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<ETS>
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<DATE>2013-09-11</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B130710.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B12245">
<STC T="S">5875</STC>
<STC T="C">S114530</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99849755</BIBNO>
<VID>177900</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<BYLINE><ADD>This was written by y^e m&aber;chantes Adventurers</ADD></BYLINE>
<HEAD>The Cour&s;e of the Tare of Cloth in Holland.</HEAD>
<P>BY the Ancient Law of the <HI>Romans,</HI> called <HI>Edictum Aedilitium:</HI> (of the <HI>AEdiles</HI> that made it) it was free to the Buyer of any &s;laue or other Merchandize that had a|ny hidden fault, which would not be perceived by ordinary view, to make further vi&s;itation of the thing &s;o bought afterwards; and if it proved faulty then, at his choice either to returne the &s;ame vpon the Seller, or el&s;e retaining it, to haue the defect valued by indifferent per&s;ons, and then the value of the faults to be allowed him by the Buyer out of the price. This Law, among many other Lawes of the <HI>Romanes,</HI> is currant to this day in <HI>Germany,</HI> and the <HI>Low Countries,</HI> yet &s;o, as it is neverthele&s;&s;e free to &s;ell a Commodity, <HI>Per aver&s;ionem;</HI> that is, to be taken with all faults, if the buyer will con&s;ent thereunto according to the rule; <HI>Quilibet iuri pro &s;e introducto pote&s;t renuntiare?</HI></P>
<P>The Merchants Adventurers, trading in Cloth, with the Merchants of <HI>Germany,</HI> and of the <HI>Low Countries,</HI> and &s;ettling the <HI>Rendevou&s;e</HI> of their trade in each of the&s;e, in one place called their <HI>Mart Towne,</HI> did of ancient time allow abatement vnto the Buyers for &s;uch faults of their Clothes, (e&s;pecially for narrowne&s;&s;e and &s;hortne&s;&s;e,) as were found in the opening of the &s;ame, after they came to the Buyers hands, which allowance or abatement was at fir&s;t made onely in their <HI>Mart Towne,</HI> and before the Cloth was wet; in this manner. The Merchant Buyer having in opening of his Cloth in the <HI>Mart Towne,</HI> found them to be too narrow or too &s;hort, did forthwith ac|quaint the Seller, that the Cloth was found to be faulty, whereupon the parties agreed vpon two good men, one of each Nation, to vi&s;it the Cloth, and to value the faults; which valuation is by the <HI>Dutch</HI> called <HI>Tare:</HI> &amp; that being thus made, the Seller was to allow the Buyer the &s;um &s;o taxed out of the price of Cloth; which <HI>Tare</HI> &amp; al|lowance being &s;o made, the Seller made <HI>Affadauit</HI> thereof before the Secretary of the Fellow&s;hip of Merchants Adventurers, re&s;iding in the <HI>Mart Towne,</HI> who gaue cer|tificat of the &s;ame vnder the Seale at cau&s;es of the Company. By vertue whereof the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchant was inabled to recover the &s;aid abatement againe of the Clothier, that &s;old him the Cloth here in <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>This <HI>Tare</HI> being thus at fir&s;t made in the <HI>Mart Towne,</HI> the <HI>Dutch</HI> Merchants that dwelt in other Townes, pretending ha&s;t and want of lei&s;ure to vi&s;it their Cloth in the <HI>Mart</HI> Townes, carried it home to the &s;everall Townes where they dwelt, where finding defects of length and breadth in the Clothe<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">, they cau&s;ed the &s;worne Mea&s;urer of the place to mete them over, and certifie the want of length or &s;ize vnder his hand, which certificat being brought to the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchant, and being at fir&s;t for no greater matters then were v&s;ually found in the <HI>Mart</HI> Towne, he allowed therefore according to the Rate as the Cloth co&s;t, and made his <HI>Affadavit</HI> thereof to the <HI>En|gli&s;h Secretary,</HI> and tooke his Certificat accordingly?</P>
