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<DATE>2012-08-17</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Colm MacCrossan</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">A3311</STC>
<STC T="C">R13047</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">12934453</BIBNO>
<VID>95738</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>AN ANSWER TO A Late TRACT, ENTITULED, [<HI>An E&s;&s;ay on the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade.</HI>]</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>Tho. Cockerill,</HI> in <HI>Pater-No&s;ter Row,</HI> the Corner of <HI>Warwick-Lane.</HI> MDCXCVII.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE <HI>Clothiers</HI> and <HI>Weavers</HI> OF ENGLAND.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Gentlemen,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THOUGH I love not Con|trover&s;ies, nor have a &s;trength of Judgment to manage them, yet I readily embraced the motion of An&s;wering a &s;mall Tract, Entituled, <HI>An E&s;&s;ay on the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade,</HI>
<PB REF="3">by the Author of the <HI>E&s;&s;ay upon Ways and Means;</HI> believing the Ju&s;tne&s;s of the Cau&s;e would &s;upply the Weakne&s;s of the Advocate. I mu&s;t own the Author of that E&s;&s;ay hath &s;et forth his Er|rors in Trade, as u&s;ually they come forth in Religion, with the Allurements of Sublimer Knowledge, and more ad|vanc'd Practice in the My&s;teries of Heaven, than are Taught by the Ancient Orthodox Di&s;cipline; &s;o this Gentleman Argues for the Importation and Wear of <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Manufactories to be the highe&s;t Improvement of our Trade and Navigation; the mi&s;take whereof the following Sheets explode. I therefore only mention here that which perfects the Simile before-men|tioned, That his Po&s;ition is Erroneous and New; the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade ha|ving been Profitable to the Nation before the va&s;t Importation of <HI>Indian</HI> Manufactories, and the contrary now
<PB REF="3">the Nation is deluded by the Gaiety and Cheapne&s;s of them, as it is im|po&s;ed upon when they are told, That they are a great Improvement to Trade, and below the exalted Genius of a Rich Nation, as we are, to take up with Home-bred Manufactories; all this I take to be a mo&s;t pernicious Here&s;y in Trade, and &s;ubmit my Ar|guments in the following Pages to prove it &s;o, to the Con&s;ideration of better Heads.</P>
<P>I &s;hall add no more here, but pray your leave to caution again&s;t a fault too general in our Nation, that is, To treat Men that differ with us in Judgment, as Enemies either to our Per&s;ons or Intere&s;t; this often makes &s;ome &s;o that were not, but never brings over them that are.</P>
<P>I know &s;ome of the fir&s;t Magni|tude,
<PB REF="4">both in Quality and Judgment, of different Opinion in the <HI>Ea&s;t-In|dia</HI> Trade, yet as entirely in the In|tere&s;t of the Nation, as we that differ from them in this Point.</P>
<P>If I may pre&s;ume to advi&s;e you, and that you gain your rea&s;onable de&s;ire, u&s;e it as a Victory only over the Subjects of the <HI>Mogul,</HI> and not over your Brethren.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="4">
<HEAD>AN ANSWER TO A Late TRACT, ENTITULED, [<HI>An E&s;&s;ay on the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade.</HI>]</HEAD>
<P>I Think it as much a Right to ac|knowledge the Truths of the Author of the&s;e E&s;&s;ays, as it is to &s;hew his Mi&s;takes.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t therefore fir&s;t own, he hath with good Judgment expre&s;&s;ed the great Ad|vantage it is for Mini&s;ters of State to have a true Knowledge in the Trade of the Nation; and it is too true that <HI>Richlieu</HI> left behind him &s;uch Schemes for Trade
<PB N="2" REF="5">and Navigation, as hath, and 'tis yet to be fear'd, will advance the <HI>French</HI> Power more than their Arms.</P>
<P>It is as great a Truth, that the Strength of an I&s;land, as well as its Trea&s;ure, de pends more on Trade and Navigation, than that of a Continent; the con&s;idera|tion whereof hath ofen prevailed with me to believe this Nation might &s;ooner bring <HI>France</HI> to its Ancient Bounds by our force in Trade and Navigation, than by our Arms; it will at lea&s;t be granted, that the Latter is not to be &s;upported without the Former.</P>
<P>But to come to the foundation of his Arguments for the matter in Contro|ver&s;y; he tells you in Page 8, That but a Fourth part of our Riches ari&s;e from the Vent of our own Commodities: This is &s;o palpable a mi&s;take as can pro|ceed from nothing le&s;s than the want of the mo&s;t common Rudiments of Trade; a fault too u&s;ual among Men of Letters and Theory in Merchantine Affairs. Reading without Practice never makes a Merchant; and though I will not &s;ay Merchants are the be&s;t Governors of Trade (each one having a particular In|tere&s;t) yet, I think, I may affirm,
<PB N="3" REF="5">That they are the be&s;t Explainers of it.</P>
<P>This Gentleman, perhaps, had the Notion of the <HI>Dutch</HI> Trade in his Head when he wrote this; their Riches chiefly ari&s;ing from Carriage, and improving the product of other Nations; but ours is not &s;o, we are not always our own Carriers; and, to our &s;hame, not the Ma|nufactorers of all our own Product.</P>
<P>But to make this mi&s;take of our Riches ari&s;ing out of the Air appear, for he tells us not from whence it comes, let us con&s;ider what brings our Trea|&s;ure, if our Manufactories, Lead, Tinn, and Leather, doth not; (for our Corn, though he names that as con&s;iderable in our Exports, is of no &s;ignification) Car|riage, as I &s;aid before, we make no Gain by; Exports of Foreign Imports are not much; and if they were, yet their ori|ginal mu&s;t ari&s;e from the purcha&s;e of our Native Product, and &s;o doth even all we fetch from the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> but not by a direct means; if they were, the Com|plaints again&s;t that Trade would be the le&s;s; but they are purcha&s;ed with the Money our Product brings from other Places, and the Returns from the <HI>Indies</HI> mo&s;t con&s;umed at Home.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="6">
<P><Q> He proceeds farther and tells you, That whoever looks &s;trictly into our Affairs, that the Wealth <HI>England</HI> had once, did ari&s;e chiefly from two Articles, our Plan|tation, and our <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade;</Q> I mu&s;t confe&s;s, our Plantation-Trade is the be&s;t we have left; but neither that, much le&s;s the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, are the foundation of the Riches this Nation once had: Be|fore either of them were known, this Nation was opulent in its Commerce, if compared with its Neighbours; and our Woollen Manufactories brought us, as well as them&s;elves, to be courted by the then mo&s;t Trading-People of <HI>Europe:</HI> Markets of which are to be &s;een in <HI>Ant|werp,</HI> and other parts, that now have lo&s;t them; the&s;e our Woollen Manufactories brought us into that Noble Trade of <HI>Mu&s;covy</HI> and the <HI>Sound;</HI> which by the Effeminate Trade of the <HI>East Indies</HI> and <HI>Levant,</HI> we have in manner lo&s;t. I mu&s;t likewi&s;e mind this Gentleman of the <HI>Newfoundland</HI> Fi&s;hing, which brought home more ready Money than all the re&s;t; and the &s;hew his mi&s;take in the original of our Riches, I de&s;ire him to examine the <HI>Custom-Hou&s;e</HI> Books, from the Year 1600 to the Year 1648; though they were then
<PB N="5" REF="6">but imperfectly kpet; and he will &s;ee his mi&s;take beyond the pretence of a Compu|tation. It is more than Twenty Years &s;ince I took that pains, and could name Particulars, but out of Re&s;pect to him I forbears.</P>
