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<DATE>2013-02-26</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120721.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B02217">
<STC T="W">C4444A</STC>
<STC T="C">R233248</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">47012349</BIBNO>
<VID>174316</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<PB REF="3">
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<PB REF="4">
<PB N="1" REF="4" MS="y">
<HEAD>The Ca&s;e of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool, and the Manu|facture thereof truly Stated: together with &s;ome of the Cau&s;es of the low Price of the One, and decaying Condition of the Other. As al&s;o the Pre&s;entment of the Grand Jury of the County of <HI>Sommer&s;et</HI> thereon.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Humbly offered to the High Court of Parliament.</HEAD>
<P N="1">1&s;t. IT is notorious in Fact, that the Wool of the growth of <HI>England</HI> is the Greate&s;t and Chiefe&s;t Staple Commodity of our Kingdom; and which for &s;everal years pa&s;t is fallen above one half in its Price.</P>
<P N="2">2d. It is manife&s;t that the low price of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool hath occa&s;ion'd a Fall and great Abatement both of the Rents and real Value of Land throughout the Kingdom, of near a Fifth part.</P>
<P N="3">3d. It is as ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to keep up the Rents and Revenues of the Kingdom, in reference to the Ho|nour, Strength, and Wealth thereof, as to &s;upport the Trade; there being now no way left to rai&s;e any con&s;i|derable Summ of Money for a &s;udden and &s;peedy Sup|ply, but by a Land Tax. It appears therefore to be our Intere&s;t, to enquire into the Cau&s;es of the low price of our Wool, and the decaying condition of this Ancient
<PB N="2" REF="5">Staple Commodity and Manufacture of our Kingdom.</P>
<P>And they may be for the pre&s;ent con&s;idered under the&s;e Two Heads;</P>
<P N="1">1&s;t. The great and va&s;t quantities of <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> and o|ther Wool brought into this Kingdom yearly, without paying any Duty or Cu&s;tom for the &s;ame, and here &s;old at very low Rates; and the Cloth made thereof being for the mo&s;t part con&s;umed by the Subjects of this Kingdom, mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity le&s;&s;en the Manufacture thereof, and &s;o by con&s;equence beat down the price of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool.</P>
<P N="2">2d. The great Abu&s;es put upon our Clothiers, in the &s;ale of their Cloth at <HI>Blackwell-Hall</HI> in <HI>London,</HI> by a com|pany of Men &s;prung up there within the&s;e few years, cal|led Factors, and who at this day have the &s;ole manage|ment and command of the Cloth-Trade in their own Hands, and can di&s;po&s;e of it, and of any Man's particular Cloth and Stock as they plea&s;e them&s;elves, they having the Clothier, Draper and Merchant at their own beck, and who are now become the great Merchants for the <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Wool, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> of whom the poor Clothier is forc'd to buy, the Factor having his Stock both of Cloth and Money in his own hands.</P>
<P>The&s;e are two of the Chiefe&s;t cau&s;es of the decay of this Trade, and the Low price of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool at this time, both which are humbly offer'd for con&s;idera|tion, with &s;ome means for Redre&s;s, when it &s;hall plea&s;e this Honourable Hou&s;e to appoint the time.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>By <HI>Geo. Clark.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="3" REF="5">
<HEAD>Somer&s;et. <HI>At the General Quarter Se&s;&s;ions of the Peace held at</HI> Brewton, <HI>in and for the County afore&s;aid, on the Thirteenth day of</HI> January, <HI>in the Thirty Sixth Year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord</HI> Charles <HI>the Second, by the Grace of God of</HI> England, Scotland, France, <HI>and</HI> Ireland, <HI>King,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>The Pre&s;entment of the</HI> Grand Jury <HI>there was as followeth;</HI> viz.</HEAD>
<P>HEARING the daily, &s;ad and lamen|table Complaint of the greate&s;t part of the Clothiers of this County, con|cerning the great Decay of their Trade, whereby many of them within few years la&s;t pa&s;t have been ruin'd and undone; and finding by &s;ad experience the great fall that is happened of late on the price of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool, that Commodity now yield|ing but little more than the one half the Value of what it was wont to be &s;old for
<PB N="4" REF="6">at the beginning of the late unhappy Re|bellion in this Kingdom; And having &s;e|riou&s;ly con&s;idered the&s;e things, do hum|bly conceive the Cau&s;es of the&s;e great E|vils to be the Importation of <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> and other Foreign Wools, without paying a|ny Cu&s;tom or Impo&s;t for the &s;ame; And the great Abu&s;es that have been put upon the Clothiers at the Principal Mart for Cloth in this Kingdom, by a &s;ort of Peo|ple called Factors; Men fir&s;t &s;et up in the late Times of Di&s;traction, and increa&s;ing ever &s;ince in Number and Power, till now at length they have gotten the &s;ole Com|mand and Sale of mo&s;t mens Cloth brought thither to be &s;old; And have thereby advanc'd them&s;elves from little or nothing to be Men of great E&s;tates, and as much impoveri&s;hed their Ma&s;ters, who &s;adly complain of the&s;e Abu&s;es, and are left without pro&s;pect of a Remedy: The Con&s;ideration of which Mi&s;chiefs grow|ing more and more upon us, and if not
