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<DATE>2012-08-11</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>THE ADVO|CATE.</P>
<P><FIGURE>
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<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>William Du-Gard,</HI> Printer to the Council of STATE. 1651.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="5">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE Council of State.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Right Honorable!</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_I Am often in very great doubt (if I may &s;o &s;peak), That the Goodne&s;s &amp; Wi&s;dom of God, <HI>&amp; his Thoughts of the&s;e,</HI> are very rarely met with, in the Paths, which the &s;cantling of Man's Rea&s;on and Judgment walk in; And as I dare not but own the Belief of the Coming of his Appea|rance, and the breaking forth, very &s;hortly, of his Glorie: So I believ likewi&s;e, this will bee a &s;ight very &s;trange, and very unex&s;pected to men; and not onely great|ly above, but in &s;om mea&s;ure even contrarie (and perhaps, very unwelcom) unto the mo&s;t enlarged and rai&s;ed thoughts wee have yet prepared our &s;elvs with, to Receiv it.</P>
<P>The &s;ign of which Coming, will bee the Detection, by little and little, of all <HI>Impo&s;ture,</HI> and the laying of all things low, naked, and mean before him; the &s;tripping men of that Honor, Credit, and Repute, that they had by &s;everal means been gaining with them&s;elvs, and (by them&s;elvs) with others, either through
<PB REF="6"> a Not-knowledg, or through an artificial concealing of them|&s;elvs.</P>
<P>In <HI>the&s;e</HI> very things lying, and within <HI>the&s;e</HI> indeed, beeing &s;pent and con&s;umed, the whole Indeavors, Practice, Studie and Wi&s;dom (if not Religion) of <HI>All,</HI> States, Nations and Men, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P>Either in devi&s;ing &s;hifts (by acqui&s;ition of &s;uch and &s;uch Ha|bits, or otherwi&s;e) not to appear uncomly to them&s;elvs, but to beget rather an e&s;teem and &s;atisfaction of them&s;elvs;</P>
<P>Or, in Concealing and keeping clo&s;e (by &s;everal Glo&s;&s;es) the Imperfections and uncomline&s;&s;es, (known to them&s;elvs) from the &s;ight and apprehen&s;ions of others.</P>
<P>The mo&s;t exqui&s;ite humane Wit exceeding the more inferior onely in this, That the former is able to finde out more Tight and exqui&s;ite Textures for it &s;elf then the other; And the most Fortunate man in this world, having the Advantage of the more &V;nfortunate, but after the &s;ame manner al&s;o, <HI>viz.</HI> That the Co|vering of this fall's off a little &s;ooner, and the other wrap's him|&s;elf up in it a while longer.</P>
<P>And thus all Lusts, (as well tho&s;e of Acqui&s;ition) in the minde (as others to exterior things) both in their first I&s;&s;uings forth, and al&s;o in the Accompli&s;hments of them, are &s;till but to give countenance unto, and keep up a Repute and E&s;teem in us. The A&s;&s;umption (on the other &s;ide) of Repute and E&s;teem to our &s;elvs, is the very ground and original of all Lusts (The&s;e two, ob&s;erving tune, and keeping time each to the mea&s;ures and motions of the other) and within this Circle is concluded <HI>whole Humane Nature,</HI> with all the Parts, and the most perfect Acti|ous of it.</P>
<P>&V;pon the&s;e Thoughts <HI>(Right Honorable!)</HI> I finding none not very ready to have a&s;&s;cribed to him&s;elf the name of beeing (in &s;om mea&s;ure) wi&s;e, finde none that can endure the Manife&s;ta|tion (in any kinde) of their Follie; or that can bee willing to have this their Wi&s;dom and Glorie to bee flatly and plainly cal|led