<P>I pa&s;s over what he mentions from the <HI>8th</HI> to the <HI>12th</HI> Page, in which there are very u&s;eful Ob&s;ervations. He then in <HI>Pag.</HI> 12, 13, and 14. gives his Opinion, <Q> That the Bill propo&s;ed to prohibit the wearing <HI>Ea&s;t-Indian</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> wrought Silks, Bengalls, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> will be ab&s;olutely de&s;tructive to the Trade, and very preju|dicial to the Kingdom; which two Points he will impartially handle.</Q></P>
<P>He begins thus; <Q>As to the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade in general, if all <HI>Europe</HI> by com|mon Con&s;ent would agree to have no far|ther dealings to tho&s;e Parts, this &s;ide of the World by &s;uch a Re&s;olution would certainly &s;ave a great and continual Ex|pence of Trea&s;ure; for <HI>Europe</HI> draws from thence nothing of &s;olid U&s;e, Mate|rials to &s;upply Luxury, and only peri&s;h|able Commodities, and &s;ends thither Gold and Silver,</Q> which is there barter'd: And concludes, <Q>That of the Gold and Silver brought into <HI>Europe</HI> for Two hundred
<PB N="6" REF="7">years pa&s;t, an Hundred and fifty Millions of it is &s;unk in the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies:</HI> From whence he concludes, That the <HI>European</HI> Nations in general had been Richer by a full Third, if that Trade had never been di&s;cover'd and undertaken.</Q></P>
<P><Q> But &s;ince <HI>Europe</HI> has ta&s;ted of this Luxury this Hundred Years, and their Silks are plea&s;ing every where, their Cal|licoes u&s;eful at home, and in our Planta|tions, and for the <HI>Spaniards</HI> in <HI>America,</HI> it can never be advi&s;able for <HI>England</HI> to quit that Trade.</Q></P>
<P>The&s;e are his Arguments for the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade in general; which is a collu|&s;ive way of arguing; That becau&s;e the Trade in general hath been a Profitable Trade, therefore this Bill again&s;t the Wear of &s;ome particular Commodities that are but of late crept in, will be de|&s;tructive to the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, which was a profitable Trade without them.</P>
<P>He fairly owns, That if <HI>Europe</HI> would by common con&s;ent lay a&s;ide the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, it would certainly &s;ave a great and continual Expence of Trea&s;ure. this &s;eems to me to be again&s;t him, and for the Bill; and tho' we cannot, nor does it concern us to govern <HI>Europe</HI> in this
<PB N="7" REF="7">matter, yet it does to keep our part of the Trea&s;ure that goes there; &s;ince he allows this Bill would prejudice that Trade, that is, prevent our &s;ending out &s;o much Trea|&s;ure, which we think a Gain to keep at home, as he allows it would be in general to <HI>Europe.</HI> And indeed, it more imme|diately concerns this Nation, than all the re&s;t of <HI>Europe,</HI> becau&s;e all of them put together con&s;ume not One fourth of tho&s;e Commodities this Bill prohibits, that we do; and that the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company them&s;elves allow, in a Print of their own la&s;t Se&s;&s;ions, which I then an&s;wer'd: The Words were the&s;e; <Q>That if they were denied the Con&s;umption of tho&s;e Silks, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> mentioned in the Bill, they &s;hould not be able to manage the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, for that Three Fourths of them were con&s;umed in <HI>England.</HI></Q> If they had &s;aid Nine tenths of the Silks, they had not been mi&s;taken.</P>
<P>The other part of his Argument, That the u&s;e of the&s;e Luxuries for a hun|dred years, makes it not advi&s;able for <HI>England</HI> to quit the Trade; &s;eems a Rea|&s;on for doing it the &s;ooner, le&s;t the conti|nuance of time make the Mi&s;chief formi|dable; as it indeed appears almo&s;t now,
<PB N="8" REF="8">by the Numbers concern'd in that Gain, which is got out of the Bowels of our Na|tive Poor; for &s;o it is when the Money of the Rich is laid out the feed <HI>Indians</HI> abroad, and enrich men of unbounded de&s;ires at home; for &s;uch is the unlimited Gain by the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, now they have de|bauch'd the Nation with Cobwebs and Cockle-&s;hells, in return for their Gold and Silver; in which, tho' the Luxurious and Effeminate are made <HI>Indians,</HI> in their taking Gla&s;s-Beads for Gold, yet we mu&s;t not think the Lords and Commons can be &s;o impo&s;ed upon; they will di&s;tingui&s;h between the &s;olid Manufactory of our Nation, and the Trinkets of the <HI>Mogul.</HI></P>
<P>In Page 14 he tells us, <Q>The Burthen which this Commerce lays upon the Col|lective Body of <HI>Europe,</HI> does bear hard only upon tho&s;e Countries which con&s;ume the <HI>Indian</HI> Commodities, without having any &s;hare in the Traffick.</Q></P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, It is equally &s;o to us, when we con&s;ume more of them at home, than we &s;end abroad of our Na|tive Commodities to purcha&s;e them; and I mu&s;t &s;ay farther, that we are greater Sufferers by employing our own Ships and Men to fetch this Poy&s;on to us. I there|fore
<PB N="9" REF="8">think he mi&s;takes, in &s;aying they on|ly are Lo&s;ers by the Con&s;umption of <HI>In|dian</HI> Commodities, that have no &s;hare in the Traffick; I think they &s;uffer le&s;s who have little brought to them, than we who are at the Charge of fetching whole Cargoes; and &s;o take off our Ships and Men from more profitable Employ|ments.</P>
<P>He proceeds farther in Page 15. <Q>That the <HI>Dutch</HI> and <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> which together are not a Tenth Part of <HI>Europe,</HI> enjoy this Traffick almo&s;t without any Rivali&s;hip; and if it be a Burthen, it lies not on the one, but on the other Nine parts.</Q></P>
<P>Thus he endeavours to cover that part of the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade this Bill would relieve again&s;t, by advocating for the whole Trade, which is not now contro|verted.</P>
<P>He farther tells you, <Q>That the carrying out of the Gold and Silver of <HI>Europe</HI> to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> is from the <HI>French, Spa|niards, Germans,</HI> and <HI>Northern</HI> Crowns:</Q> But I doubt he cannot prove they &s;end out Money to pay for the Commodities we con&s;ume of <HI>India,</HI> which this Bill is to prohibit the Wear of in <HI>England.</HI></P>
<PB N="10" REF="9">
<P>He omits telling you, That the Impor|tation of them is not probitied &s;o, but that we have free liberty of &s;hipping them out to tho&s;e Countries he would make us believe con&s;ume &s;o much of them.</P>
<P>I believe he would be more ingenuous in this matter, if he under&s;tood the truth of this Trade, That <HI>France</HI> hath prohi|bited them all; the <HI>Northern</HI> Countries wear no <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks; the <HI>Germans</HI> very little; and tho' <HI>Holland</HI> hath more than Ten times the Trade we have to the <HI>East-Indies,</HI> yet the whole <HI>&V;nited Provinces</HI> con&s;ume not &s;o much of the Commodities this Bill reaches, as we do in one Pari&s;h in <HI>London.</HI> The <HI>Dutch</HI> are a more Fru|gal and Wi&s;e People; and the true rea|&s;on why the <HI>Dutch</HI> have not taken up this Trade of <HI>Indian</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, as they did other Commodities, was becau&s;e they knew not where to &s;ell them.</P>
<P>We had a good Statute to prevent their Importation of any Commodities, but of their own Fabrick.</P>
<P><Q> He goes on to Pag. 15, and 16, with the Computation of the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Ex|ports to be Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds, one Eighth part to be of our Na|tion's Product;</Q> &s;uppo&s;es to con&s;ume at
