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<DATE>2007-01-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Celeste Ng</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE
ANATOMY
OF A
PROJECT
For rai&s;ing Two Millions.</HEAD>
<P>BEfore I enter upon the Project I will premi&s;e three things.
Fir&s;t, That the Con&s;umption among&s;t our &s;elves of the
wrought Silks, Bengals, and Painted Callico's of <HI>India</HI>
is prejudicial to this Nation, and not only carries out
our Money, but hinders our Silk and Woolen Manufactures at
home. And here I &s;hall not enter into a Di&s;pute, whether the
Indian Trade in general is beneficial to the Kingdom or not? for
in my Opinion that ought to be made no part of the Que&s;tion;
but, whether, if tho&s;e Manufactures were prohibited here, the
Trade would not be more beneficial, or le&s;s de&s;tructive than it is?</P>
<P>I never heard but of two Objections again&s;t &s;uch a Prohibition
that weighed with any body.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> That the Trade cannot be carried on without the&s;e Ma|nufactures,
which is as much as to &s;ay, that the Kings of <HI>China</HI>
and <HI>Japan</HI> will not &s;ell us their Commodities unle&s;s we buy the
Emperor of <HI>Per&s;ia</HI>'s and the Great <HI>Mogul</HI>'s; or that the Great
<HI>Mogul</HI> will not &s;ell us for ready Money raw Silks, Pepper, Mu&s;lins,
white Callico's, Fans, Salt-petre, nor even the&s;e Manufactures
unle&s;s we take as many as he plea&s;es to impo&s;e upon us, and &s;pend
them in <HI>England</HI> too. If they &s;ay that the Trade will not turn
to account without the&s;e Manufactures, they &s;peak again&s;t mat|ter
of Fact; for they all know we carried on the Trade many
years with great Succe&s;s before they were thought on, this Mi&s;|chief
being but of a few years date.</P>
<P><PB N="2" REF="2" MS="y">
The &s;econd Objection is, That it is our Intere&s;t to &s;pend the
<HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Manufactures our &s;elves, which co&s;t but little, and &s;o
&s;end our own to other Countries to a greater advantage. Now I
would ask of the&s;e Gentlemen, Whether it is not full as rea&s;ona|ble
to let Corn come in from <HI>Dantzick</HI> and <HI>Poland,</HI> Cattel and
Cloth from <HI>Ireland,</HI> Silks, Stuffs and Salt from <HI>France,</HI> &amp;c. at a
low Price, that we may &s;ell our Corn, Cattel, Cloth, Stuffs
and Salt to other Countries at a high one, as to &s;ay we mu&s;t
wear <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Silks, Bengals and Callico's at home, that we
may &s;end our own Silks and Stuffs to Foreign Parts? as if the
&s;ame rea&s;on which makes the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Commodities beat us out
of our own Markets, will not beat us out of Foreign; and then
we &s;hall neither wear any of our own Manufactures at home, nor
&s;end them any where el&s;e: be&s;ides, we all know that many thou|&s;ands
of both Woolen and Silk Manufacturers are ready to &s;tarve
in <HI>England</HI> for want of Work; and that we do already &s;ell as
much Woolen Drapery abroad as we can have vent for, not|with&s;tanding
all that is &s;pent at home, and could make as much
more if we could di&s;po&s;e of it.</P>
<P>The &s;econd thing I &s;hall premi&s;e is, That we have &s;ent former|ly
as many of the&s;e Commodities to the other Parts of <HI>Europe</HI>
as we are like to do hereafter: <HI>France</HI> that took off a great part
of them having already prohibited them intirely, and other Na|tions
may do the &s;ame. Be&s;ides, <HI>France</HI> as well as <HI>Holland, Den|mark</HI>
and <HI>Scotland,</HI> have <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Companies, and other Coun|tries
in probability in time will have the like, who all will &s;hare
in that Trade, which we formerly in a great mea&s;ure ingro&s;s'd;
&s;o that if we increa&s;e much in it, it mu&s;t be by our own Con|&s;umption.</P>
<P>The third thing is, That there never was a Million <HI>per Annum</HI>
(I believe not two thirds of it) &s;pent in this Trade, (I mean
original Stock outward bound) and there is no rea&s;on to
believe this Project will enlarge the Trade; for no Per&s;on will
have any liberty or advantage by it more than he hath at this
time: for now every Man may trade for as much as he plea&s;es
without any limitation; whereas, if this Project takes, all that
are not Sub&s;cribers will be re&s;trained. When they talk of di&s;co|vering