<PB REF="6"> Pageantrie, Mumming, or a playing at Bo-peep with them|&s;elvs and others; and yet (it really beeing no honester) if wee cannot bear the Judgments thus one of another, how &s;hall wee abide the Trial, or bee able to &s;tand before the Judgment of God, which &s;eeth us, (and will &s;hortly &s;earch us) with more pure and uncorrupt Eies? And how mi&s;erably then are the Imagina|tions of men muffled up in their own dre&s;sings? when the Truth is our Beeings, at their be&s;t (natural, or acquir'd) Appearances, are yet &s;uch feigned &s;ub&s;i&s;tences, and Propp'd up with &s;uch funda|mental mi&s;takes of them&s;elvs, that they would moulder and &s;hat|ter them&s;elvs to pieces, &s;hould they bee taken quite a&s;under from the di&s;gui&s;es and patchings they have put upon them&s;elvs, bare-facedly and undeceivedly to &s;ee them&s;elvs but one half hour.</P>
<P>Beeing convinced, by the&s;e thoughts, therefore <HI>(Right Hono|rable!)</HI> of the low Condition wee are herein, <HI>I</HI> not knowing what the Councils of God intend to bring forth for the &s;ettlement of this Nation; Nor how hee hath re&s;olved in his Wi&s;dom to di&s;po&s;e of it, as to its outward Condition, whether Hee intend's wee &s;hal bee oppre&s;&s;ed by other Nations about us, that hee may the more manife&s;t his Power and Protection over us: Or that wee &s;hal bee advanced in pro&s;peritie above others, that &s;o hee may perhaps &s;hew us our vanitie (the Ca&s;ting of the Scale either way in appea|rance much depending upon the pre&s;ent Councils) I &s;ay, not know|ing This, I can as little Judg what means Providence will plea&s; to u&s;e in order to the bringing to pa&s;s the&s;e his purpo&s;es, whether hee will chu&s;e This, or reject That.</P>
<P>But in this Ca&s;e, remembering the advice of <HI>Solomon,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 11. 5, 6.</NOTE> knowing nothing (for I can affirm it but as to mine own under|&s;tanding) that hath pre&s;ented it &s;elf of more Import to bee look|ed after, or to bee very heedfully taken into Con&s;ideration, then Matters of <HI>Trade</HI> (if wee &s;hall either regard the Safetie, &V;na|nimitie or Defence of this Nation) Nor any other waie po&s;|&s;ible but This, to pre&s;erv and maintein this Countrie: calling al|&s;o to minde, how many times I have heard it urged, That there
<PB REF="7"> is no other means to quiet or keep up the &s;pirits of the poorer &s;ort of people: No other to give them Imploiment, or to finde a vent and Incouragement for their Labors (when they have wrought) and con&s;equently no other to provide again&s;t the wants and distempers of them, and of the Generalitie, but &s;olely by <HI>Trade,</HI> and by a due Order and Regulation of it. All the&s;e things making up a &s;trong Affection in mee, I judged it my dutie <HI>(Right Honorable!),</HI> and what nece&s;&s;arily became the faithfulne&s;s I ow to the Common-wealth's &s;ervice, to indevor the repre&s;enting of this Truth (for your <HI>Honor's</HI> fuller Information) with the clearest Grounds and demon&s;tration I could, which beeing a thing that did much depend upon Experience, I knew not how to bring this more home, then by propounding a Pre&s;ident; and &s;uch an one as is &s;til in &s;ight, which may at once witne&s;s, The Advantage of <HI>Trade, By them&s;elvs, and the benefit they found by it;</HI> The Di&s;advantage of neglecting it, <HI>By what they brought upon us;</HI> And the clear waie of Governing it, <HI>By the Cour&s;es they Actually took, and have practi&s;ed to effect both the&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>All which Conceptions, neverthele&s;s, are with all humble|ne&s;s Submitted By</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Honor's &s;ervant <GAP DESC="foreign">.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="7">
<HEAD>THE ADVOCATE: OR, A NARRATIVE Of the &s;tate and condition of things be|tween the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> and <HI>Dutch</HI> Nation, in relation to TRADE, and the con&s;equences depending thereupon, to either Common-wealth; as it was pre&s;ented in <HI>August</HI> 1651.</HEAD>
