seems only to be wish'd not to be obtain'd without a Miracle Why then shou'd any especially the unconcern'd busy their heads with what they cannot mend 'T is much more pleasant and safer far to let the World take its course to believe that in the regular stated motion of Nature things are so order'd by Divine Providence that they wil not cannot suffer themselves to be il manag'd Nature if we hearkn'd to her Dictates as well as Religion which we equally despise would convince us it were our Duty I am certain it wou'd be our Interest our Happiness even in this life to submit quietly to the Powers above and their Ordinances because All Powers are of God Thus I acknowledge every privat man ought to think and do But public persons that is to say Law-makers are to consider they were born not only for themselves but for the good of others and therefore are oblig'd to exert that power with which they are intrusted for the joint common good of the People without partial regards or privat ends If they wou'd sincerely mind this and if our hot-braind State-Mountebanks who being but privat men yet quarrel at every thing that is not conformable to the Capricio's of their own wild fancies wou'd cease to intermedddle in their Superiors Province England might be the happpiest Kingdom of the World whereas the contrary Practise rendred her not long fince the Seat of Civil Wars Tyranny and Confusion and has at present so filled Her with Murmurings and Repinings Iealousies and Fears that She which formerly gave Law to others and was a Terror to more than Europe is now in danger to become weak and contemptible in the Eys and Opinions of her Neighbors These and such like were the Considerations that made me so long resist your command to which I had never yielded but to prevent the loss of your Friendship with which you so solemly threatn'd me in your last Take then in the same order you prescribe the best account I am able in so short a time to give to your several following Particulars Of the Rise and Power of Parliaments Of Laws Courts of Iudicature Of Liberty Property and Religion Of the Interest of England in reference to the Desines of France Of Taxes and of Trade But you are to observe That what I write is with as much liberty and little care as people discourse in Coffee houses where we hear the State-affairs of all Nations adjusted and from thence guess at the Humor of the People and at the Times In this therefore you are not to expect any studied Phrases or Elaborat connexions close neat Transitions c. Your servant whom I conjure you by the strictest ties of Friendship not to discover has neither will nor leisure for such a work which being intended only for your Closet you may be content to take in a plain English dress The great and many Revolutions and Changes which in all Places have attended Human Affairs and the particular Inundations of the Romans Saxons Danes and Normans into this Kingdom together with the ignorance and carelesness of former Ages have left us in so much darkness and uncertainty that I think it not only difficult but morally impossible to trace out exactly the Beginnings of things If it be so then in all affairs we may cease to wonder why men are so much at a loss in their Enquiries into and Debates of the present matter viz. Of the Rise and Power of Parliaments which has received very different formes and shapes according to the Interest and Power of the several contending Parties this makes me think its tru face can never be fully discover'd tho perhaps it may be uncertainly guess'd at by som Lines saint Shadows and stronger Probalities gather'd from the scatter'd Memoires of Monks who cannot well be suppos'd impartial especially in Ecclesiastical nor full in the relations of State-affairs in the Accounts of which they did not hold themselves concern'd But yet they are the best guides we have For from the Ancient Rolls in the Tower one cannot believe there was any exact Diary of things or if he do must conclude many are spoyl'd by the injury of Time omitted thro negligence or made away for privat Ends. However we may
all the rest of Europe unless you can dream they may have a Fleet greater than all and may at once resist by those Walls the Invasion of others and defend their Merchant-men at Sea which if not don without an Invasion by spoiling the Trade England will be destroy'd or which is altogether as bad be render'd very poor and inconsiderable And that this has bin his Majestyes sense may be guess'd by the Progress he has made since the War mediating a Peace as best became a good King and giveing his Subjects an opportunity of enriching themselves and inabling them to bear the necessary Taxes by ingrossing most of the Trade of Europe and at length finding his endeavours ineffective he prepar'd himself to resist the French desines by force by providing a Fleet and knowing that he that fights with another must have skil at the same Weapons he suffer'd such of his Subjects as were willing but on capitulations to return when he pleased to serve either the Confederates or the French not only to be fitted to lead others but also to