<PB N="11" REF="9">home to the value of Two hundred thou|&s;and Pounds; then &s;aith, If the Compa|ny exports to other Nations (which, by the way, &s;heweth he hath the hand of <HI>Joab</HI> in this matter, advocates for, and hath the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company in the&s;e Arguments) the remainder of the other Two hundred thou&s;and Pounds, <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t certainly be a great Gainer by this Traffick; for no one vers'd in Merchan|dizing will deny, but that the Returns from <HI>India</HI> of Two hundred thou&s;and Pounds, when exported to other Coun|tries, mu&s;t increa&s;e the fir&s;t Sum at lea&s;t Fourfold, and produce Eight hundred thou&s;and Pounds.</P>
<P>So that the Account of <HI>England</HI> with the <HI>Indies</HI> and <HI>European</HI> Nations, may be thus balanced:</P>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL>&nbsp;</CELL>
<CELL><HI>l.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>The Returns exported yields</HI> per Ann.</CELL>
<CELL>800,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>The Returns con&s;um'd at home, are to the Nation,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>200,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Total</HI></CELL>
<CELL>1,000,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Deduct for the Prime Co&s;t of Bullion, or Manufactories ex|ported.</HI></CELL>
<CELL>400,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>England<HI>'s Neat Gain by this Traffick,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>600,000</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<PB N="12" REF="10">
<P>From this Computation is to be ob|&s;erv'd, That if it were right, the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company would not have been &s;o low in Stock as they were before the War: But that which hath relation to the Pro|hibition in the Bill, is what I would keep unto; tho' this Gentleman in all his Di&s;|cour&s;e runs upon the Trade in general, there being &s;omething to argue upon, but in truth nothing for the Wear of <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Commodities: But to return to this la&s;t Computation of what is con&s;umed at home; by the be&s;t Calculations I have met with of the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Sales, not one fourth have been for many years pa&s;t ex|ported. But if what this Gentleman af|firms (for &s;o he doth with &s;ome a&s;&s;urance) be Matter of Fact, and that the Con|&s;umption be &s;o &s;mall as Two hundred thou&s;and Pounds of Eight hundred thou|&s;and Pounds, how comes the Trade to de|pend &s;o much upon the Wear of the <HI>Per|&s;ian</HI> Silks, Bengalls, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which by his Computation cannot amount to more than One hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per Ann</HI> for that the Coffee, Tea, China, Drugs, Salt-Petre, and other Trinkets, cannot amount to le&s;s than an Hundred thou&s;and Pounds, and he allows but
<PB N="13" REF="10">Two hundred thou&s;and Pounds to the whole.</P>
<P>Thus far I cannot &s;ee &s;o much as a Pre|tence for this Bill's de&s;troying the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade.</P>
<P>In <HI>Page</HI> 17. he tells you, <Q>By the In|&s;pection he hath made into the general State and Condition of this Kingdom, the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade did annually add to the Gro&s;s Stock of <HI>England</HI> Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per Ann</HI> and bounds his Time from 1656 to the year 1688.</Q> If this be &s;o, then it is apparent that the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade wants not this Con|&s;umption of <HI>Ea&s;t-Indian</HI> Silks, &s;o much &s;truggled for; there being no con&s;iderable u&s;e of them for many years of his Com|putation.</P>
<P>I would, if it might con&s;i&s;t with an|&s;wering the Subject he undertakes, pa&s;s over his Computations and Conclu&s;ions in Trade, becau&s;e I never &s;aw a Collection &s;o generally mi&s;taken; and, that he may not take offence, &s;ay he hath not been well u&s;ed, if he took his mea&s;ures from men conver&s;ant in the Practick of Trade; but if he con&s;ulted only with men of Specu|lation, who gather from Papers, he might well run into &s;uch Mi&s;takes as he &s;ets
<PB N="14" REF="11">down; That from the year 1656 to 1688, the Nation every year increas'd at lea&s;t Two Millions <HI>per Ann;</HI> he &s;hould have ca&s;t up what that amounts unto in the whole, which is Sixty four Millions; &s;omething he mu&s;t allow we had before; I wonder what is become of his Sixty four Millions, I cannot think the Nation hath lo&s;t &s;o much this War, and yet I believe we are not much better in our Capital, than we were in the year 1656. I wi&s;h we were &s;o well.</P>
<P>He goes on farther, and gives the grounds of his a&s;&s;urance in this matter, by Particulars in Page 18. thus;</P>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL>&nbsp;</CELL>
<CELL><HI>l.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>From our Manufactories, and Home Product &s;ent to the Plantations, and from the Returns exported to Foreign Parts,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>900,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>From our Woollen Manufacto|ries, Lead, Tin, I eather, and our own Native Product &s;ent to</HI> France, Spain, Ita|ly, Germany, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></CELL>
<CELL>500,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>From the Neat Profit accruing by the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>600,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Total</HI></CELL>
<CELL>2000,000</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<PB N="15" REF="11">
<P>By the&s;e Particulars one may think he con&s;ulted neither with Men of Specula|tion nor Conver&s;ation in Trade; if he had, &s;ure they would have told him, That for &s;ome Years of his Computation, that is, from 1656 to 1660, our Planta|tion Trade was not one half it hath ri&s;en to &s;ince; nor did in the highe&s;t of their Trade ever add Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds clear Gain to the Nation, be&s;ide the Con&s;umption at home; for that he allows.</P>
<P>He huddles up in his &s;econd Article the Woollen Manufactory, Lead, Tin, Lea|ther, and our Native Product, and makes it but Five hundred thou&s;and Pounds; which tho' it might be made appear to be a large Computation, yet certainly the &s;olid Riches and Stock of the Nation is rai&s;ed more by this Article of 500000 <HI>l.</HI> than by his other two which he makes 1500000 <HI>l.</HI></P>
<P>His la&s;t Article of 600000 <HI>l.</HI> gained by the <HI>Ea&s;t India</HI> Trade, he amplifies with a Certainty, and calls it the Neat Profit ac|cruing by the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade. The other two Articles before-mentioned, as he words them, there is room to get off; but on this of the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade he
<PB N="16" REF="12">pitches his Banner, re&s;olving to &s;tand by it; and I think it makes for the Bill to have it &s;o, and therefore I have no rea|&s;on to conte&s;t it; all I &s;ay, is, If the Na|tion find but half it, I per&s;uade my &s;elf they would think it a good Trade with|out tho&s;e Silks; and therefore no need to &s;tarve our own Weavers to &s;upport it.</P>
<P>I have hitherto as tenderly handled this Gentleman's Notorious Errors, as was po&s;&s;ible to do with an&s;wering them; and this I did, becau&s;e I believed them Errors in Judgment, or mi&s;taken Conclu&s;ions of what he gathered from other men, as it is u&s;ual in matter of Trade, where men write by Eccho, having no more than the Return of their own Words, where they make Enquiries. I take it to be the fir&s;t part of true Information on any Subject, to ask pertinent Que&s;tions; which no man can do in Commerce, who hath no|thing of the Practick; this Con&s;ideration obliged me in favour of the Author to co|ver as much as I could his Mi&s;takes hither|to; but now I mu&s;t beg his Pardon, to be more plain in Reply to what he mentions in Page 18, to Page 34; becau&s;e he broaches in them &s;uch Doctrines, that if they &s;hould gain Credit, would not only
