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<DATE>2009-14-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Lauren Proux</NAME>
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<HEAD><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> Humbly Offered again&s;t E&s;tabli&s;hing, by Act of Parliament, THE Ea&s;t-India-TRADE, IN A COMPANY, with a JOINT-STOCK, EXCLUSIVE Of Others, the Subjects of England.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 1. MEN being rea&s;onable Creatures, Framed for Society, and the whole Earth being given unto them; I do take it to be a <HI>Dictate of Nature,</HI> that mutual Traffick or Commerce is free, and of Right doth belong to every Man, &s;o &s;oon as any Place or People is di&s;covered to him, wherewith to Trade; Therefore exclu&s;ive E&s;tabli&s;hments of Trade are <HI>Malum in &s;e,</HI> Monopolies at Common Law, for that they Give and Appropriate that to &s;ome onely, which is the Common Right of all: And in the In&s;tance now before us, doth make but one Buyer for what is Exported, and but one Seller for what is Imported, to the Value of near One half of the Foreign Trade of this Kingdom; which mu&s;t be of evil Effect to us.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 2. It may, and mo&s;t likely will, endanger the Peace and Being of the <HI>Engli&s;h Monarchy:</HI> For it is Obvious in the Thing it &s;elf, as well as in Example, That great Trea&s;ure and influencing Manage|ment will gain Dominion: And where &s;uch Trea&s;ure and Power is in a few Subjects, the Prince is not &s;afe.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 3. It is a pernicious Contraction of Trade, for that it cannot be extended to Per&s;ons &s;o as to make it National. Of the now <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> Stock, 744000 <ABBR><HI>l</HI></ABBR> Old, and two Thirds of the value, New Sub|&s;cription, is extended to no more than to 482 Per&s;ons, on the Printed Li&s;t of Adventurers, and divers of them are &s;mall Sums. Now if the Trade of the Nation were Contracted, as this to <HI>India</HI> is, it would &s;oon Nationally peri&s;h, for that the whole, then in proportion, would &s;carce enrich 160 Per&s;ons, and maintain very few Adventurers or Traders. And if this would have very ill Effect in the whole, a Contraction in this great Trade of <HI>India</HI> mu&s;t in proportion be of like ill Effect on the Glory and Pro|&s;perity of our Nation. And it is to be noted, That the Adventurers in the now <HI>India</HI> joynt-Stock, are at pre&s;ent more numerous than in time they will be. For if by opening this Trade to <HI>China, Japan, &amp;c.</HI> it become double or treble what it is, the de&s;ire of Gain will effect a paucity of Sharers; It having gra|dually &s;o done &s;ince the pre&s;ent Company's Stock began to Advance. <HI>Anno</HI> 1665, no Man's Share ex|ceeded 4000 Pounds: But now in the Old and in the New Sub&s;cription, &s;everal have 20, to 30, 40, 50, and &s;ome 60 thou&s;and Pounds in it. And although it be limited that no one &s;hall &s;ub&s;cribe at fir&s;t, or have in it above 10000 Pounds; yet the Father may be in the Son, or one Friend in another: So that three Fifths of the Gain may come to be divided among le&s;s than 40 Men, and the Admini&s;tration lodg'd in whom they plea&s;e: Whence a Particular Intere&s;t will be carried on, not the Publick.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 4. If the Trade be thus &s;ettled for One and twenty Years, it will for many of tho&s;e Years ex|clude from Trade the greater number of Merchants, and many other of the Subjects of <HI>England:</HI> For that &s;ome are now Minors, &s;ome are not in pre&s;ent Ca&s;h to &s;ub&s;cribe, and others will have their Trades</P>