new Trades, I &s;ay, this Re&s;traint will rather di&s;courage
than promote &s;uch a Di&s;covery, for the Rea&s;ons before given;
<PB N="3" REF="2" MS="y">
nor is there any probability of &s;uch an Attempt, whil&s;t they can
make &s;o great Advantage by the&s;e Commodities.</P>
<P>I am not po&s;itive in any thing I have here &s;aid; but as I am
more or le&s;s mi&s;taken in the&s;e Principles, &s;o I &s;hall be propor|tionably
in all the Deductions I make from them.</P>
<P>The&s;e things being premi&s;ed, let us examine this Project,
which runs thus, <HI>viz.</HI> Any Per&s;ons what&s;oever that will &s;ub&s;cribe
2000000 <HI>l.</HI> of Money to his Maje&s;ty's u&s;e, &s;hall have 8 <HI>per Cent.</HI>
perpetual Intere&s;t, redeemable by Parliament, i&s;&s;uing out of a
double Duty upon Salt; and &s;hall be&s;ides have a liberty of tra|ding
to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies</HI> for as much more; and if they will not
trade them&s;elves, may &s;ell or rent that Liberty to any others, in
the nature of Licen&s;es to Hackny-Coachmen: &s;o that here is
4000000 <HI>l.</HI> of Money to be rai&s;ed, two for his Maje&s;ty, and two
to trade with.</P>
<P>I do not pretend here to recite the Project offer'd to the Hou&s;e
of Commons, for that I know nothing of; but this is a Project
talk'd and cry'd up in Coffee-hou&s;es. Now I &s;ay, the Encourage|ment
offer'd to the Sub&s;cribers is not &s;ufficient to bring in the
Money; and if it was, it would bring utter Ruin to the King|dom.
To di&s;&s;ect it, let us enquire what the 8 <HI>per Cent.</HI> is worth
as <HI>Exchequer</HI> Credit goes now. We may remember not many
Months ago, that Salt-Tallies which had 7 <HI>per Cent.</HI> Intere&s;t,
were &s;old for fifty <HI>per Cent.</HI> and now will not &s;ell for above &s;ixty
four, tho it is the be&s;t Fund in <HI>England</HI> (it having paid off
already near 80000 <HI>l.</HI> of the principal Money) and much bet|ter
than it can be when the Tax is doubled. I believe the
Projectors will agree with me, that they are not like to &s;ell bet|ter
for increa&s;ing our Funds; nothing being more certain than
that the more Tallies or Stock we have, they will &s;ell the cheaper:
be&s;ides, when two Millions worth of Stock is to be &s;old together,
it will not bear the &s;ame Price as when there is not above two or
three thou&s;and Pounds worth; for where lumping Sums are to
be rai&s;ed, there mu&s;t be lumping Penniworths.</P>
<P>Therefore taking it for granted, that the 8 <HI>per Cent.</HI> will not
be Encouragement enough, then this Defect mu&s;t be &s;upplied by
Licen&s;es to trade to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> to the value of 2000000 <HI>l.</HI></P>
<P>Now I have &s;uppo&s;ed before that a Million of Money is as much
as can be turned, e&s;pecially for a great many years, in this Trade;
which, if true, then here are twice as many Licen&s;es as can be
<PB N="4" REF="3" MS="y">
made u&s;e of. Now it is certain that every Man will rather make
&s;omething of his Licen&s;e than nothing, and then of con&s;equence
they will beat down one another &s;o low, that &s;ome of them may
be bought upon very rea&s;onable terms to put under Tarts and
Chee&s;cakes. I would ask of our Projectors, whether, if there
were twice or thrice as many Licen&s;es for Hackny-Coaches as
could be employ'd about the Town, &s;ome of them would not
be us'd for Bumfodder?</P>
<P>To avoid this nece&s;&s;ary Con&s;equence, perhaps they will &s;ay
that 2000000 <HI>l. per Annum</HI> may be imploy'd in the Trade: then
let us &s;ee what con&s;equence that will be to the Kingdom.</P>
<P>Dr. <HI>Davenant</HI> &s;ays in his E&s;&s;ay upon the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, that
we u&s;ually &s;end forth 500000 <HI>l. per Annum</HI> in value to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI>
whereof I believe he will allow that not above 200000 <HI>l.</HI>
was in Commodities: now I do not &s;ee any probability of more
than that quantity in Commodities being ever &s;ent hereafter; for
if they could have di&s;po&s;ed of more, the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company
and Interlopers would rather have carried it out, tho they got
but two <HI>per Cent.</HI> by it, than have &s;ent empty Ships. Indeed all parts
of the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies</HI> are &s;o hot that our Cloth is of little u&s;e to them;
and that which is &s;ent is a Clog on the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company, and