<P>_IT hath been a thing for many years generally received, That the De&s;ign of <HI>Spain</HI> (and which, to this daie, hee &s;till in his Councils carrie's on) is, to get the Univer&s;al Monarchie of Chri|&s;tendom. Nor is it a thing le&s;s true (how little &s;oever ob&s;erved) that our Neighbors [the <HI>Dutch]</HI> (after they had &s;ettled their Libertie, and been a while en|couraged by Pro&s;peritie) have, likewi&s;e, for &s;om years, aimed to laie a foundation to them&s;elvs for ingro&s;sing the Univer&s;al Trade, not onely of Chri&s;tendom, but indeed, of the greater part of the known world; that &s;o they might poiz the Affairs of any other State about them, and
<PB N="2" REF="8"> make their own Con&s;iderable, if not by the Largene&s;s of their Countrie; yet, however, by the Greatne&s;s of their Wealth; and by their potencie at Sea, in &s;trength and multi|tude of Shipping.</P>
<P>For the clear and certain carrying on of which, there beeing none (that was) like to bee &s;o great a Bar to them, in this their Aim, as the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Nation; nor any that laie &s;o conveniently to keep up a Proportion of Trade with them. It concerned them, therefore, by all means and waies po&s;sible to di&s;courage and beat out the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> in all places of Trade, as far (at lea&s;t) as was di&s;creet for them, without too much Alaruming them; or having too early or ha&s;tie a Breach with them.</P>
<P>Their particular Practices to which purpo&s;e in the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> at <HI>Guiny, Greenland, Ru&s;sia,</HI> with the &s;eve|ral unfair Carriages (of &s;om among them) to us, in tho&s;e places; and even in our own Seas, is not intended to bee here mentioned: It &s;ufficeth, that the&s;e following Advan|tages they had clearly gotten above us:</P>
<P N="1">1. In the great Trade they did drive to <HI>Ea&s;t-land,</HI> and to the <HI>Baltick</HI> Sea; for Ma&s;ts, Timber, Hemp, Pitch, Tar, Copper, Iron, Salt-peter, all &s;orts of Grain, Pot-a&s;hes, &amp;c. the like mo&s;t nece&s;&s;arie Commodities.</P>
<P N="2">2. In their Herring-fi&s;hing; imploying yearly upon the Coa&s;t of this Land onely, above 2000 Sail of Ship|ping</P>
<P N="3">3. In the pre&s;erving and advancing their Manufactures; their Cloathing Trade of late ari&s;ing and increa&s;ing (as it is judged) to above 60000 Cloths yearly.</P>
<P N="4">4. In their <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Trade; and by it, Monopolizing three &s;orts of Spices almo&s;t to the whole world; as, Cloves, Nuts, and Mace, and lately much Cinna|mon.</P>
<PB N="3" REF="8">
<P> <HI>The means whereby they have pur&s;ued and upheld the&s;e Advantages, were</HI></P>
<P>By the great number of Shipping they have con&s;tant|ly built; and by the manner of managing their Trade and Shipping, in a conformitie and direction to their Grand End:</P>
<P>For,</P>
<P N="1">1. Few Merchant's Ships among the <HI>Hollanders</HI> were Ships of much Defence, unle&s;s the&s;e going to <HI>India;</HI> and &s;o they were neither at &s;o great a Charge of Guns in building them; nor did carrie a proportion of men, or victual (in &s;etting them out) near, or an&s;werable to <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Shipping of the &s;ame Bur|then.</P>
<P N="2">2. Several Trades they did drive in Fleets, with great Flutes, or Ve&s;&s;els, having never a Gun at all in them, nor more men then would po&s;sibly &s;ail them, as mo&s;t of their <HI>Ea&s;t-land</HI> Trade, their Herring-Bu&s;s Trade, and their Salt Trade, which were driven after this manner.</P>
<P N="3">3. Tho&s;e their Fleets were, and have been alwaies carefully and con&s;tantly attended with a Convoy at the Publick Charge; and which was alway ready before-hand, and had their directions given them not from the State, but from the &s;everal Admiralties; whereby they were held to their dutie, and &s;trictly tied up to that &s;ervice.</P>