<PB N="17" REF="12">&s;tarve Weavers, but Seamen; and to pur|cha&s;e the Luxuries of <HI>India,</HI> leave this Kingdom open to the <HI>French;</HI> whom I think all hone&s;t men will allow we have more rea&s;on to fear, than the <HI>Dutch</HI> he &s;o much dreads.</P>
<P>His Words are the&s;e:</P>
<P><HI>Whatever Countrey can be in the full and undi&s;puted Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of it</HI> (meaning the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade) <HI>will give Law to all the Comercial World.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Should we quit the hold we have in</HI> India, <HI>and abandon the Traffick, our Neighbours the</HI> Dutch <HI>will undoubtedly engro&s;s the whole. And if to their Naval Strength in</HI> Europe <HI>be added, &s;uch a Foreign Wealth and Strength</HI> England <HI>mu&s;t hereafter be contented to trade by their Protection, and under their Banner.</HI> In Page 21. he tells us, <HI>Per&s;ons without doors either bribed by the</HI> Dutch, <HI>or to flatter that Intere&s;t, profe&s;s them&s;elves open Ene|mies to the Traffick in general.</HI> And to confirm the&s;e frightful Omens of his own Brain, he binds up all with a Prediction, in the&s;e words; <HI>I hope your Lord&s;hips will hereafter remember this Prediction of mine, That</HI> England <HI>will thereby lo&s;e Half its Fo|reign Trade.</HI> In this he &s;hews him&s;elf a more merciful Prophet, than he was be|fore
<PB N="18" REF="13">a true Calculator; where he &s;aith, <HI>England</HI> would be obliged to Trade by the Protection of the <HI>Dutch,</HI> and under their Banners; but now he allows we may have Half our Trade left us. But I &s;hall an|&s;wer each of the&s;e Conclu&s;ions apart.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>That whoever hath the full Po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion of the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade, will give Laws to all the Commercial World.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, It &s;eems impo&s;&s;ible for any one Nation to engro&s;s the Trade of that va&s;t Empire of the <HI>Great Mogul.</HI> The <HI>Portu|gue&s;e, Dutch, French, Engli&s;h, Danes,</HI> &amp;c. and now the <HI>Scotch,</HI> are concerned in that Trade; and it is not rea&s;onable to believe the <HI>Mogul</HI> will admit any one of them to engro&s;s the whole, to the excluding the re&s;t: But granting an Impo&s;&s;ibility, how will it affect the whole Trade of the World? great part of which are Stran|gers to the u&s;e of any <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Commo|dity; and tho&s;e few that confume a little Spice, and perchance &s;ome few Calicoes, are not cloathed with <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, not are their Hou&s;es adorned with <HI>China</HI> Cups, or <HI>Japan</HI> Cabinets.</P>
<PB N="19" REF="13">
<P>I remember a Gentleman that plea&s;ed him&s;elf to Write much of Trade, and though no Ma&s;ter thereof, came nearer the &s;en&s;e of it than our Author, (was very angry with the Act of Navigation, and gave for one Argument again&s;t it, That Whales have no Ships) and there|fore no having Oil from <HI>Greenland.</HI> I may with as great Truth, and more to the purpo&s;e, tell the Author, Whales con&s;ume no <HI>Indian</HI> Commodities; nor are the Fi&s;h of <HI>Newfoundland</HI> catch'd with Tea or Coffee; yet it is demon&s;trable it was that, and other Fi&s;hing, was the original and foundation of the Riches and Navigation of the&s;e Kingdoms; and our neglect of them, the decay of both to us, and Inriching and Growth of the Navigation of our Neighbours.</P>
<P>Nor do I find that the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade gave us an equivalent in either, but the contrary, carried out our Bullion, abated our Seamen; I might enumerate our other Trades, as our Foreign Plantations that are not &s;upported by <HI>India</HI> Commo|dities; but to avoid prolixity, I affirm, There is not one Trade we drive in the World, but we might, and did manage formerly, without any of the <HI>Ea&s;t India</HI>
<PB N="20" REF="14">Commodities; and <HI>Spain</HI> excepted, to mo&s;t other parts where we &s;end any, it is Trifles.</P>
<P>Upon the whole, our Author re&s;olves, That whoever hath the Trade of the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> will command the Trade of the whole World. Which hath as great weight in it, as if he &s;hould tell us, That whoever ingro&s;s'd the <HI>Canary</HI> Birds in the I&s;land of <HI>Teneriff,</HI> would command the whole Traffick of their Wines.</P>
<P>He mi&s;takes the World, or would have our Legi&s;lators do &s;o, when he &s;ays the Curio&s;ities and Gaiety of <HI>Indian</HI> Luxury will govern them.</P>
<P>And now let us enquire into the Inte|grity of our Author's Arguing in this Point of the Trade in general to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies:</HI> The pretence of his E&s;&s;ays is to give Rea&s;ons again&s;t the Bill for Prohibi|ting <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which after he hath by his &s;everal Computes brought down to an Hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>per Ann.</HI> that is &s;o much con&s;umed at Home,</P>
<P>He goes on to prove, That by the re&s;t of the <HI>Indian</HI> Trade, there is Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds, Neat Profit to the Na|tion: And here he comes and tells us the
<PB N="21" REF="14">dreadful Con&s;equence of lo&s;ing the whole Trade, without the lea&s;t pretence that the Prohibition of this Bill will bring it on us, for that would Confute his for|mer A&s;&s;ertions.</P>
<P>What he then de&s;igns by his Predicti|ons, he mu&s;t give us leave to gue&s;s; I am loath to do it with Reflection, therefore &s;hall do it with as &s;oft words as po&s;&s;ible, it mu&s;t be either to amu&s;e the Nation with the danger of lo&s;ing &s;o Great and Bene|ficial a Trade as the Pa&s;&s;ing this Bill will bring upon them; or it mu&s;t be to breed Jealou&s;ies among the People of the Go|vernment; if it be the fir&s;t, by a fal&s;e repre&s;entation to throw dirt upon the Bill, under pretence of the Lo&s;s of the whole Trade of the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> it is di&s;ingeni|ous to make &s;uch fal&s;e Inferences, accu|mulating Mi&s;chiefs, that will attend the Nation by the Lo&s;s of a Trade; which allowing his own Arguments, is affected but One &s;ixth part in the Gro&s;s of their Importation, and that cannot be Fifty thou&s;and Pounds abatement of their Pre|fit; but to be more fair than this Gentle|man is, he knows, or they that employ him, that the Con&s;umption of <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Silks, <HI>Bengalls,</HI> &amp;c. is of more con&s;idera|tion
<PB N="22" REF="15">to them, than their whole Trade be|&s;ide; and the Rea&s;on is this, which is a &s;ecret perhaps to many of their Friends, who otherwi&s;e might not be &s;o;</P>
<P>If the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company could car|ry their point in having a Toleration of the wear of <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Manufactories, they would have that Trade entirely in their own hands, they would have no Rivals in the <HI>Indies,</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>Dutch,</HI> or other Nations, could not Import them into <HI>England,</HI> we having already the Act of Navigation to Prohibit them; and there is no other Nation in the World &s;o &s;upplied with Money, and faulty in their Conduct, as to purcha&s;e their De&s;truction in the wearing Foreign Manufactories to the Abatement of their own.</P>
<P>But if the <HI>Ea&s;t India</HI> Company (for it is their Intere&s;t this Gentleman Advo|cates) have liberty to furni&s;h us with <HI>Indian</HI> Manufactories, they will enlarge it to more than what is now complained of; there is the &s;ame room for them, as there was at fir&s;t to carry over Patterns to the <HI>Indians</HI> to direct them in the making Silks fit for our wear; nor is it rea&s;onable to believe they will be Limited only to Silks: Why &s;hould they not carry our