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<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 5. It will cau&s;e the <HI>Dutch</HI> to &s;urmount us in this Trade: As Sir <HI>Jo&s;. Child</HI> well ob&s;erves in his <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of Trade.</HI> Pag. 82. <Q>Nothing in the World, &s;ays he, Can enable us to Cope with the <HI>Dutch</HI> in any Trade, but encrea&s;e of Hands and Stock, which a general Admi&s;&s;ion will effect. And <HI>Pag.</HI> 83. The <HI>Dutch</HI> who have no <HI>East-land Companies,</HI> yet have ten times the Trade to the <HI>Eastern-parts</HI> as we have: And for <HI>Italy, Spain,</HI> and <HI>Portugal,</HI> where we have no Companies, we have yet left full as much, if not more Trade than the <HI>Dutch;</HI> And for <HI>Ru&s;&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Greenland,</HI> where we have Companies, (and I think e&s;tabli&s;hed by Act or Acts of <HI>Parliament</HI>) our Trade is in effect wholly lo&s;t, while the <HI>Dutch</HI> without Companies encrea&s;e theirs to above Forty times the Bulk of what the Re&s;idue of ours now is.</Q> Therefore to excel them, we mu&s;t do in this Trade as we do in others; where the Subjects trade with equal freedom.</P>
<P><HI>Grotius</HI> in his <HI>Annals of the Low-Countries,</HI> A&s;&s;igns two Cau&s;es of the Ri&s;e of a joynt Stock in <HI>Holland,</HI> for carrying on the <HI>Dutch-India,</HI> and <HI>Guinea</HI> Trade, (which before being free, he owns was be&s;t managed to the Profit of People in general.)</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The buying Goods cheap both at home and abroad, and the &s;elling of them dear.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To enable the States the better to carry on a War, they then had with the <HI>Spaniard</HI> and <HI>Portugueez,</HI> who at that time were very Powerful in the <HI>Indies</HI> and <HI>Guinea.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Of the former, I &s;hall need to &s;ay nothing, and of the latter, I will give it in the Words of one of the chief and mo&s;t knowing of our own Merchants, di&s;cour&s;ed in a Letter to his Friend.</P>
<Q><P>The Trade to <HI>India</HI> and <HI>Guinea</HI> in <HI>Holland,</HI> had both of them their Original in the Minority of that State, when they &s;trugled with the mighty Power of <HI>Spain,</HI> in a long and bloody War; And the <HI>Spa|niard</HI> and <HI>Portugueez,</HI> who were then under the &s;ame Monarch, being Ma&s;ters of the whole Trade of both the <HI>Indies</HI> and <HI>Guinea,</HI> the States to weaken their Enemies, encourag'd Merchants to &s;end Ships into tho&s;e Seas, by giving them Comi&s;&s;ions of War; and they effectually did it, by taking con&s;iderable Booties from them, and augmenting their Force, had great Succe&s;s at Sea, and &s;eiz'd on &s;ome of their Fortifications. This brought the Merchants of <HI>Am&s;terdam</HI> to joyn with tho&s;e of other Towns, whereby pro&s;ecuting their Trade, and Privateering &s;everal Years, they became very con&s;iderable; when the States politickly united them further, that they might yet be more &s;erviceable to annoy their Enemies, and brought the whole Trade and War, (for &s;o it was) to both <HI>Indies</HI> and <HI>Guinea,</HI> into joynt Stocks, and gave them mighty Priviledges, e&s;pecially to the <HI>Ea&s;t-India Company;</HI> that of paying no Cu&s;toms In or Out, which they enjoy to this Day: And this was the Rea&s;on that induced the States &s;o long ago to &s;ettle the&s;e two <HI>Companies;</HI> and not that they thought it was be&s;t &s;o to do, for the general good of the Trade; or that it could not be as well managed by a Regulation, if their Circum&s;tances had been otherwi&s;e, but as an Engine of War, and depredation on their Ene|mies. And the <HI>Ea&s;t-India Company</HI> being thus e&s;tabli&s;h'd, as it were by Conque&s;t, and thereby incum|bring them&s;elves with a great many Fortre&s;&s;es and I&s;lands in the <HI>South-Sea,</HI> and <HI>Ceylon,</HI> to maintain to them&s;elves the <HI>Spice-I&s;lands,</HI> there &s;eems a kind of nece&s;&s;ity upon them, to drive that Trade in a Joynt Stock; For indeed their E&s;tabli&s;hment in <HI>India</HI> is another <HI>Commonwealth,</HI> which how&s;oever u&s;e|ful the <HI>States</HI> may think