<P N="4">4. Much of the Trade which they did drive to the Southward (not in Fleets, nor with Convoy, but in &s;ingle Shipping) they would often en&s;ure in <HI>England;</HI> &s;o that when lo&s;s came, it was wee &s;omtimes that bare it, and our &s;tock that was le&s;&s;ened and dimini&s;hed by it.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="9">
<P> <HI>By all which means,</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. They did engro&s;s the whole Trade of all Bulkie Com|modities (to them&s;elvs &s;ingly), as Timber, Clap-board, Ma&s;ts, Grain, Salt, &amp;c.</P>
<P N="2">2. And were, in &s;om Commodities, able to go as cheap again for Freight, as wee: in &s;om, half as cheap; and near in all, a full third penie cheaper then wee.</P>
<P>VVhich Cheapne&s;s of Freight produced again other great Advantages to them&s;elvs; For</P>
<P N="1">1. In &s;om Commodities it was above 20 in the Hun|dred gain; in &s;om 15; in others 10; and near 4 or 5 <HI>per Cent.</HI> in mo&s;t; (which was a years Intere&s;t with them) And by which,</P>
<P N="2">2. They were &s;ure to get the preference of the Market of us in other Countries, and if occa&s;ion were, to under-&s;el us al&s;o as much <HI>per Cent.</HI> in all places, and upon all Trades; yea, &s;omtimes in our own Com|modities: And this together with an ea&s;ie pretence of the un&s;afetie of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> &s;hipping through our late Troubles.</P>
<P N="3">3. Compelled our Nation (that wee might maintein a Stock going with them) to hire and freight the <HI>Hol|land</HI> &s;hipping, without which, indeed, wee could not well have held up a Trade here with them, either out or home: And this beeing once begun by &s;om, was immediately (by rea&s;on of the Advantage of it) followed by as many others as could: VVhich (though a good and beneficial expedient for the particular Merchant) begat notwith&s;tanding &s;eve|ral very great mi&s;chiefs to this Nation in general:</P>
<P>For,</P>
<P N="1">1. By this wee encouraged the building more and more
<PB N="5" REF="9"> of our Neighbors Shipping, and di&s;couraged our own; which hereupon were laid up by the walls in great num|bers.</P>
<P N="2">2. VVee encrea&s;ed (by this) their great Trade for the <HI>Baltick</HI> Sea, and <HI>Ea&s;t-land,</HI> and gave them &s;till the grea|ter opportunitie to make them&s;elvs the Mart and Ma|&s;ters over us, of all Commodities belonging to the build|ing or furni&s;hing of Shipping, whereby their Trade &s;till came home in a Circle; they (like wi&s;e men) laying &s;uch a Cour&s;, as one part of it &s;trengthened another.</P>
<P N="3">3. VVee di&s;-obliged and di&s;contented our own people and &s;ea-men, and in&s;en&s;ibly weakned the &s;trength and defence of this Nation: For by this cour&s;, wee mu&s;t at length have been reduced to have hired their Marri|ners, when wee come to &s;et out our Men of VVar: nor was it po&s;sible (had it held) to have prevented it.</P>
<P N="4">4. They, by this means, carried away much unnece&s;&s;arie Trea&s;ure out of this Nation, taken for freights; and &s;o in&s;en&s;ibly impoveri&s;hed al&s;o this Countrie; our monie occa&s;ioning a Luxe to their people, while our own Sea|men &s;tarved at home for meer want, and through lack of imploiment.</P>
<P N="5">5. As the Cheapne&s;s of their Freight enabled them to un|der-&s;el us abroad, in many Commodities carried to For|reign Markets by them, and by us, to &s;ell: So it enabled them equally to over-bid us abroad for the Forreign Commodities, which they and wee bought, and to rai&s; the price of them upon us, which while they had liber|tie to bring in hither, they either prevented our Mer|chant of the fir&s;t of the Market, and then made us paie Sauce for them: or, if not, they carried them into their Countrie: on here watched the opportunitie of another &s;ea&s;onable vent of them. And thus they &s;erved us; as for all our <HI>Norway, East-land,</HI> and <HI>Ru&s;sia</HI> Commodi|ties; &s;o al&s;o lately in our VVines, Fruits, Oils, Cur|rans,