<PB N="23" REF="15">Wool to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> (they have &s;towage enough in their Ships, a Fifth part of their Hold takes in all their out|ward-bound Cargo) and plead the ne|ce&s;&s;ity of it, as they do about <HI>Rumney-Mar&s;h,</HI> that their Countrey is wa&s;te &s;ince the Act pa&s;s'd la&s;t Se&s;&s;ions is &s;o hard upon them; an Act which de&s;erves to be writ in Letters of Gold, &s;ince it hath done that which no Law could ever reach unto before: But I digre&s;s, and therefore mu&s;t return to the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade.</P>
<P>If what I have here &s;aid in this la&s;t Paragraph be <HI>tanti,</HI> there needs no more to &s;hew the Nece&s;&s;ity of making a &s;peedy Law to prohibit the Avaricious Practices of tho&s;e men that would Sacrifice their own Countrey for their private Gain; beat out the mo&s;t pro&s;perous Manufa|ctory in the World; de&s;troy and root out Thou&s;ands, I may &s;ay Millions, of the mo&s;t Sober, Religious, and well-di&s;po&s;ed people in the Nation, who have in long De&s;cent pre&s;erved to their Po&s;terity the fir&s;t acceptable Sacrifice, that of the Fleece, which Divinity it &s;elf &s;eems to ble&s;s them with from <HI>Abel.</HI></P>
<P>I now come to the latter; That if it be not to throw a fal&s;e Glo&s;s on the Bill,
<PB N="24" REF="16">it mu&s;t be to breed jealou&s;ies among the People again&s;t the Government; I hope it is not &s;o de&s;igned; but if it be not, what does he mean by &s;o often telling us the <HI>Dutch</HI> will Govern us? He is indeed careful of not bringing him&s;elf under the La&s;h of the Hou&s;e of Commons, when he expre&s;&s;es him&s;elf thus; <HI>That &s;ome per|&s;ons without Doors, either bribed by the</HI> Dutch, <HI>or to flatter that Intere&s;t, profe&s;s them&s;elves open Enemies to the Traffick in general.</HI> But though he be careful to de|fend him&s;elf again&s;t the Parliament; yet he &s;eems &s;hort in his Politicks to fly upon all without doors, &s;ome of whom have been within, and may be again; and however, all <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> men that are for this Bill, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> are Arraigned by him, ei|ther to be bribed by the <HI>Dutch,</HI> or flatter|ers of that Intere&s;t; I affect not tramp|ling on Men who&s;e unhappy Principles render them obnoxious to the Law, and all hone&s;t Men; and therefore I will not &s;ay what might ju&s;tly be returned on this Reflection; but I mu&s;t own my &s;elf a Friend to the Intere&s;t of the <HI>Dutch,</HI> be|cau&s;e they are under the Government of our King; Allies; and more, our Brethren in the Prote&s;tant Religion; and yet more,
<PB N="25" REF="16">the happy A&s;&s;i&s;tants of our King in the greate&s;t Deliverance this Nation ever had from Popery and Slavery. But after all this, I affirm for my &s;elf, and believe it for all who are for this Bill, That we neither receive Bribes, nor flatter the <HI>Dutch</HI> Intere&s;t in this matter; the Au|thor, I believe, is al&s;o free from Bribes, though he may receive Wages, both from the <HI>Jacobites</HI> and <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI>-Company. I now come to his Remarks on Trade <HI>page</HI> 25. which are &s;o ab&s;urd and contradictory to the former part of this Tract, that, I think, only to repeat one and the other, would be the mo&s;t merciful way to re|prove him; but that would &s;well the&s;e Sheets beyond the Bounds I de&s;ign them; I &s;hall therefore here only repeat a few Lines of his in Page 10; they are the&s;e; <HI>In a Trading Nation the Bent of all the Laws &s;hould tend to the Incouragement of Commerce, and all mea&s;ures &s;hould be there taken with a due regard to its Intere&s;t and Advantage.</HI></P>
<P>Now in Page 25 he &s;peaks thus:</P>
<P><HI>Trade is in its nature free, finds its own channel, and be&s;t directs its own cour&s;e; and all Laws to give it Rules and Directi|ons, and to Limit and Circum&s;cribe it, may
<PB N="26" REF="17">&s;erve the particular Ends of Private Men, but are &s;eldom Advantagious to the Publick.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hould not take notice of this Gen|tleman's piecing in &s;everal things in his Di&s;cour&s;e taken out of an E&s;&s;ay of Trade, Entituled, Part the Fir&s;t of Five, but that he here mixes and divides it to the defa|cing it, whereas it was of u&s;e, when whole and duly plac'd.</P>
<P>In Page 26 he tells us his wonder at the Act for Burying in Woollen; and con&s;idering the time it was made in, &s;o do I, for it was directly again&s;t the <HI>French</HI> Intere&s;t, as well as this Gentleman's &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P>The Burying in Woollen &s;aved the Ex|ports of more than Five hundred thou|&s;and Pounds <HI>Sterling, per Ann.</HI> and mo&s;t of that to <HI>France;</HI> for the common Peo|ple he would have Buried in old Sheets, generally pre&s;erved their Wedding Sheet, and Shifts, or purcha&s;ed Finer; And is it not then better Conduct in a Nation to employ their own Hands to Work, than Purcha&s;e it with their Money from Fo|reigners?</P>
<P>He &s;naps at Notions in Trade, as Fi&s;h do at fal&s;e Baits; it is true whatever is con&s;umed at Home of our own Manufa|ctories, adds nothing to the Riches of a
<PB N="27" REF="17">Nation, but if con&s;uming at home Twen|ty Shillings, &s;aves the Expence of Forty Shillings from abroad, then it is a Profit to the Nation, and that is the ca&s;e in this matter. What Spirit guides this Gen|tleman, I cannot tell, but he is very angry with our own Manufactories, and would not have them u&s;ed either by our Living or our Dead; I know not how he brings this in again&s;t the Bill, and there|fore &s;hould have pa&s;s'd it by, but that I do not know but that he may i&s;&s;ue forth new Problems to prove it the Intere&s;t of the Nation to Bury in <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, and Bengalls.</P>
<P>I now come to Page 30, to Page 33, where he &s;aith, <HI>Suppo&s;e</HI> 200000 <HI>l. per Ann. of the prime Sum &s;ent to</HI> India, <HI>is returned in Commodities for our Con&s;umption; and &s;uppo&s;e half this Sum to be returned in &s;uch Goods as are worn here in the room of Wool|len Manufactories.</HI></P>
<P><TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL>&nbsp;</CELL>
<CELL><HI>l.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>From One hundred thou&s;and Pounds prime Co&s;t to</HI> India, <HI>there may rea&s;onably be ex|pected Goods that Sell for</HI></CELL>
<CELL>400,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>So that by &s;ending to</HI> India</CELL>
<CELL>100,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>We Gain for our own Con&s;umption,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>300,000</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<PB N="28" REF="18">
<P><HI>This mu&s;t be clear Profit to the Kingdom, becau&s;e that Sum would be otherwi&s;e con&s;umed in our own Product, which Product we are by this means enabled to Export.</HI></P>
<P>This, <HI>prima facie,</HI> looks like true Arguing; but upon &s;earch it appears fal|lacious, for the&s;e Two Rea&s;ons:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If he means this Hundred thou|&s;and Pounds to be &s;ent in Money, then it is certainly &s;o much Lo&s;s to the Nation, being Con&s;umed at home; and I hope our Author will allow whatever is Con|&s;umed at home, though it were of our own Product, is no Gain to the Nation.</P>
<P>And then what is Con&s;umed at the Expence of our Money, is &s;o much Lo&s;s.</P>
<P>But I &s;uppo&s;e this Computation of the Author's, is upon Money, and that is &s;o much lo&s;s to the Nation, however great the Returns are.</P>