it to them; and that becau&s;e many of them are concerned in the <HI>Stock,</HI> they &s;till keep it upon the old Foundation; yet I think we have no cau&s;e to envy them their manner of carrying it on; nor indeed could we imitate them were it ever &s;o de&s;irable. And this is a certain truth, That from the Year 1653, to 1656. while our Trade to <HI>India</HI> lay open to all, the <HI>Holland East-India Company,</HI> &s;unk greatly in their Stock and Credit; for we under-&s;old them in all <HI>East-India Commo|dities,</HI> and brought home <HI>Spice</HI> in &s;pight of them, procured at <HI>Maca&s;&s;ar,</HI> and el&s;ewhere; which gave them &s;uch Apprehen&s;ions of lo&s;ing their Trade: To prevent it (as I have been informed from good Hands) they employed &s;ome Per&s;ons to Influence <HI>Oliver Cromwell</HI> to E&s;tabli&s;h this pre&s;ent Joynt-Stock; which he did in 1656. And they gave a Pen&s;ion to Two of the then Committee, of 500 Pounds a Year each, to prevent our po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing <HI>Polleron,</HI> or any other of the <HI>Spice-I&s;lands</HI> we had a ju&s;t claim to.&mdash;Wherefore it is not to be wondered, that the <HI>Dutch East-India Company</HI> are at this time &s;o very apprehen&s;ive that we &s;hall lay open the Trade to <HI>India,</HI> &s;ince they will &s;o &s;en&s;ibly feel the Effects of it by our va&s;t Importation and Exportations of all Commodities, and the affording them at &s;o much a cheaper Rate than they can po&s;&s;ibly; be&s;ides all Combinations with Colleagues here to inhance the Prices, will be removed, as well as the Opportunity of bribing in order to do good Offices.</P>
<P>The &s;ame Con&s;equences happen'd to the <HI>Holland Guinea,</HI> or <HI>West-India Company,</HI> in the Year 1660. when we had that Trade al&s;o open, their Stock was then worth but Eight <HI>per Cent.</HI> But no &s;ooner was the Trade to <HI>Guinea</HI> limited here by a Joynt Stock, but that Company began to Flouri&s;h again, and their Actions are now worth Eighty <HI>per Cent.</HI> So that what&s;oever Rea&s;on the <HI>Dutch</HI> have for the keep|ing the Trade to the <HI>Indies</HI> and <HI>Guinea</HI> in Joynt-&s;tocks, the onely Monopolies they have, it is evi|dent</P></Q>
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<P><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> people, and Ruinous too; Corrupting Men's Morals will be fatal to Us in the pre&s;ent Age, and to our Po&s;terity in future: And the lo&s;s in E&s;tates that will be &s;u&s;tained by Cheats this way, and by the Mo|nopoli&s;ts double Tax, One Buyer and One Seller in &s;o great a Trade as this is, will in le&s;s than Twenty Years exceed the Value of the now Joynt-&s;tock. What &s;hall it profit us then to borrow one Million at pre&s;ent, to pay it again and lo&s;e more in few Years?</P>
<P>The very Propo&s;al to ea&s;e our own Lands in Taxes, by Rai&s;ing of Money on the Grant of this Trade to &s;ome, exclu&s;ive of Others, is an Admi&s;&s;ion, that the Nation needs it to Compen&s;ate its future Damage by it; For otherwi&s;e, e&s;pecially now when the Publick wants Money, all our Foreign Trade &s;hould be alike Granted, and Per&s;ons who &s;eek only their own Profit, are as de&s;irous of the One as of the Other, and would pay for the Grant of it. But I hope never to &s;ee that done: For &s;hould it be, the Grant will &s;oon le&s;&s;en the Value of our Lands, or Rid us of them, which I take to be a very ill Way of making us ea&s;ie in them.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 7. The Benefits to our Nation (if the Trade to <HI>India</HI> be Free or in a Regulated Company, with|out a Joint-Stock) are many. I will mention &s;ome few.</P>