understand the new Arts of fighting which are greatly alter'd from what they were in former times The King having thus prepared things I hear he is so far from being backward to declare War with France that he wil gladly do it if his Parliament wil but find out a sufficient means for carrying it on effectually which I apprehend must not be ordinary for that the War if undertaken is like to be of long continuance And you wil guess that 't is no longer to be delay'd if you wil but bring before your Eyes the danger we and all Europe are expos'd to by comparing the present Power of France with what it was in the Days of Francis the First and observing what he was then able to do when assaulted by Charles the Fifth who was not only Emperor but had all the Power of Spain the Seventeen Provinces of Naples Sicily Sardinia the Dukedom of Milan and the Riches of the West-Indies who was as Wise Couragious and Fortunat a Captain as most Ages of the World have known one who manag'd his own Councils like Alexander in every Action appear'd at the Head of his Army who had above a hundred Thousand wel disciplin'd Men led by many great and experienc'd Commanders who was able by a mighty Naval Power to begirt France on both sides from Flanders and from Spain Yet at that time France Courting the same Mistriss the universal Monarchy was so powerful a Rival that he durst not attempt his removal out of the way of his Ambition without the aid and assistance of Henry the Eighth the Pope and several Princes of Italy nor even then did he think himself secure til he had drawn to a defection Charles Duke of Bourbon the most considerable Prince of France And yet after all he was forc'd to clap up an Accommodation on Terms sufficiently advantageous to that Crown If so mighty a Power and so united coud not prevail against Francis the First How unlikly is it to resist Lewis the Fourteenth a much greater Prince when that Power is now so much lessen'd by being broken and divided into several Hands When the Emperor gives himself up more to Devotion than Martial or State-Affairs When the King of Spain is a Youth of Sixteen and when the Seventeen Provinces are canton'd between the Spaniard and the States General When these several Divisions and Interests occasion long Debates different Opinions and slowness in Preparation and Action When all that was formerly manag'd by one single Head is by these Accidents brought under the Conduct of several Governors of whom it 's possible som may prefer their privat Advantages to the Interests of their Masters This has made som Conjecture the French King has open'd more Gates with Silver Keys than by Force of Arms and has induc'd others to conclude That the Confederates wil hardly be able to defend the Remainder of the Spanish Netherlands another Campagne if not assisted by the joynt Power of the rest of Europe This you wil easily believe not to be ill grounded if you consider the present Greatness of France Lewis has about four times the Revenu Francis had and at least four times the Army Nay rather all his People are now in a manner Souldiers 'T is not only scandalous but a vain attempt for any Gentleman there to make Court for a Wife before he has serv'd a Campaign or two nor are any of the Nobless sufferd to live at ease in the Country that do not go or send som of their Sons to the War These practises enabl'd him last summer in fifteen days to send forty-five Thousand Gentlemen with their Servants at their own Charge to raise the Siege of Charleroy And to make the Monarchy more absolute Matters have bin so order'd that their Parliaments are become ordinary Courts of Iustice and have no other Laws than the Edicts of the Prince's wil And if at any time he condescends in Formality to assemble the three Estates who had in Francis the First 's time the Power of Parliaments 't is but to tel them by his Chancellor the King Wils you do thus or thus you are not to advise or dispute but immediatly ratify his Commands which accordingly are obey'd as the Effects of a Despotic Power In the beginning of the Year 1665 he was not able to man out twenty Ships of War and now he has about two hundred He has not only vast Treasures heaped together but the Strings of all the Purses of his Slaves rather than Subjects in his own hands If without any Assistance he has already gain'd Lorrain Franche Comte a great part of Flanders and no inconsiderable Footing in Germany and Sicily and in the beginning of the last Campaigne three such strong Holds as Valenciennes St. Omer and Cambray the weakest of which most men thought woud at least have made him whole a Summers work what wil he not be able to compass against the rest of Europe when he has got the accession of Germany and all the Low-countryes to that already too boundless Power by which he has fetter'd his own People and subjected them to an absolute Vassalage Wil other Nations expect better Terms than he has given his own 'T is wel if he wil allow them even Canvas and Sabows But above all what can England hope having for many years forc'd him to check the Reins of his Ambition and is I presume at this time ready to put on the Caveson Books have already bin printed shewing his pretentions to this Country which tho weak and silly may help to spur him on in the pursuit of his Glory Nor can less be expected from those who by a Confederacy with the late Usurpers gave an opportunity of taking away the Life of the first Charles and of pursuing that of the Second to whom his own Cousin German unhospitably deny'd the continuance of a retreat when the