little Benefit to us, for they &s;end mo&s;t of it up the Per&s;ian Gulf,
which prevents the Sale of as much from <HI>Turkey:</HI> then the other
1800000 <HI>l.</HI> mu&s;t be &s;ent out in Silver and Gold. Now if what
the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company &s;ays be true, the Returns for this Money
will be five times as much, which will make 9000000 <HI>l.</HI> but be|cau&s;e
we will be &s;ure to be within compa&s;s, we will take it to be
but &s;ix; and if what I have &s;aid in my &s;econd Propo&s;ition be
true, all <HI>Europe</HI> be&s;ides <HI>England</HI> will not take off above 500000 <HI>l.</HI>
of this Sum, according to the Computations of Dr. <HI>Davenant,</HI>
who without doubt makes the mo&s;t it: then there mu&s;t be the
value of 5500000 <HI>l. per Annum</HI> of the&s;e Commodities &s;pent in
<HI>England,</HI> which mu&s;t put an end to every Manufacture we have,
and in a few years not leave one Penny of Money in the Nation.
It is not material whether my Computations are exactly right;
for I intend only to &s;hew, that if 2000000 <HI>l.</HI> can be turn'd in the
Trade, then much the greate&s;t part of it (if not nine parts in
ten) will be carried out in ready Money; and we have no a&s;&s;u|rance
of ever &s;eeing any Proportion of it again, that depending
upon the Fa&s;hions, and uncertain Humours of other Countries.</P>
<P><PB N="5" REF="3" MS="y">
If I am an&s;wer'd, That the Parliament de&s;igns to keep the
Trade within their own Power, and to lay what Impo&s;itions or
Re&s;traints upon it they plea&s;e; I reply, That de&s;troys the very
Project: for nothing is more certain than that the&s;e Inconveni|ences
will happen, and 'tis very probable the Cries of the People
will at la&s;t prevail upon the Parliament to prevent them, as hath
been attempted four Se&s;&s;ions together, and twice Bills have pa&s;|&s;ed
the Hou&s;e of Commons to that purpo&s;e: and can it be con|ceived
that the Merchants will &s;ub&s;cribe a va&s;t Sum of Money at
&s;uch Uncertainties, when every Year they will be in pain about
lo&s;ing the mo&s;t beneficial part of the Trade? The &s;ame Objecti|on
lies again&s;t its being made redeemable by Parliament; for tho
that is never likely to be done, yet the very mentioning it may
&s;poil the Propo&s;al: for it is telling the Sub&s;cribers after they have
&s;tood the brunt of the day, if another Set of Men hereafter,
when Money is more plenty, &s;hall offer to rai&s;e the &s;ame Sum
upon ea&s;ier Terms, then they &s;hall be laid a&s;ide.</P>
<P>From all this I infer, That if 2000000 <HI>l.</HI> is not employed in the
Trade, the Licences will be worth little or nothing; for no body
will be re&s;trained when there are more Licences than can be u&s;ed:
and if the whole 2000000 <HI>l.</HI> is employed in the Trade, the King|dom
is undone. Be&s;ides, the <HI>East India</HI> Company that now is
mu&s;t either be aboli&s;hed, or continued; if the former, it &s;eems
to be great Inju&s;tice to them, when the King hath granted them
a Patent pur&s;uant to the Votes and Addre&s;s of the Hou&s;e of Com|mons;
if the latter, then there will be a great Stock without
limitation employed in the Trade over and above this 2000000 <HI>l.</HI>
and &s;o con&s;equently much more Money will be carried out, and
the&s;e Licences of much le&s;s value.</P>
<P>We may add to this, That nothing can be more fatal to the
Nation than &s;ettling perpetual Funds; for they maim the Pub|lick,
and in effect cut off &s;o many Counties from the Govern|ment,
by diverting more Supplies than they contribute towards
the National Charge to private U&s;es. It's a mo&s;t mi&s;erable
thing to con&s;ider, be&s;ides the Funds that will expire in about 8
years time, that we &s;hall pay, if this Project goes on, near
800000 <HI>l. per Ann.</HI> for Perpetuities or long Tracts of years;
which will make the Publick as much weaker, as if the 6 Nor|thern
Counties, with all the People in them, were &s;unk in the
Sea. This it is that hath brought <HI>Spain</HI> to &s;o low an ebb, not|with&s;tanding
<PB N="6" REF="4" MS="y">
their great Territories in <HI>Europe,</HI> and the Riches of
the <HI>East</HI> and <HI>West Indies.</HI> Be&s;ides, the&s;e long Funds &s;trike at the
very Foundation of our Government; for if in a future Reign
the Court &s;hould &s;hut up the Exchequer, what will become of
our Con&s;titution, and the Power of Parliaments, for which, in
my Opinion, we have no Security but their Power of giving Mo|ney?