<P>But I will, to help the Argument, &s;up|po&s;e that we have tho&s;e Commodities the Bill Prohibits, in return of our Woollen Manufactories, which in the former part of his Argument he mo&s;t untruly a&s;&s;erts; but I &s;ay, &s;uppo&s;e it were &s;o, yet the mi&s;chief were the &s;ame to the Nation; I will go farther, and &s;uppo&s;e his Ally the <HI>Mogul</HI> would &s;end us over
<PB N="29" REF="18"><HI>Gratis</HI> as much yearly as would Cloath the Nation, even that would be our Ruin; to explain this I mu&s;t look back to Page 27, where he expre&s;&s;eth him&s;elf thus:</P>
<P><HI>I have rea&s;on to think that the People re|ceiving Alms in this Kingdom, are Twelve hundred thou&s;and;</HI> and if it be &s;o, and I doubt it is the true&s;t Computation in his E&s;&s;ay, How many more &s;hould we have if this Nation were Cloathed in the <HI>Mo|gul</HI>'s Livery? I dare not conte&s;t with the Author in Politicks, (that being his Pro|vince, as Trade is mine) but methinks he is a&s;tray in his My&s;teries of State, to Argue, That the Cheap Cloathing of our Nation by <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Fabrick, would be an Advance to their Wealth and Power. I always thought that the Bodies of Men were the Trea&s;ure and Strength of a Nation, and that it was Wi&s;dom to Increa&s;e and Employ them, and the contrary if the Gentry and Men of Fortunes &s;hould reject the Labour of their own People, becau&s;e they can be Cheaper and Finer Cloathed from other Countries.</P>
<P>This is &s;omething like the Fable of the Hands Mutinying again&s;t the Belly; but
<PB N="30" REF="19">here it is revers'd, the Belly Mutinies with the Hands: If our Gentry refu&s;e to be Cloathed by their own Hands, I would gladly know how the Author intends to provide for the Landed Men of this Na|tion when he hath de&s;troyed all their Te|nants, for it is the Arti&s;ans and Manufa|ctorers of the Kingdom that con&s;ume the greate&s;t part of the natural Product of the Land; but for this he hath a quick Remedy, <HI>the le&s;s we &s;pend at home, the more we &s;end abroad:</HI> He has, I mu&s;t confe&s;s, put me long &s;ince pa&s;t wondring at his Notions in Trade, or I &s;hould blu&s;h at the weakne&s;s of this Argument; Did he ever hear of a Market for more of our Cloth and Stuffs than we had to &s;upply them? The Author wants a good Me|mory, which if he had, he would re|member, that in another part of this Tract he tells us, <HI>That the great Vent we had for our Manufactories Two Years ago, was occa|&s;ioned by the badne&s;s of our Coin, and heigth of Guineas;</HI> and it was &s;o; which is de|mon&s;tration that our People can Manu|facture double the Quantity of their u&s;u|al &s;tint, for &s;o they did the time our Author mentions; which &s;hews, that if we were fully &s;upplied with work, it
<PB N="31" REF="19">might le&s;&s;en the Twelve hundred thou|&s;and now on Alms.</P>
<P>The Author hath yet a Re&s;erve left; which is, Let the&s;e Clothiers and Weavers turn Fi&s;hers, and catch Herrings: His Re&s;entments are again&s;t that Fi&s;h, becau&s;e the <HI>Dutch</HI> make &s;o great a Gain of it; but in this he al&s;o is mi&s;taken in his Spi|rit of Traffick; we could not make that Advantage of Herrings they do, unle&s;s we could prevail with them to <HI>Eat,</HI> as he would with us to <HI>Wear,</HI> a Foreign Pro|duct, and &s;end their own People to look out for &s;ome new Employment.</P>
<P>We &s;hould al&s;o want the Rivers and Pa&s;&s;ages into <HI>Germany, Flanders,</HI> &amp;c. to tran&s;port our Herrings to.</P>
<P>I was expecting to hear him a&s;&s;ign us the Fi&s;hing of <HI>Newfoundland</HI> for the Wea|vers; but recollecting my &s;elf, I remem|ber the <HI>French</HI> have rai&s;ed their Navigati|on and Strength at Sea out of that fi&s;hing, and he will not di&s;turb them.</P>
<P>Fi&s;hing, I own, is a Jewel we &s;eem not to under&s;tand. Such Guides in Trade, and State&s;men as this Author, I have often heard &s;ay, Di&s;cour&s;es of Trade, and employing the Poor, would di&s;turb the King's Bu&s;ine&s;s. The truth on't is,
<PB N="32" REF="20">we &s;hall &s;oon be quiet, if the <HI>Mogul</HI> cloath us, and the <HI>French</HI> catch our Fi&s;h for us.</P>
<P>I do not &s;ee any thing we have left to &s;et us up again in Trade, but our Manu|factory at home, and Plantations abroad; the improving the fir&s;t enlarges the latter.</P>
<P>I have been the longer on this Head, That the Cheapne&s;s of the <HI>Indian</HI> Fabrick is no Argument of Force for our Con|&s;umption of them at home; becau&s;e on the Strength of that Point lies all that hath the appearance of weight in the Ar|gument for Defence of the <HI>Indian</HI> Manu|factory con&s;umed in <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;ubmit to better Judgments what I have here &s;aid again&s;t them; and whe|ther it be not the Intere&s;t of our Nation to find out Work for their own People, though they &s;hould make no other u&s;e of it, than the <HI>Dutch</HI> do of their Spice, burn it when they have more than they can &s;ell. But it would be improvidence to burn our own, to make room for <HI>Indian</HI> Manufactories; as we mu&s;t do, &s;ince it is apparent we cannot &s;ell them abroad, and our People mu&s;t &s;tarve, if they do not work; and &s;o they would indeed, if the Author's Advice were embrac'd, to make them undertake this New Employment.</P>
<PB N="33" REF="20">
<P>It would be an admirable Advance and Improvement of our Nation, to take off our hands from a Manufactory that none but our &s;elves can take from us; God and Nature having a&s;&s;ign'd it to us &s;epa|rate from the whole World, and put &s;o many Thou&s;and Men, Women, and Children, for all &s;uch are employ'd in the Woollen Manufactory, to catch Her|rings, that &s;o a few men might grow Great by the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, the be&s;t of whom never added &s;o much to their Countrey, as one Weaver doth by his Loom.</P>
<P>I am now at his Second Head, the Silk and Linnen Manufactory: He begins a di&s;tinct Chapter of it in Page 34, but &s;aith nothing of it until Page 38. His Words are the&s;e:</P>
<P><HI>Silk is a Manufactory of Foreign Ex|tract; it employs indeed the Poor, but is not compo&s;ed from a Material of our own Growth. Whatever Encouragement it meets with, it cannot thrive with us.</HI> He runs on with his Rhetorical Ob&s;ervations, and debates what the Nation &s;hould do in this matter; and tells us in Page 39. The Stock and Indu&s;try laid out on the Silk Manufactories, would be more u&s;efully
<PB N="34" REF="21">employ'd in &s;uch as are made from Mate|rials of our own Growth.</P>
<P>The Author now &s;eems more an Ob|ject of Pity, than an Adver&s;ary to an&s;wer; his Zeal for the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company hath carried him beyond his Learning in the Schools, and below his Prophetick Spirit in Trade: I &s;hall only remark, That here he advi&s;es to take off the Silk-Wea|vers from their Trade, which to u&s;e his own Words, <HI>They fell into without a force, as Trade is mo&s;t pro&s;perous when it does:</HI> But here he tells us, They mu&s;t be taken off their Trade, and put upon &s;ome other, more profitable to the Nation.</P>
<P>To &s;ave trouble of confuting &s;o irra|tional a Propo&s;ition, I &s;hall repeat his Opinion in Page 25. by which we &s;hall &s;ee how di&s;tracted this Gentleman is in his Notions of Trade: His Words are the&s;e:</P>
<P><HI>Trade is in its own Nature free, finds its own Channel, and be&s;t directs its own Cour&s;e; and all Laws to give it Rules and Directions, and to limit and circum&s;cribe it, may &s;erve the particular Ends of Private Men, but are &s;eldom advantageous to the Publick.</HI></P>
<P>But to do the Author right, the&s;e la&s;t Lines were de&s;ign'd to &s;erve the <HI>Ea&s;t-In|dia</HI>
<PB N="35" REF="21">Company; he would not have them di&s;turbed in the Trade of <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And tho' this Maxim was then undoubtedly true, yet it is not &s;o when it reaches the Silk-Weavers.</P>