<P>Ingenuity and vertuous Indu&s;try will be encouraged, new Places of Trade, &s;ome of them, will be applied to being known to us (tho' hitherto neglected) and others may be di&s;covered, where our Growth and Manufacture may be vended: More of the Sons of our Gentry, upon generous Terms, may be &s;ent factors, and gain E&s;tates, Whereas the now Company do &s;end few of them Factors; And tho&s;e they do &s;end, are &s;tarved with &s;mall Salaries of 10 or 20 <ABBR><HI>l.</HI></ABBR> <HI>per Annum;</HI> And are cramp'd with Oaths and Or|ders, &s;o that they rarely live to bring E&s;tates home with them; And if any do, they are vexed with the unju&s;t Demands and Delays of the Company, in pa&s;&s;ing of their Accompts; And Dying abroad, their Relations or Executors are wor&s;e Treated, becau&s;e le&s;s able to defend them&s;elves. And in the&s;e and the like Di&s;putes with &s;uch Companies, the Defendants Remedy is mo&s;tly wor&s;e than the Di&s;ea&s;e; they are and will be their own Judges. But when we are to accompt with &s;ingle Per&s;ons, or with Per&s;ons Incor|porated with a Soul (that is, with no Joint-Stock) neither Plantiff nor the Defendant mu&s;t be their own Judges. And further the great Stocks of &s;ome Men, now only in one Channel of Trade(and the wor&s;t to us tho' now the greate&s;t of any) may be in divers (if the Trade be free) and thereby will &s;ub&s;erve other Trades (&s;uch as that to <HI>Turkey</HI>) which be more beneficial to the Nation in general: It will Increa&s;e the Exportation of our own Manufacture and Growth: It will enable us to furni&s;h <HI>Europe</HI> with all the Com|modities of tho&s;e Countries, much cheaper than any other People, e&s;pecially, the <HI>Dutch.</HI> It will add greatly to our Navigation, and augment the King's Cu&s;toms: <HI>Stock-Jobbing</HI> with its Mi&s;chiefs will cea&s;e. And it will prevent the Method u&s;ed by Companies with a Joint-Stock, in taking up va&s;t Sums of Money at Intere&s;t on a Common Seal (no Member being obliged for Payment) which is not only Indirect and Dangerous (in that they &s;eldom have in <HI>England</HI> the Value they Owe, and their Ships may mi&s;carry) but al&s;o very unequal to the Subject; the Company reaping great Profit thereby, when the Lender hath but 5 <HI>per Cent.</HI> for Intere&s;t and for Hazard too.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 8. The <HI>India</HI> Trade will be drove with Vigour on all Hands, now the Company and Free-Tra|der are Vying who &s;hall do it be&s;t. And that the Trade can be driven without a Joint-Stock, is confirm|ed by Fact of much later Date than that before-mentioned. From 1678 to 1685, many Ships were &s;ent to <HI>India,</HI> and returned hither with the Commodities of tho&s;e Countries, upon private Accompts; And the Cargo's that &s;everal of tho&s;e Ships brought, were better in Sortment and in Quality than the Com|panies; And then Callicoes and Salt-Peter were &s;old here very Cheap; Long Cloth at 20 <ABBR><HI>s.</HI></ABBR> <HI>per</HI> piece better Cloth than what the Company (&s;oon after upon &s;topping Mr. <HI>Sands</HI> his Ship) fold at 32 to 34 <ABBR><HI>s.</HI></ABBR> and &s;ince gradually advanced to near 50 <ABBR><HI>s.</HI></ABBR> <HI>per</HI> piece; Salt-Petre the like, from 32 <ABBR><HI>s.</HI></ABBR> to 8 <ABBR><HI>l.</HI></ABBR> and in like proportion other <HI>India</HI> Goods; And then the <HI>Dutch</HI> were &s;o mean in the Callicoe-Trade, that they bought them of us. And in truth, they do &s;carce in any Trade cope with us, but where we are cramp'd in Companies with a Joint-Stock, exclu&s;ive of others, the Subjects of <HI>England. Anno</HI> 1685. Capt. <HI>Put</HI> (now a Member of Parliament) and others, were kept from Trading to <HI>India</HI> by the then di&s;pen&s;ing Power, and pro&s;ecuted in the Crown-Office; when the <HI>Dutch</HI> (finding that King <HI>James</HI> did e&s;pou&s;e the Now Company) began to project the Encrea&s;e of their Trade in Callicoes; and have &s;ince 1688. &s;o &s;uc|ceeded, that they now excel us therein; even in the Bay of <HI>Bangal</HI> (the Flower of our <HI>India</HI> Trade) and upon the North-Coa&s;t of <HI>India,</HI> where the <HI>Dutch</HI> have no Fortre&s;s. The Governours and Natives in <HI>India,</HI> have always treated the Free-Traders with &s;ingular Kindne&s;s; they protect them in