of England by which it s said if they are always so kept under as to be no more than hewers of Wood and drawers of Water they may in future Ages be incouraged to a defection and either set up a Power of their own or invite a forreiner which might prove of ill consequence to England For the harbours and situation of Ireland lying more convenient for Trade makes it that way or otherwise a ready inlet to the conquest of England The People there stomach the prejudice in point of Commerce desined tho not effected by the Acts against their Cattle Navigation and Plantation Trade by the first they are said to have gaind vastly by an increase in Woollen and Linnen Manufactures in Shipping and forrain Traffic to the great prejudice of England And I have bin credibly inform'd by a person who examin'd it that they have gaind Communibus annis forty thousand Pounds Sterling yearly by the Exported Commodities of Beef Tallow Hides Butter and Wool yeelding so much more after the passing that Act than they and the Cattle did before when transported together And if the Irish of which there are few pure Families left have som pretence to the Kings Favour as he is lineally descended from Fergutius second Son of the then Reigning King of Ireland and first of Scotland which was anciently peopled from thence The English there claim greater share in his Majesties Grace and say of Right they ought to be accounted but the younger Brothers of England I coud wish with all my heart the story were tru I had from an Irish Gentleman in France that his Countrey-men were so pleased that they were at last govern'd by a King descended from their own blood Royal that they had resolved to pay his Majesty and the Successors of his Line the Allegiance due from natural born Subjects not from a Conquer'd People which they now no more esteem themselves nor desire to be accounted by others How much of this may be tru you and I know not but this I think If all the Natives were oblig'd to speak English and all call'd by the Name of the English of Ireland and allow'd equal Privileges in Trade the same usages and customs begetting a Harmony in Humor that Rancor might in time be remov'd which from a sense of being Conquer'd renders them now troublesom and chargeable to this Kingdom This was design'd in part by Queen Elizabeth and King Iames and perhaps had bin effected for the whole but that the Irish coud not be said to have bin fully Conqer'd before the tenth year of his Reign which was after the making of those Statutes It woud be I confess an advantage to England to be freed from the Charge and necessity of keeping that Kingdom under by a constant Army and considering the inconveniences this Nation has suffer'd by their frequent Wars and Rebellions Their gain woud be more if they had never Conquer'd the Countrey in which the losses of the English coud perhaps be never better compensated than by sinking it if possible under water The accession of so much people unto England might make som Reparation for the greater number which to our own impoverishment we have sent thither I have dwelt the longer upon the considerations of Scotland and Ireland to shew the Frenchman may be mistaken who about ten or twelve Years since publisht a Book of Politics Chalking out the way for the French Kings gaining the Universal Monarchy in immitation of Campanella to Philip the second on the same subject wherein after several insufferable slights and indignities intolerable base false and malicious Characters thrown and fixt upon the English he tells it will be an easy task to overcome them but in the last place by sowing divisions among the King of Englands Subjects especially those of Scotland and Ireland By false insinuations jealousies and fears of Popery and Arbitrary Government c. the prevention wherof wil be his Majestyes particular Care and the Parliaments to inable him to carry on this great Work of our common safety against the common Enemy the disturber of the Peace of Christendom by finding out an easy and sufficient fond which naturally brings me to the Consideration of Taxes allow'd by all understanding Men as absolutly necessary for the support of the Body politic as Meat and Drink for the natural But what kinds are best has been much disputed Before I descend to particulars it is not amiss to observe in general That no Taxes can be just or safe which are not equal All Subjects as wel the meanest as the greatest are alike concern'd in the common Safety and therefore shoud according to their respective Interests of Riches or Enjoyments bear the Charge in equal Proportions The contrary Practice must of necessity beget Murmurings and Discontents which seldom ending in Words