and therefore unle&s;s I was a Mini&s;ter of State, I would ne|ver
con&s;ent to a Project that &s;eems &s;o pernicious to me.</P>
<P>They tell us this Fund &s;hall be made redeemable by Parlia|ment;
which is a Chimera, when there is the united Intere&s;t of
&s;uch a number of People to continue it, and 2000000 <HI>l.</HI> of Money
mu&s;t be rai&s;ed to redeem it: and whoever doubts this, let him
con&s;ider not only what the <HI>East India</HI> Company hath done to pre|&s;erve
them&s;elves, but what Intere&s;t the <HI>African, Ru&s;&s;ia, Hambo|rough,</HI>
and other Companies, have always made when they have
been in danger, and he will be &s;atisfied that &s;o great a body of
Men armed with &s;uch a Revenue and &s;uch Privileges, will not
only pre&s;erve them&s;elves, but almo&s;t govern the Kingdom.</P>
<P>But farther, if this takes, in all probability it will de&s;troy the
<HI>Bank of England,</HI> not only by le&s;&s;ening the Price of their Stock,
but by making &s;uch Demands upon them as 'tis impo&s;&s;ible they
&s;hould pay; and if they &s;hould be broke a &s;econd time, they mu&s;t
not expect another Re&s;urrection; the con&s;equence of which mu&s;t
be the de&s;troying the Credit, and depretiating all the Tallies in
<HI>England,</HI> which have advanced or decrea&s;ed always with the
Bank-Stock: nay, even this very Stock will have the &s;ame fate.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the doubling the Salt Fund in all likelihood will not
double the Income, as we have experimented already in the Ex|ci&s;e
upon Beer and Ale; and then it will le&s;&s;en the Security of
the Salt Tallies, which now pays off every year part of the Prin|cipal
Money, and then perhaps will not pay off the Intere&s;t, and
by that means make that Fund perpetual, which otherwi&s;e would
clear it &s;elf in le&s;s than 20 years.</P>
<P>Before I have done, I will take notice of a Saying that is in al|mo&s;t
every ones mouth, viz. <HI>That we must &s;ettle the</HI> Ea&s;t India
<HI>Trade one way or other, or el&s;e it will be lo&s;t;</HI> tho, by the way, this
can't be &s;uch a &s;ettling it; for this Project gives no Man any
Advantage, Benefit, or Facility in Trading that he had not be|fore,
but only &s;ays, No Man &s;hall trade that is not &s;o qualified.</P>
<P><PB N="7" REF="4" MS="y">
Now let us con&s;ider what Trades we are in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of, and
that we are likely to lo&s;e. We have little or no Trade but to
<HI>Per&s;ia, India, China,</HI> or <HI>Japan,</HI> for the Commodities of tho&s;e
Countries, mo&s;t of which we buy with our ready Money. Now
I would ask, whether if we &s;hould di&s;continue this Trade for 20
years (which cannot be the ca&s;e) they would not &s;ell us their
Commodities for ready Money whenever we offer'd it. The
<HI>Engli&s;h</HI> and <HI>Dutch East India</HI> Companies know this by woful Ex|perience;
for tho they have had the Monopoly of the&s;e Trades
for many years, yet now the Interlopers beat them both out of
them.</P>
<P>There is one part of the Trade to the <HI>East Indies</HI> which would
be beneficial to us if we could get it, which perhaps requires
joynt Coun&s;els, Stock, and Forts to manage, which is the Trade
for Spices to the <HI>Molucca</HI> and <HI>Philippine</HI> I&s;lands. The rea&s;on that
Forts may be nece&s;&s;ary here is, becau&s;e they are &s;mall I&s;lands
inhabited by few People, and may be &s;eized by the <HI>Dutch</HI> and
other Nations, if we do not protect both them and our &s;elves:
but this Rea&s;on will not hold in tho&s;e va&s;t Dominions where