<PB N="6" REF="10"> &amp;c. which were the Commodities of <HI>Spain, Cana|ries,</HI> and the <HI>Straights:</HI> By both the&s;e means <HI>(viz.</HI> by di&s;couraging and beating us down abroad in the &s;elling of &s;om Commodities; and by rai&s;ing and enhan&s;ing us abroad in the price, or buying up of others) conclu|ding with them&s;elvs, to wearie us out at length from all Trade, and to have the &s;ole buying and &s;elling of all Commodities for us.</P>
<P>For this method and manner of managing their affairs, daily adding to <HI>Their</HI> &s;tock, and an&s;werably dimini&s;hing the Stock and Trea&s;ure of <HI>this Nation:</HI> and by laying it &s;o, as it <HI>run</HI> thus in a Circle, each part of it (as wee &s;aid) &s;trengthening another part: it would unavoidably have tended to a greater and greater di&s;enabling us to hold anie Trade with them: and to have made them&s;elvs, for Wealth and Shipping, the Ma&s;ters over us: Of &s;ufficient te&s;timonie of which (over and above what wee have &s;aid al&s;o) wee might further &s;ee in the actual progre&s;s that they had gain|ed upon us in our Shipping.</P>
<P>For,</P>
<P N="1">1. In our Trade of <HI>Ea&s;t-land,</HI> whereas wee did u&s;e for|merly to &s;end thither 200 Sail of Shipping in a year, wee now did not &s;end 16 Sail: The <HI>Hollanders</HI> in the mean time employing not le&s;s then 600 Sail thither; and whereby (had not a good Providence cro&s;&s;ed or hinde|red a &s;trict Alliance and Conjunction between &s;om of tho&s;e Ea&s;tern States and them) wee mu&s;t &s;oon have given them their Price, and been at their di&s;po&s;ing for all Commodities belonging to Shipping: and then it had been too great an hazard for us (by anie Law made here) to have recovered our Trade from them.</P>
<P N="2">2. In our Plantations they had three, if not four Sail of Ships, for our one: whereas they never &s;uffered us &s;o
<PB N="7" REF="10"> much as to Trade at all in any place or Plantation &s;ettled by them.</P>
<P N="3">3. In <HI>India</HI> they have 20 Sail and above for our one.</P>
<P N="4">4. At <HI>Spain, Canaries, Zant,</HI> with &s;everal other places in the <HI>Straights,</HI> where they formerly rarely laded hither one &s;hip of Goods; they now lately laded hither more then wee.</P>
<P>And thus, in the waie and manner of the managing the Trade in their &s;hipping, laie much of their vigilancie to gain their advantage and de&s;ign upon us.</P>
<P>A <HI>&s;econd</HI> Cour&s; (therefore) whereby they do and have upheld their Advantages above us, is, The greatne&s;s of the Stock they imploie, which (as wee now intimated) was more and more increa&s;ed by the wi&s;dom of this their Method in Shipping: And which, on the other &s;ide, as it did encrea&s; and grow great, did enable them the more to give the Laws of Trade to us, both in the Government of the Exchange, and of the Markets abroad for Forreign Commodities.</P>
<P>A <HI>third</HI> Cour&s; for the gaining and upholding their Ad|vantages of us, was, The &s;ingular and prudent care they took in pre&s;erving the Credit of mo&s;t of tho&s;e Commodi|ties which are their own proper Manufactures; By which they keep up the Repute and Sale of them abroad; taking hereby a very great advantage of the contrarie Neglect in us; and by this means, likewi&s;e, very much damnifying and &s;poiling us.</P>
<P>Which that wee may clearly &s;ee of what Import this one thing alone is to us, wee &s;hall here &s;et down certain ge|neral Canons or Rules belonging to Manufactures.</P>
<P N="1">1. That although Divine Providence, in the greatne&s;s of his Wi&s;dom, hath placed natural Commodities, &s;om here, &s;om there; yet no Manufacture or artificial Com|moditie, but may po&s;sibly bee had or tran&s;planted into anie Countrie.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="8" REF="11"> 2. That all Manufactures (e&s;pecially &s;uch as are of Ne|ce&s;sitie) if they are of a certain goodne&s;s, They are (like Coin) of a certain value and price al&s;o; and &s;o on the contrarie.</P>