proceed higher to Blows dividing the Oppressed against the others which wil certainly disquiet and disturb and may probably ruin both That all Taxes shoud be proportion'd to the necessities of State That in computing these the Error if any must be is safer on the right hand than in defect because the Overplus may be order'd to other good Public Uses That when Taxes are made equal to the People and proportionat to the Charges of the Public 'T is much more for the Subjects ease and the common Safety That they be made Perpetual than Temporary For if the Means of securing our selves against all the Dangers to which we are expos'd be not sufficient we must undoubtedly yield our selves up to the Mercy of our Enemies or suffer much Vexation in parting with further Supplies from time to time out of that Substance which Nature or our own almost equally binding Customes have made but just enuff for the support of our Selves and Families either of which is very grievous and because the Event is uncertain 't is hard to determin which of the two is most Destructive to the Pleasures of Life for he that says The Choice is easy in that your Enemies may take away your Life the other Course does but render it Miserable is in my opinion much mistaken it being more eligible to have no Sense at all than to have it only to endure Pain For Life is in it self a thing indifferent neither good nor bad but as it is the Subject of pleasing or unpleasing Perceptions and is then better or worse as it has more or less of the one or the other So that the proper Question is not Whether it be better to live or not to live but Whether Misery be preferable to no Misery To which not only Reason but Sense is able to give a satisfactory Answer You see then that if the Taxes fal short of their end we are expos'd to great Miseries and therfore to exceed is fafer especially when things may be so order'd that after the occasions are supply'd the surplusage may be refunded or imploy'd in the way of a Banc or Lombard or public
Trade as Fishing or Cloathing c. The first as an unexpected Gift wil be very grateful to the People and the other wil not be less benificial because it must encrease their Riches and be a fond without new Taxes for any future Emergencies That perpetuating the Revenu is most easy for the People and most convenient for Public Ends wil farther appear from these following Considerations That an equal Tax tho greater than is needful so the Money be not hoarded up to hinder Trade but issued as fast as it comes in for necessaries within the Country however it may for the present make som Alterations in particular Families do's not impoverish the Whole For Riches as Power consisting in comparison All equally retrenching som part of their Expences remain as Rich as they were before This Retrenchment may at first seem unpleasant and stomacful to those who think what they have little enuff for their privat Expence But such ought to consider if they refuse to part with som they wil infallibly lose all That instead of being a free People they may becom Slaves and wil not then have it in their Power to keep ought of what they cal their own have no Liberty or Property but at the pleasure of their conquering Tryumphant Lord and Master That then they wil be dealt with like Beasts now they have the Liberty of Rational Men i. e. of choosing with the wise Merchant in a Storm to throw som of his Goods over-board to secure his Life and the rest of his Fortune When by prudent Rules of Oeconomy and Temperance they have par'd off those great Extravagancies men are now given to in Cloaths in Meat and Drink c. to the decay of their Healths and shortning of their Lives and have proportion'd their Layings-out to their Comings-in what for the present seems so hard wil becom very easy and be hereafter no more felt than the payment of Tythes now which without doubt wrought the same Effect at first as this may be suppos'd to do But what is yet much better they wil make us Rich for I am Convinced that the great Taxes in the united Netherlands have bin the chiefest Cause of their great Wealth and tho this be no smal Paradox and perhaps a new one I am fully perswaded it contains a great Truth for their great Taxes necessitated great Industry and Frugality and these becoming Habitual coud not but produce Wealth especially considering that the Product of Labor is more valuable to the Kingdom than the Land and all other Personal Estate which I wil shew under the particular of Trade When the Taxes are less than serve or to last but for a time those who do not make their Expences short of their In-comes but think they may without prejudice make both Ends meet or if they exceed so soon as that Proportion which now goes to the Public comes in it wil make things even again do not consider how difficult it is to fal and that in the mean time an Accident may happen that not only requires the continuance of the Temporary but also of imposing new and greater Taxes Then when perhaps it 's too late they cry out They are ruin'd and undon and indeed the Case seems hard yet can't be avoided Therefore to answer our present