<P>He goes on with Arguments of the &s;ame piece, to Page 46. which in favour of the Author I do not repeat; and &s;hall only &s;ay, That I did not think it po&s;&s;ible &s;o many Contradictions and unpracticable Notions could be crowded into &s;o few &s;heets, garni&s;h'd up with fine Words; and that often goes further with men not vers'd in the Nature of Trade, than plain Practical Truths.</P>
<P>He comes now to his Third and La&s;t Head, the E&s;&s;ect &s;uch a Prohibition as the Bill de&s;igns, will have on the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade in general; and he begins thus in <HI>Page</HI> 46, and ends with his E&s;&s;ay in 16 <HI>Pages,</HI> which are mo&s;t part fill'd with Repetitions and Ob&s;ervations of his own, which have little in them worth a Reply; the whole terminates in this, <HI>That this Prohibition of the Wear of</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>and</HI> Per&s;ian <HI>Silks,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>will abate one half of the</HI> Ea&s;t-India <HI>Trade.</HI> The &s;hort|e&s;t way to an&s;wer this, is as I have done before, bring one part of his Book to an|&s;wer
<PB N="36" REF="22">the other. In <HI>Page</HI> 16. he a&s;&s;erts in the&s;e words; <HI>So the Account of</HI> England <HI>with the</HI> Indies <HI>and</HI> European <HI>Nations, may be thus balanc'd:</HI>
<TABLE>
<ROW>
<CELL>&nbsp;</CELL>
<CELL><HI>l.</HI></CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>The Returns exported yield</HI> per An.</CELL>
<CELL>800,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>The Returns con&s;umed at home, are to the Nation,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>200,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Total</HI></CELL>
<CELL>1,000,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL><HI>Deduct for the Prime Co&s;t,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>400,000</CELL>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<CELL>England<HI>'s Neat Profit by the Traffick,</HI></CELL>
<CELL>600,000</CELL>
</ROW>
</TABLE></P>
<P>Let us now &s;ee what he &s;aith in <HI>Pag.</HI> 53. his words are as follow, <HI>According to the be&s;t and mo&s;t impartial Accounts I can re|ceive, the Bill in agitation mu&s;t lo&s;e</HI> Eng|land <HI>half the Trade to</HI> India <HI>in general, all the Traffick to the Coa&s;t and Bay of</HI> Bengall, <HI>and all the Bu&s;ine&s;s to</HI> Surat, <HI>and particular|ly as to to the Coa&s;t and Bay.</HI></P>
<P>In <HI>Page</HI> 54. are the&s;e words;</P>
<P><HI>I take our Home-Con&s;umption, which is half of the Returns of the Prime Co&s;t &s;ent to</HI> India, <HI>to be the main foundation upon which the Trade &s;tands.</HI></P>
<P>Can there be any thing more contra|dictory, than in <HI>Page</HI> 16. to &s;tate the Ac|count
<PB N="37" REF="22">Two hundred thou&s;and Pounds con|&s;umed at Home, and clear Gain to the Nation, be&s;ides Six hundred thou&s;and on the Exports; and here to &s;ay that the Bill will be the lo&s;s of half the Trade in ge|neral, all the Trade to the Coa&s;t and Bay of <HI>Bengall,</HI> all the Bu&s;ine&s;s to <HI>Surat.</HI> His former Computations made it a good Trade without the Con&s;umption at home, but now he tells us the Prohibition will render the whole Trade unprofitable.</P>
<P>I &s;hall now in few words &s;um up my Sen&s;e of the Bill, and the Arguments gi|ven by the Author again&s;t it. By all that he brings again&s;t the Bill, I cannot &s;ee that it affects the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade, more than in a Sixth part at pre&s;ent.</P>
<P>On the Weavers &s;ide, for I take them to be the Parties for the Bill, it affects them and the Nation in the real lo&s;s of four times as much as the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company would lo&s;e if the Prohibition were confirmed; for it is to be noted, that a Hundred thou&s;and pounds in the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Capital, takes Four hundred thou|&s;and pounds in the Expence of the Nati|on, and that hinders &s;o much in the Em|ployment of our own Manufactories.</P>
<PB N="38" REF="23">
<P>The Que&s;tion is then, Whether is mo&s;t to be con&s;idered, A Million of People at Home, or tho&s;e few in the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade?</P>
<P>But the Author will tell us by this Prohibition, we &s;hall hinder our Foreign Trade, for that other Nations will carry away that when they can &s;upply them with <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Commodities, and we cannot. This Delu&s;ion is ea&s;ily di&s;cover|ed, though it may be the Author is a Stranger to it.</P>
<P>Granting then, though it is not &s;o, that the <HI>Dutch</HI> and other Nations will &s;ell to the <HI>Spaniards, Portugue&s;e,</HI> &amp;c. Callicoes, <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Silks, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> they mu&s;t have Wines and other Commodities in Return; and what will they do with them? Bring them to <HI>England</HI> they cannot, we have a good defence again&s;t that, the Act of Naviga|tion, which makes all Goods Coun|terband that are not Imported into <HI>England,</HI> in <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Ships, or the Ships of the Countrey where they are produced. Will the <HI>Dutch</HI> then, or others, con&s;ume the Wines of <HI>Spain,</HI> &amp;c. and leave us none? that would not be our Lo&s;s.</P>
<PB N="39" REF="23">
<P>But our Author goes farther, and tells us, That we &s;hall bring the&s;e <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Goods from other Nations at 50 <HI>l. per Cent.</HI> a dearer Rate; this is An&s;wered be|fore. The Act of Navigation prohibits their Importation, unle&s;s the <HI>Mogul</HI> &s;ends them with his own Ships and Men. Be|fore I go off this Head; Give me leave to &s;hew how the Author u&s;es the Nati|on in his Remarks on the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade. I mention this, becau&s;e I have met with men of value, who have been deluded by his fal&s;e Recitals and Compu|tations, which they would not have been, had they taken the trouble of comparing one part of his Notes with the other, which was nece&s;&s;ary for me in An&s;wering him to do. I mu&s;t therefore look back again to <HI>Page</HI> 16. where he makes all the Exports both of Bullion and Manufa|ctories &s;ent Yearly to the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies</HI> to amount unto Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds, the Profit of which, be&s;ide the Con&s;umption at home, to be Neat to the Nation 600,000 Pounds; what he a&s;cribes to the Nation (and here he &s;hews more Cunning than in all the re&s;t of his Book, and keeps it for his la&s;t &s;troke in Page 52.) he mu&s;t mean, and &s;o in ano|ther
<PB N="40" REF="24">place explains it, to be the Profit of the Company, and the Merchant that Buys them here for Exportation; this he jum|bles together, that &s;o he may apply this Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds by turns as it will &s;upport his Arguments: When he would have us believe the Trade of great importance to the Nation, then it is Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds Profit to them, but when it is needful to &s;hew how much it is the Intere&s;t of the Nation to encou|rage the Company in Building great Ships, then it is the Companies, and ena|bled them to make War with the <HI>Mogul,</HI> Build Forts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> thus it is like my Lord Mayor's &s;tanding Pye, one day it is a Goo&s;e Pye, the next day changing the Head, and putting on a Turky's Head, it is a Turky Pye.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t keep you longer on this part of his E&s;&s;ays than I intended, becau&s;e I think there will need no more to di&s;prove all this Gentleman hath &s;aid in defence of the Company again&s;t the Bill.</P>
<P>I have before given you his Computa|tions of the original Stock and Profit; I &s;hall now &s;hew his clo&s;ing-Article in the&s;e words, Page 52, <HI>That they have not one Year with another divided</HI> 20 l. per Cent.