<P N="3">3. That two per&s;ons &s;elling or making Commodities of a like goodne&s;s, hee &s;hall have the preference of the Mar|ket, that will &s;ell them the cheape&s;t: And &s;o two Nations likewi&s;e.</P>
<P N="4">4. That the Cheapne&s;s of Manufactures, and artificial Commodities, doth altogether depend upon the plentie and cheapne&s;s of the matter, and upon the like cheap|ne&s;s of price, for Handie-labor.</P>
<P>And the&s;e (though few) beeing unalterable Laws in all Manufactures, it cannot but bee acknowledged, that it is through our want of the like Care, as our Neighbors, and onely through that, that the <HI>Hollander</HI> hath anie kinde of Woollen Manufacture:</P>
<P>For,</P>
<P N="1">1. The matter of no Woollen Manufacture groweth in his Countrie at all; but hee is forced to fetch it from other places; whereas wee have it here, within this Na|tion, plentie.</P>
<P N="2">2. The price of labor depending much upon the price of victuals, hou&s;-rent, and other things nece&s;&s;arie, It is certain (e&s;pecially to anie that know both Countries) that all this is much cheaper with us, then with our Neighbors, and are like &s;o to bee.</P>
<P N="3">3. Our Nation, as they were heretofore the onely work|men of the&s;e Commodities; &s;o none can excel them for Art, Skill, or Goodne&s;s, were but encouragement given them, and an Order, Regulation, and Government of the Manufactures &s;ettled among them: And there|fore</P>
<P>It is not our Neighbor's &s;ingular Indu&s;trie above us, as
<PB N="9" REF="11"> it is the Carele&s;ne&s;s of this Nation, in keeping our Manu|factures to their due contents, weight, and goodne&s;s. Their Neglect in &s;ettling a Regulation, Government, and Super|&s;pection over them, and in Inflicting due and ju&s;t puni&s;h|ments for the fal&s;-making of them. That is (humbly con|ceived to bee much) the Cau&s; of the &s;o great thriving of our Neighbor's Cloathing, and of the &s;o great Ruine and Decaie (on the contrarie) of our own Woollen Manu|factures, and of the people depending upon them.</P>
<P>A <HI>fourth</HI> Cour&s;e taken by our Neighbors, Is, The Im|provements of Trade that they have made by their Trea|ties or Articles of Confederations with other Princes; <HI>and by making this their Care and Protection of Trade abroad in all places their Intere&s;t of State.</HI> Thus taking hold of the Juncture of Circum&s;tances, and making u&s;e of the Nece&s;|&s;itie of the King of <HI>Denmark,</HI> they have farmed the <HI>Sound</HI> of him: Thus al&s;o at the Treatie of <HI>Mun&s;ter</HI> have they re&s;erved a power of &s;hutting us out of the <HI>Scheld,</HI> and have carefully in that Peace concluded on &s;everal other Articles and Provi&s;ions in order to the &s;ecuring and pro|moting of their Traffick, And thus&mdash;&amp;c.</P>
<P>A <HI>fifth</HI> Cour&s; (and not the lea&s;t means for the up|holding and encrea&s;ing their Trade) Is, The &s;malne&s;s of their Cu&s;tom, or Port-duties; al&s;o their prudent laying on and taking off Impo&s;itions, for the furtherance of their own Manufactures, and for the Incouragement of bring|ing in &s;om, and Di&s;couragement of bringing in other Commodities; and of which they have given us two ill In&s;tances, The one in laying on a great Tax upon our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cloths and Manufactures; The other in forbid|ding our Cloths wholly to bee imported, if dre&s;t or died in the Cloth; of both which wee have had &s;om cau&s; to complain long, as beeing plainly an Inhibition of Com|merce, and if not &s;trictly again&s;t the Laws of Nations; yet
<PB N="10" REF="12"> at lea&s;t again&s;t the Cour&s; of Amitie, Alliance, and Friend|&s;hip.</P>