their Ports, (as they did the Ship <HI>Succe&s;s,</HI> the la&s;t Year at <HI>Surrat,</HI> from the <HI>French,</HI> who brought into that Port two of the Company's Ships they had taken at Sea.) They have offered Phirmands to particular Free-Traders, inviting them to Traffick, with mo&s;t endearing Motives. The&s;e, with the Humanity of the <HI>Indians,</HI> are great Security to us in our Trade with them, and are &s;ufficient: But Forts and Ca&s;tles are none at all, in Cafe the <HI>Great Mogul</HI> or other Princes in <HI>India</HI> will at any time Offend us. And for others (the <HI>French</HI> and <HI>Dutch,</HI> &amp;c. if they be our Enemies) they cannot hurt us in any Port of the <HI>Indies,</HI> becau&s;e there the Government, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> will Protect us: And if they meet us at Sea, our Forts and Ca&s;tles (if we have them) cannot defend us. So that Forts in <HI>India</HI> are, at be&s;t, no better to us in point of Security or Defence again&s;t Enemies, than Ca&s;tles in the Air; but may do us much Hurt, for that they are likely to create a Jealou&s;y of us in the <HI>Great Mogul,</HI> and other Princes of <HI>India,</HI> &amp;c. and tempt us (as it did the Now Company) to Conte&s;ts, which will be fatal to us.</P>
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<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 1. The Wi&s;dom of our Nation in Parliament, for time out of Mind, hath been again&s;t the Being or Continuauce of any Grant of Trade exclu&s;ive to Others the Subjects of <HI>England;</HI> as appears in many Statutes Un-repealed. And it hath been unu&s;ual with Parliaments to allow, as Motive or Reward unto Invention or Di&s;covery, more than 14 Years exclu&s;ive of Others, becau&s;e they would not have them longer excluded: Yet this Company, tho'not Di&s;coverers of this Trade, have enjoyed it 37 Years. And, if Examples be of force, we have many Companies, which have had their determination for publick Good, tho' they reaped not what they &s;owed (as the <HI>Canary</HI>-Company, in King <HI>Charles</HI> the Second's Time) which, if particular Intere&s;t mu&s;t be con&s;idered, will be found much &s;everer than to have this Company expire, after &s;o profitable an Enjoyment and &s;o long.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 2. The Members of the Now Company being under an Oath, which maybe interpreted, obliging of them, to do nothing to the prejudice of the Joint-Stock during the continuance of it, the Company mu&s;t be di&s;&s;olved, or the Members cannot be Free to do any thing that may le&s;&s;en the Gain of the Joint-Stock, tho' the publick Good &s;hould require it. Nay, one would think that they may hold them&s;elves bound by the Oath to do what is for the Gain of the &s;aid Stock, tho' it be to the damage of the Publick; if we may judge now by their pa&s;t Practice of &s;ending to <HI>India</HI> Dyers, Weavers and Throw&s;ters, with In&s;truments, for &s;etting up of our Manufactures there; Al&s;o the Robberies and Mur|ders abroad, and the great Oppre&s;&s;ions at home, which (in the Hou&s;e of Commons) were proved, done upon the Order of the greater number of the then Regents of the Company: Wherefore, if they obtain an Act of Parliament, there will be one Monopoly e&s;tabli&s;h'd by Law, and Additions to it will &s;pring from the &s;aid Oath; the Law will impower them to &s;eek and to &s;erve onely them&s;elves, and the Oath will oblige them to be kind to no Body el&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Rea&s;.</HI> 3. The Stock to be grafted upon (if there be any) being in part acquired by an unju&s;t War, made upon the innocent <HI>Indians,</HI> and by other Acts of Unrighteou&s;ne&s;s cannot be joined with, in hope of any Good from it; and being thus Leprous, it &s;hould remain alone according to the old Law. And for that &s;ome of the evil Deeds were done in the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies,</HI> by the pretended Authority of the King of <HI>England,</HI> if their Maje&s;ties, in Parliament, &s;hould di&s;&s;olve the Now Company, we may rea&s;onably con|clude, That people here, and the <HI>Indians</HI> there, will interpret it Ju&s;tice in their Maje&s;ties, in Parlia|ment, to be faithful Guardians to their own Rights, and to their Peoples; and to recover the Honour of our Religion and of our Nation, depre&s;s'd by tho&s;e evil Deeds.</P>