<PB N="41" REF="24"><HI>which con&s;idering the length and hazard of their Voyage, is not a Profit to be envied.</HI> He is in the right if it were &s;o, nor were the Trade worth &s;trugling for, if the Pro|fit were &s;o &s;mall.</P>
<P>But we will do that which I fear the Author hath forgot, ca&s;t up his Com|putation here, and compare it with his in Page 16, where he makes the Capital &s;ent out to be Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds, and the Profit by what is Shipped out to be Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds; this makes the Profit to be 150 <HI>l. per Cent.</HI> and yet he tells us here, That their Profit is, <HI>communibus annis</HI> but 20 <HI>l. per Cent.</HI> This is a great Error in Arithmetick; I will therefore pa&s;s it by as &s;uch, and take him in his more con&s;iderate &s;tating the Ac|count; and then it will &s;tand thus; The Gain ari&s;ing out of the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade being Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds, brought to that Sum by the Profit of 20 <HI>per Cent.</HI> mu&s;t have a Capital &s;ent out, amounting unto Three Millions <HI>Sterling.</HI> This being &s;o, as it mu&s;t, if the Author would have us believe his Computation, it mu&s;t follow, that we &s;end out Two Millions nine hundred thou&s;and Pounds <HI>Sterling</HI> in Bullion Yearly; for in his
<PB N="42" REF="25">large&s;t Computation he &s;peaks but of One hundred thou&s;and Pounds exported in the Commodities of the Kingdom. I don't think either of his Computations are true; but I believe this of Three Millions is neare&s;t the mark.</P>
<P>The difference in the&s;e Computations of Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds Capi|tal, and Three Millions, was to have pa&s;&s;ed under the Goo&s;e-pye. 20 <HI>per Cent.</HI> might have pa&s;s'd well enough, if this unlucky Rule of Three had not put the Que&s;tion, What Capital mu&s;t there be to make a Profit of Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds, at the Rate of 20 <HI>per Cent.?</HI> and the An&s;wer is, Three MilliOns.</P>
<P>But the Author hath yet a Shift left, it is now a Turkey-pye, the Goo&s;e-head being taken off, and this Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds Profit was meant to be to the Nation, as well as the Company.</P>
<P>This will appear a pretty fair Explana|tion in reading, as indeed the whole E&s;&s;ay may to men of the Author's own under|&s;tanding in Trade; but let us take it with this Interpretation, that it is the Nati|on's Gain, and the Company's both; the Company's he has determined to 20 <HI>per Cent.</HI> &s;o then their Proportion for the
<PB N="43" REF="25">Capital of Four hundred thou&s;and Pounds is but Eighty thou&s;and; then there re|mains Five hundred and twenty thou&s;and Pounds to the Nation, as he calls it: But to explain this farther, the Nation are mo&s;t part <HI>Jews,</HI> and Factors that buy for men abroad; and &s;uch I never thought a National Fund: But allowing the&s;e Ex|ports to be by Merchants of our own, let us &s;ee what their Profit is: He tells us they &s;hip out Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds value yearly; &s;o then the Mer|chants at home gain almo&s;t <HI>Cent. per Cent.</HI> as Five hundred and twenty thou&s;and Pounds is to Six hundred thou&s;and Pounds: If this be &s;o, the <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company de&s;erve their Statues in Gold, not only for being good and Publick &s;pi|rited men, but Fathers to their Countrey; and we ought to pray them to be more kind to them&s;elves, and take at lea&s;t half the Profit.</P>
<P>I think it needle&s;s to explain this mat|ter, it is &s;o notorious: I &s;hall only &s;ay, Such Advocates and Computers are in my opinion the mo&s;t fatal Enemies to the Company.</P>
<P>Having in this Di&s;cour&s;e occa&s;ion to an|&s;wer this Author's Maxims, perhaps I
<PB N="44" REF="26">may be thought an Enemy to the Trade and Company; which I think my &s;elf obliged to deny; for I believe it a Noble Trade, and the Intere&s;t of the Nation to pre&s;erve it; but &s;o as it may not preju|dice our Manufactories, and by that means drive out that we mo&s;t want, the Bodies of Men, which when all is done, is the Trea&s;ure of a Nation.</P>
<P>The U&s;e I make of the&s;e Explanations, is to &s;hew that our Author writes at Ro|vers. I &s;hould not be thus plain, but that I think there is a nece&s;&s;ity to expo&s;e a man that, in my opinion, labours the de&s;truction of the Nation with gilded Baits, which he hopes may pa&s;s, becau&s;e men of the greate&s;t weight have neither Lei&s;ure nor Opinion, That it is worth their time to examine narrowly the &s;puri|ous Notions of &s;uch Officious Pens.</P>
<P>I &s;hall take my leave of the Author, with this Remark, leaving an hundred more that might be made on his E&s;&s;ays; which is, That is &s;eems &s;trange in him who pretends to be &s;o great a <HI>Rabbi</HI> and Ma&s;ter of Commerce, and gives general Notions of mo&s;t Trades, to leave out the <HI>Turky</HI>-Company; it mu&s;t be, that they tread on the heels of his Ma&s;ters, the
<PB N="45" REF="26"><HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Company; and could tell him, that the Cloath they &s;o much boa&s;t their Exportation of, abates only &s;o much of what they &s;hould &s;end out, and bring Re|turns for in Raw Silks, Grograin, Yarn, Cotton Wooll, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> that we here manu|facture and &s;end abroad; in&s;tead of which the <HI>East-India</HI> Trade brings us home <HI>China</HI> Cups, Fans, Cabinets, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The&s;e things are &s;o apparent, that I cannot think the Author only faulty in his Judgment, but were are under the misfortune of having &s;ome men among us, that take all oppor|tunities of alienating the Affections of the People from the Government; and nothing could be more effectual than this of forcing Thou&s;ands of harmle&s;s and in|du&s;trious People to beg their Bread, or fly to other Countries to earn it. We have too fre&s;h in our memories, That in the year 1665. one <HI>Tillham</HI> carried out of the Kingdom Three thou&s;and Per&s;ons to the Prince <HI>Palatine</HI> of the <HI>Rhine,</HI> of the &s;ame Profe&s;&s;ion this Author would de&s;troy.</P>
<P>But I think we live under a Govern|ment that will bring us more, not de&s;troy the People we already have. And I am humbly of opinion, that 'tis not the way to invite new, by &s;tarving them we have.</P>
<PB N="46" REF="27">
<P>I &s;hall &s;ay no more, but that as I believe this Bill to be the be&s;t Antidote that ever was given this Nation, again&s;t a Poy&s;on which would certainly de&s;troy it, &s;o I think tho&s;e Worthy Patriots that promo|ted it, worthy of Eternal Honour.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="27">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