Forts cannot defend us again&s;t the Natives, and the Natives will
protect us again&s;t other Nations: &s;o that nothing can be more
ridiculous than to have Forts there to &s;ecure the Trade of the
Coa&s;ts of 10000 Miles; as if we &s;hould have a Fort at <HI>Archangel</HI>
to &s;ecure the Trade to <HI>Turky.</HI></P>
<P>This Trade for Spices would be a prodigious Advantage to the
Kingdom, tho not &s;o great Profit to the <HI>East India</HI> Company
as the Manufactures they now trade in; which is the rea&s;on they
have never yet applied them&s;elves to get it, as might be ea&s;ily
done if <HI>Dampeir</HI> tells us true, who &s;ays, that many of the <HI>Philip|pine</HI>
I&s;lands have Spices which the <HI>Dutch</HI> know nothing of; and
&s;ome of them have made Overtures to the Company, but without
&s;ucce&s;s: &s;o that upon the whole matter it appears to me, the pre|judicial
part of the Trade we can't lo&s;e, and the other we either
will not, or cannot get.</P>
<P>But after all, if we are re&s;olved to encourage the&s;e Manufa|ctures,
in my Opinion the be&s;t way will be to e&s;tabli&s;h the <HI>East
India</HI> Company, not for the Rea&s;ons they give, but becau&s;e it will
di&s;courage the Trade; for as they would manage a beneficial
Trade to lea&s;t Advantage, &s;o they will a de&s;tructive one to lea&s;t
Di&s;advantage.</P>
<P><PB N="8" REF="5" MS="y">
I do not pretend here to have recited the Project exactly, nor
am I po&s;itive in any of my Computations, but have endeavoured
to take them the &s;tronge&s;t again&s;t my &s;elf; and if I am mi&s;taken
in them, there mu&s;t be proportionable Allowances made: and
yet I believe the Sub&s;tance of what I have &s;aid will hold true. Be|&s;ides,
I have not entred into the Practicablene&s;s of the Project, as
how it will be po&s;&s;ible to confine Men to trade for no more than
they ought to do, when Gold, Silver, or Jewels, may be carried
out privately, and Money may be tran&s;mitted by Bills of Ex|change;
and then what will become of the Licences? but this I
will leave till I know more of it, and then I will either own my
&s;elf in the wrong, or &s;hew it to be a &s;en&s;le&s;s Project.</P>
<P>It cannot be doubted but tho&s;e who&s;e bu&s;ine&s;s it was, con&s;ider|ed
of all the Propo&s;als for rai&s;ing of Money before the Parliament
&s;at; and &s;ince they thought this a good one, they would have
done their Country great Service if they could have offered it
&s;ooner: for by that means they might have &s;aved the great Di&s;|counts
we have paid; they might have di&s;charged a great many
thou&s;and Seamen, which we have kept in con&s;tant Pay for want of
Money to clear them; they might have disbanded all the Army
which the Parliament have not allowed, and have been kept up
&s;ince at the expence of that Money which is and mu&s;t be given to
maintain tho&s;e that were allowed, becau&s;e a few thou&s;and Pounds
could not be got to disband them; be&s;ides the great Inconveni|ence
it has been to the Country-Gentlemen, who have been kept
from their Affairs at home, and at la&s;t may be under a nece&s;&s;ity
to leave the whole Bu&s;ine&s;s of Parliament to tho&s;e who&s;e Occa&s;i|ons
require them to be about <HI>Westminster.</HI></P>
<P>I will conclude, with my hearty Wi&s;hes for rai&s;ing the Money
by the mo&s;t effectual means, for his Maje&s;ty's and the King of
<HI>Spain</HI>'s Life, and a Triennial Parliament.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>F. S.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
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