<P>A <HI>&s;ixth</HI> Cour&s; hath been, The Con&s;tant Reward and Incouragement given to per&s;ons bringing in Inventions; making of new Di&s;coveries, and propounding things pro|fitable for publick and common Intere&s;t: which (how lit|tle a thing &s;oever it may &s;eem to &s;om, yet it) hath ever been, and is con&s;tantly, a very great &s;pur to In|du&s;trie.</P>
<P>And the&s;e are humbly a&s;&s;erted to bee the principal Cau|&s;es of their &s;o much greatne&s;s and flouri&s;hing in Trade above us.</P>
<P>Other Cau&s;es that have been le&s;s principal and acce&s;&s;arie to the&s;e, are,</P>
<P N="1">1. The Ea&s;ine&s;s or Lowne&s;s of Intere&s;t in that Coun|trie.</P>
<P N="2">2. The great facilitating of their Trade by a Bank.</P>
<P N="3">3. And la&s;t of all (the onely thing proper to them) the dearne&s;s and &s;carcitie of Land: and the dividing their E&s;tates equally to their Children: whereby Trade is (as it were) continued in a Line without Interruption; the contrarie beeing cu&s;tomarie with us.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="animadversion">
<HEAD>Animadver&s;ion.</HEAD>
<P>All which Di&s;cour&s; beeing onely an Evidence given in from matter of known fact; It will (as is humbly conceiv|ed) manife&s;t it &s;elf.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>I.</HEAD>
<P>That our Neighbors have no &s;uch extraordinarie ad|vantage in matter of Trade, either through their Countrie, its Situation, or otherwi&s;e, as is proper or peculiar to them onely, beyond all other Nations, as hath been long the opi|nion
<PB N="11" REF="12"> of &s;om, but it is the manner of their Care, and of the Government that is among them, and the meer vigi|lancie of the Method ob&s;erved by them:</P>
<P>For,</P>
<P>If the Nature of tho&s;e Cour&s;es, which they have taken and pur&s;ued for the Incouragement of Trade, bee looked into and con&s;idered (as they are obvious to any other that will plea&s; to heed them) it cannot bee imagined but they &s;hall make any people great, rich and flouri&s;hing in Trade; and therefore that they will do the like in anie other place as well as in <HI>Holland,</HI> if put in execution, e&s;pecially, if it bee a place &s;eated for Trade, and the people of the Coun|trie apt for it.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<P>It is pre&s;umed, That our Neighbors would not think it Ju&s;t, if wee &s;hould condemn them, meerly for the taking the&s;e good Cour&s;es for them&s;elvs; or becau&s; they have given all Incouragements that were requi&s;ite to their Trade in their own Countrie: Much le&s;s then would they ex|&s;pect, that wee &s;hould actually impute the&s;e things as Crimes to them, or ground hence anie occa&s;ion to E&s;trange our &s;elvs, or make a Breach with them: Nor will they therefore (as it is hoped) take it more ill from us; if wee (having now likewi&s;e recovered our Liberties) &s;ee the Nece&s;sitie of providing for the Defence of this Com|mon-Wealth by Shipping (as beeing <HI>I&s;landers);</HI> or if wee take up &s;om of the like Cour&s;es as They, for the In|couragement of Trade among us: As without which, in|deed, Shipping can neither bee had, or mainteined; which now al&s;o to neglect, were a very great Carele&s;ne&s;s, and would, indeed, bee an Argument rather of our beeing to bee Blamed, then otherwi&s;e; having been &s;o well taught, even by their own Example and Practice, That</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="12" REF="13"> 1. It is by Trade, and the due ordering and governing of it, and by no other means, that Wealth and Shipping can either bee encrea&s;ed, or upheld; and con&s;equently by by no other, that the power of any Nation can bee &s;u|&s;teined by Land, or by Sea: It beeing not po&s;sible (as is humblie thought) according to the Cour&s; of humane affairs, for anie Nation (having no Mines to &s;upplie it &s;elf) to make it &s;elf powerful in either of the&s;e (that is, either Monie, or Shipping) without Trade, or a thorow In&s;pection into Trade, and the Cour&s; of it.</P>