<PB N="5" REF="6">timely prevented, being likely in the end to prove the Ruine of this ancient Staple Commodity and Manufacture of our Kingdom, hath cau&s;ed us at this time to make this following Pre&s;entment.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, That the Wool of this County in particular, as well as of the whole King|dom in general, is the greate&s;t Staple we have; And that which adds more to the Rents and Improvement of the Real Va|lue of the Lands and Revenues thereof, than any one Commodity what&s;oever; and that it is as much our Intere&s;t (if not more) to improve the Rents and Reve|nues of the Lands and E&s;tates of this Kingdom, as to Maintain the Trade, with|out which Improvement we &s;hall in no ca&s;e be able to rai&s;e any con&s;iderable Sum of Money by a Land-Tax, if any &s;udden or extraordinary occa&s;ion &s;hould require it.</P>
<P>We Pre&s;ent therefore, That the Impor|tation of <HI>Spani&s;h,</HI> and other Foreign
<PB N="6" REF="7">Wools, without paying any Duty or Cu&s;tom for the &s;ame, is a very great pre|judice to the price of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Wool; and &s;o con&s;equently contributes much to the Abatements of the Rents and Profits i&s;|&s;uing from Lands.</P>
<P>We Pre&s;ent, That the making of Wool|len Cloth is the greate&s;t Manufacture of this Kingdom, and that wherein many thou&s;ands of poor People are employed and &s;et to work, and thereby Relieved and Maintained; and that &s;ince the time that the Art of Clothing was fir&s;t known among&s;t us, it has continued free, until the beginning of the late Rebellion, there &s;prung up a &s;ort of People, who under the name of Factors of <HI>Blackwell-Hall,</HI> have gotten into their Power the Management and Di&s;po&s;al of mo&s;t of the Cloth that is &s;old there: And be&s;ides, are grown to be the greate&s;t Merchants of Oyl and Dying &s;tuffs, but chiefly of <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> Wool; all goods belonging to the Clothing Trade,
<PB N="7" REF="7">of whom the Clothier is forced to buy, the Factor having his Stock both of Cloth and Money in his own hands; and there|fore We pre&s;ent, that the&s;e Factors of <HI>Blackwell-Hall</HI> are a Publick Nu&s;ance and Prejudice to the Clothing Trade; and to have been the Ruine of many poor Clo|thiers, and the Cau&s;es of many other Mi&s;|chiefs and Inconveniences that now lye heavy upon us.</P>
<P><HI>Item,</HI> We farther pre&s;ent, that this Ho|nourable Bench will be plea&s;ed to implore the Royal Power and Prerogative of his Sacred Maje&s;ty for convenient Remedies to the&s;e great Abu&s;es; and that this Pre|&s;entment may be with all Submi&s;&s;ion pre|&s;ented to his Maje&s;ty as the Grievance and Complaint of the whole County.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Ludwwell,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jo&s;eph Gappy,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Barnard Ru&s;&s;,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>William Ridcut,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Pitman,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Bradny,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Mulford</HI> Sen.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Gapper</HI> Jun.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Field,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>William Lewis,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Biging,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Thomas Harvye,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Mabz,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wor. Brice,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Henry Strode,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gabriel Iveleife,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Robert King.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<HEAD>Ver<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">op' Ex per Ph. Bennet, Cl. Pac.</HEAD>
<P>This is a true Copy of the Grand Juries Pre&s;entment, which we agree to, and de|&s;ire it may be pre&s;ented to his Maje&s;ty in Council by Mr <HI>Clark.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Weymouth,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fitzharding.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fra. Powlett.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>E. Phelipps.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John Hunt.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Ed. Berkely.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Tho. Wyn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">am.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fra. Warre.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Wil. Ba&s;&s;et.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Geo Clarke.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Jo. Harington.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P><HI>This Pre&s;entment &s;hould have been delivered to his Maje&s;ty King</HI> Charles <HI>the Second, but by his &s;udden Death it was prevented; And now comes more proper<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters"> to be Con&s;idered of and Redre&s;s'd in Parliament; And at this time will enable the whole Kingdom in general to pay the pre&s;ent Taxes with greater Ea&s;e and Satis|faction (the Rea&s;ons being con&s;idered) than by any other way or means that can be offered.</HI></P>
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