Needs and prevent for the future such great Evils the Taxes are to be made perpetual So we being under a necessity of adjusting our Privat Affairs accordingly a little time wil make them Habitual to us and insensible to our Posterity For that if they be not perpetual but to determin at certain or uncertain Periods of Time they do not only becom uneasy to the Subject but inconvenient for the Publick Security which may suffer much at Home and Abroad in the interval before new Supplies can be legally rais'd I do not doubt but You and your Fellow-Members have it in yout Thoughts that all the Customs and half the Excise cease upon the death of our Soverain for whose long Life every good Subject is bound by interest no less than duty heartily to Pray but is it not to be remembred that the Period of humane Life is uncertain tho that of our evil which may thereupon insue be not the occasions of our expence continuing tho the means of supporting them fail That before a Parliament can be conven'd those others may be increas'd because in the mean time the Merchants wil fil the Kingdom with goods and sel them at the same rates they now do reckoning that a lucky hit and so anticipate the Markets for two three or more years with all manner of Staple Commodities Linnen Silk Salt c. which they have near at hand and with what perishable Commodityes they can procure for as long a term as they wil last and perhaps covetously and foolishly for a longer Thus the People wil pay and lose and yet the State grow poor as wel for the present as future while the Merchants only the overhasty and immature wil have the profit And tho they talk loudest the consumptioner stil pays the Duty and that with Interest In proportioning of Taxes we must have recourse to the necessities of the Charge which in my sence of things ought to extend to all that relate to us as single persons in matters of right or wrong as Law c. as wel as to what concerns us with reference to the whole in our public occasions as of Peace or War forrein or Domestic For I hold it altogether as reasonable that the Public shoud pay all those Officers who promote and distribute Iustice as wel as those others now paid by the State In proportion to which I hope our Governors wil consider what wil suffice for the management of all Affairs that any way conduce to the joynt good of the whole Body Politic and when that is known and fixt leave the rest to our own particular disposal But in this proportioning of Taxes we must rather look forward than backward Our home occasions are easily judged but those abroad must be taken by other measures the former use of Mony compar'd with its present the ancient demeans of the Crown with what they are now and the strength and power of our Neighbours especially the French concerning whom we are not to forget That that Crown is much more potent than it was heretofore by the accession of large Territories which when Englands gave it great Aid and Assistance in their War That the expence of one years War in this Age is greater than of twenty in former times That then two pence a day woud go further than twenty pence now That six or ten thousand men were as considerable an Army as forty or fifty thousand now Then a smal Castle Moat or ordinary Ditch was a good Fortification But mighty Bastians large Curteines doubly fortified with Faussbrais Counterscarps half Moons Redoubts and great variety of other Out-works according to the Nature and Situation
to make good all Horses stolen out of their Stables or Pastures An Imposition on all Stage-Coaches Carts Waggons and Carriers set aside for the wel ordering the Roads woud be of general Advantage as woud a Tax upon Periwigs forving in part as a sumptuary Law A year or half a years Rent charg'd upon all the new Buildings since 1656 woud not only much oblige the City of London enabling them by the Difference of Rents to Let those many wast Houses which now to the Ruin of Trade remains un-tenanted also gratify the Kingdom by easing them from the common thredbare Land-Tax I do not question but in this Conjuncture the Wit of Men wil be contriving new Ways to supply the present occasions of a War for that a Land-Tax is slow and unequal and I am apt to fancy that of the Poll-Mony wil be pitcht upon as the most speedy Levy but must not be too great As to my self I am not sollicitous what Course they take but wish it such as may be equal and so wil be pleasing to most But be it great or smal the King as formerly wil be agen defrauded unless there be special care taken The way I apprehend is That for twenty-one Years to com neither Plaintif nor Defendant be allow'd the Benefit of the Law without producing an authentic Acquittance or Discharge that they have paid this Pol-Mony and averring the same in their Actions or Pleas. That the Ministers be forbid to Marry within that space any who do not Women as wel as Men produce such Certificats That none be admitted to any Office or Command Civil or Military Administration or Executorship Freedom or Privilege in Town City or Corporation or receiv'd into any of the Public Schools Inns or Universities if of the