<P N="2">2. That it is by a Knowledg of Trade and Commerce, and the Cour&s; of it, that one Nation or State know's perfectly how to &s;traighten and pinch another, and to compel a Compliance from them, which may bee, Either</P>
<P>By debarring or deriving the Cour&s; of &s;om nece&s;&s;a|rie Commodities from them; as for War, for Ship|ping, for Food, &amp;c. Or</P>
<P>By ob&s;tructing the Sale or Vent of the Native Com|modities belonging to them: Or</P>
<P>By weakening their Shipping, and dreyning them by degrees of their Trea&s;ure and Coin.</P>
<P>By any of which Cour&s;es, if not &s;pied, or (when &s;pied, if) not able to bee prevented, a People or Nation mu&s;t at length bee &s;traightned and &s;ubjected: and every one of which Inconveniencies wee were very manife&s;tly liable unto (as appear's by the foregoing Narrative) through the Advantages our Neighbors had over us, and through the Wi&s;dom of tho&s;e Cour&s;es they had laid in their Trade with us: wee beeing &s;o near pinched, that it had been very hard, fairly to have wre&s;ted our &s;elvs out of the Nets of our Neighbors, had <HI>Sweden</HI> been as much &s;hut to us, as <HI>Denmark;</HI> and that the King of <HI>Poland</HI> likewi&s;e could have exerci&s;ed his Arbitrarie Power on us at <HI>Dantzick:</HI>
<PB N="13" REF="13"> And had not (at length) that Cour&s; about our Shipping and Navigation been &s;o happily and timely e&s;tabli&s;hed by the Parlament: which, as the Nece&s;sitie of it could not &s;uddenly bee &s;o well judged of by tho&s;e that had not con&s;i|dered or been acquainted with the &s;ub&s;tance of the fore|going Relation: So certainly, beeing laid upon &s;o equal and Nece&s;&s;arie Grounds, if continued to bee exerci&s;ed, It will bee a means, in &s;om mea&s;ure, to recover us.</P>
<P>For be&s;ides what wee &s;aid of the Con&s;traint, that for the foregoing cau&s;es, laie upon us, It mu&s;t even, from the Primitive grounds of Rea&s;on, bee acknow|ledged, That a Common-Wealth cannot bee enriched, nor the People thereof provided for, by any other means, then by reducing tho&s;e very Cour&s;es into ge|neral Practice, which are u&s;ed by Private men; And Therefore as Private men, that buie and &s;ell to &s;ute the Conveniencies of others, as well as them&s;elvs, do Con|&s;tantly ob&s;erv the&s;e, or the like Rules:</P>
<P N="1">1. To buie at the fir&s;t or be&s;t hand, or there, where they may have the Commoditie cheape&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;werable to which, Is,</HI></P>
<P>To fetch Commodities at the Immediate places of their Production, or Growth.</P>
<P N="2">2. To carrie Commodities to places where they are mo&s;t needed.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;werable to which, Is,</HI></P>
<P>To &s;end all Native Commodities to their farthe&s;t, or utmo&s;t Market, where they yield greate&s;t price.</P>
<P>So the&s;e Canons and Rules mu&s;t bee as inviolably ob|&s;erved al&s;o by any Nation who will pretend an Intere&s;t,
<PB N="14" REF="14"> hope, or benefit from Trade: otherwi&s;e they may ju&s;tly bee reproved of le&s;s Care and Knowledg, then common or ordinarie Shop-keepers. Which Rules, notwith&s;tand|ing, are not to bee pur&s;ued, nor can bee imitated, without giving all the po&s;sible Indulgence and Incouragement, that may bee, to Shipping.</P>
<P>And this whole &s;tate of things, and the&s;e rea&s;ons that have been produced, beeing all of them duly and equally con&s;idered, It is hoped, little will remain of Di&s;-&s;atisfaction (or Objection upon us) about the PARLIAMENT's late Act for the Incouragement and Increa&s; of our Navigation; Which was, in|deed, the Thing principally propounded to bee here Argued, and the Cen&s;ure of which is therefore freely Submitted.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="14">
<PB REF="15">
<PB REF="15">
<PB REF="16">
<PB REF="16" MS="y">
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