<P>I do not fore&s;ee any thing that can be objected again&s;t a Di&s;&s;olution of the Now Company; but what may be fairly an&s;wered from what I have already &s;ugge&s;ted, and will further &s;ay.</P>
<P>The Innocent, who have &s;ub&s;cribed anew and were not afore-concerned in the old Joint-Stock, will &s;ee Cau&s;e to be thankful for a Di&s;&s;olution; if their Maje&s;ties, in Parliament, provide, That the old Stock &s;hall pay all it oweth, both at home and abroad, and make Re&s;titution to the <HI>Indians,</HI> &amp;c. according to the <HI>Great Mogul</HI>'s Phirmand. The Company &s;ay, They have value undivided to do all this, and much more But in ca&s;e it prove otherwi&s;e, the Stock hath it in Debts, which may be &s;oon recovered; being du<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> from the old Adventurers unto whom Dividends have been made, who&s;e Accompts are all &s;tated in the Companies Books. For every one is Debtor to the Stock for &s;o much as hath been divided or paid to him, and &s;o he &s;tands in the Companies Books. And what his Share of the Stock (for which he &s;tand Creditor in the Companies Books) wants to ballance the Dividends made to him, he ought to repay being &s;o much Debtor to it. And this every hone&s;t Man doth, without any compul&s;ion in all like Ca&s;es.</P>
<P>Tho' all this may be done and with great ea&s;e; yet to have it well done, none can or will (I believe) think it ill, if the Parliament, notifying at pre&s;ent the &s;aid Di&s;&s;olution, and providing again&s;t the Com|panies Illegal Powers, do &s;u&s;pend the &s;aid Di&s;&s;olution for three Years. In which time the true &s;tate of the old Stock may be known, all Debts (if ever) may be paid, the Demands of the <HI>Indians</HI> may be adju&s;ted, and farther Experience had of the be&s;t way to carry on the Trade for publick Good. And for that the &s;aid Su&s;pen&s;ion of a Di&s;&s;olution, is unde&s;erved Grace to the Members of the old Stock, and will add great value to it: And the new Sub&s;cribers, by it, will have the &s;tart of all other Subjects in the Trade, becau&s;e their Ships are ready to &s;ail, and they have (which others are denied) Protection for their Men; And their Stock of 1500000 <ABBR><HI>l.</HI></ABBR> being a&s;certained, they may be taxed for the ea&s;e of the Nation; and for the defence of it, and of them&s;elves during the War. And for that it is a bare Su&s;pen&s;ion, for a time, and other Subjects not excluded the Trade, the Guilt and Mi&s;chiefs of a Monopoly will be avoided, and the Nation will e&s;cape a double Tax. For &s;uch Monopoli&s;ts buy the Native Growth and Manufacture cheap at home, and &s;ell the Foreign, which they Import, dear to the Subject; which Practice, in both kinds, can be proved upon the pre&s;ent <HI>Ea&s;t-India</HI> and <HI>Africa</HI>-Companies. And however Joint-&s;tocks in Trade may have been u&s;ed here in the Infancy of Foreign Trade, and granted, by Kings, to a number of Subjects named; (the Intention whereof was not particular but to them in Tru&s;t, for the general Good, and in pro&s;pect of a future opening unto National Benefit;) Yet now when we of this Kingdom are arriv'd at the utmo&s;t degree of Experience in Commerce with all Countries, even the mo&s;t di&s;tant, and that our Mariners are the mo&s;t expert in the Univer&s;e, and we having Stock enough to carry on, as well as to encrea&s;e our Trade, I cannot &s;ee any rea&s;on why the Subjects &s;hould lo&s;e their Right, or &s;hould be clogg'd by Joint Stocks, to the great damage of the Nation, as I have before made evident.</P>
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