Age limited by the Act except they make out the said Payment which in three months after ought to be Registred with the persons Names and Qualities Now in regard that England is already very much under-peopled and wil be more so if there be a War To provide against those Evils and to obviat in som measure the Loosness and Debauchery of the present Age I have thought of a sort of Tax which I believe is perfectly new to all the World and under which 't is probable if it takes I have made Provision for my own Paying the Crown no inconsiderable Sum during my Life 'T is a Tax upon Caelibat or upon unmarryed People viz. That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and other Degrees of Nobility upwards shoud Marry by twenty-two compleat all their Daughters by Eighteen and Yonger Sons by Twenty-five All Citizen's Eldest Sons not Gentlemen by Twenty-three all other Men by Twenty-five All the Daughters not Servants of all Men under the Degree of Gentlemen to marry by Nineteen all Maid-Servants by Twenty That all Widdowers under Fifty Marry within Twelve Months after the Death of their Wives all Widdows under Thirty-five within two Years after their Husband's Decease unless the Widdowers or Widdows have Children alive I allow the Women as the softer and better natur'd more time to lament their Loss That no Man marry after Seventy nor Widdow after Forty-five That all Men cohabit with their Wives That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and all other Degrees of Nobility upward and all other Persons not Married by the times limited as afore-said shal pay per annum a peece these following Rates viz. Dukes Marquesses and their Eldest Sons Forty pound other Lords and their Eldest Sons twenty Pound Knights Barronets ten Pound Esquires eight Pound Gentlemen five Pound Citizens three Pound all other Retailing Trades-men two Pound The Yonger Brothers or Sons of all the fore-going Persons respectively half so much and likewise the Maiden Daughters or rather their Fathers or Gardians for them All Servants Laborers and others six Shillings eight Pence All the above-said Widdowers or Widdows not marrying again under the Age afore-said half but marrying again after the Ages above limited double according to their Qualities respectively and all marryed Men not cohabiting with their Wives to pay quadruple You may perceive I do not forget in this Scheme to practice som of the Courtesy of England towards the Women That in regard it is not fashionable for them to Court an hardship Custom and their own Pride has foolishly brought upon them they are Tax'd but at half what their Elder Brothers are These things I do not set down with a Design of giving People a Liberty of playing the Fool as now in Matters of Fornication under those Penalties For all single Persons that do so I woud have oblig'd under an indispensible Necessity to Marry one another And coud wish a further severity of Punishment were inflicted upon Adultery by the State since 't is so much neglected by the Church It woud also be of great and public Advantage that all Marriages were Celebrated openly in the Church according to the Canon or Rubric and the Banes three several Sundays or Holy-days first published But if this must be stil dispensed with that then all Dukes and Marquesses and their Eldest Sons shoud pay twenty Pound all Noblemen and their Eldest Sons fifteen Pound every Knight and his Eldest Son seven Pound ten Shillings every Gentleman or others five Pound to the King as a Public Tax for such License over and above the present establisht Fee in the Consistory Court That if all Children may not be Baptized openly in the Church the Births of all even of the Non-conformists may be duly Registred the knowing the exact Numbers of the People woud be of great Advantage to the Public-Weal and conduce to many good and noble Purposes which for Brevity sake I omit to mention This Course may perhaps prevent many Inconveniences that young Men and Women bring upon themselves and the Public And since the Concubitus Vagus is acknowledged to hinder Procreation the Restraint thereof wil be one Means of advancing Trade by adding more People to the Common-wealth which perhaps in the following Particulars you wil find to be the greatest occasion of its Decay An Inconvenience by all possible means to be removed For that Trade is the Support of any Kingdom especially an Island enabling the Subjects to bear the Taxes and shewing them wayes of living more agreeable than those of the Savage Indians in America whose condition is but few Degrees distant from that of Brutes Since then it is so necessary it deserves the Parliaments best Care to restore it to what it has been or make it what it shoud be The first thing to be don is The Erecting a Council or Committee of Trade whose Work shoud be to observe all manner of things relating thereunto to receive Informations of all Trades-men Artificers and others and thereupon make their Observations To consider all the Statutes already made and out of them form such Bil or Bils as shal be more convenient and present them to the Parliament to be enacted There are