<P>After this was dawn thus in Train, and the <HI>Dutch</HI> Merchants began to feele the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of the&s;e allowances, made greater by the ab&s;ence of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchants began to feele the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of the&s;e allowances, made greater by the ab&s;ence of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchants, they further proceeded to make abatement for Rimples, Bandes, holes, and &s;top&s;alles in the Cloth, at their owne home. And for the taxing of the true value of the&s;e faults, as al&s;o of &s;hortne&s;&s;e and narrowne&s;&s;e, they cau&s;ed (for better colour of their proceedings) an office to be erected in every Towne of &s;worne men to vi&s;it <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cloths, and to e&s;timate and taxe the damage thereby &s;u&s;tained by the Buyer, whereof certificat being brought to the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchants in the <HI>Mart</HI> Towne, he was compelled to allow the &s;ame, and to &s;eeke the remedy of the Clothier here, by &s;uch certificat from the Secretary of the Company, as is above mentioned. The cour&s;e thus &s;ettled, the <HI>Dutch</HI> grew daily to make their <HI>Tare</HI> more and more vn|rea&s;onable, the Vi&s;itors or Tare-ma&s;ters favouring tho&s;e that brought them worke, and adding to the Tare not only the &s;alary of their labour, but al&s;o the charges of their meeting, which was &s;ometimes a Pot of Wine, two or three, &s;ometimes a dinner, at la&s;t what they would &s;pend vnder colour of that occa&s;ion: So that the Tare-ma&s;ters, and &s;ome of the <HI>Dutch</HI> Merchants bragg'd, that they had built faire hou&s;es, by the benefit of the Tare of <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cloth.</P>
<P>The Clothier of <HI>England</HI> feeling the &s;mart of this Tare, (although he &s;eldome allowed his Merchant the one halfe of that the &s;ame Merchant had paid to the <HI>Dutch</HI>) complained to the Parliament in the 43. yeare of Queene <HI>Elizabeth;</HI> and &s;o prevailed, that it was enacted, that he &s;hould not be liable to allow the Merchant any thing vpon any certificat brought from forraigne parts, yea although he &s;hould contract with him to doe it. Hereupon the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Merchant fell vnto a great and con|tinuall lo&s;&s;e: the Clothier now making fal&s;er Cloth then ever before, and the <HI>Dutch</HI> Merchant more Tare; &s;o that loo&s;ing oft, of his principall he complained to the Parliament,<NOTE PLACE="marg">b:</NOTE> in the 4. yeare of his Maie&s;ties Raigne that now is, and craved his ancient remedy by certificat, which was denied him: yet it was enacted, to the end he &s;hould not be without remedy, that he &s;hould haue power to vi&s;it his Cloth here at home, and to recover of the Clothier, for &s;hortne&s;&s;e, narrowne&s;&s;e, and want of weight, according to certaine rates by the Statute appointed.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">b:</NOTE>And therefore for a further remedy the Company of Merchants Adventurers re&s;iding at <HI>Hamburgh,</HI> did in the yeare 1611, agree and order among them&s;elves, to &s;ell all their Cloth, with this &s;peciall part and condition in their contract of &s;ale; that they would not be liable to allow any Tare, but &s;uch only as &s;hould be made in the <HI>Mart</HI> Towne, where they might &s;ee how they were dealt withall in the taxing of the faults, and that on<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y in the dry Cloth, before that was &s;ophi&s;ticated in the wetting. And this order the next yeare after they e&s;tabli&s;hed al&s;o at <HI>Middleburgh,</HI> their <HI>Mart</HI> Towne for the <HI>Netherlands,</HI> and &s;o brought this Tare bu&s;ines to a good reformation.</P>
<P>But in the yeare 1614 the new Company for Dying and Dre&s;&s;ing being erected, the <HI>Netherlanders</HI> &s;oone regained that from them, which the old Company had got+ten before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">co:</NOTE> and procured an Edict of the States generall, that it &s;hould be lawfull for Tare to be made in any of 28 &s;everall Townes in the &s;ame Edict mentioned, not|with&s;tanding any contract to the contrary. Now whereas it was by that Edict left free, and by the cu&s;tome of Merchants v&s;uall, that the &s;urplu&s;age of length in any Cloth &s;hould be ca&s;t in compen&s;ation of the defect of dreadth, this al&s;o by a new In&s;truction of the States, touching the Tare cau&s;e publi&s;hed in Print Anno 1617: was taken away: And in this &s;tate the Tare cau&s;e remaineth to this day, and the Merchants Adventurers allow for Tare at the lea&s;t ten thou&s;and pounds a yeare. And yet further the remedy provided for them by the Act of Parliament 4. <HI>Iacobi,</HI> in &s;tead of their old remedy by certificates, is now by a new Act of this la&s;t Parliament taken away: the penalties for defects of Cloth being all given to the poore and the Searchers; but no recompence left to the party damnified.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORDS OF HIS Maie&s;ties mo&s;t Honorable Privie Coun&s;ell. The humble Petition of the Fellow&s;hip of the merchants Adventurers of England.</HEAD>
<P>MO&s;t humbly &s;hewing that vpon complaint heretofore made by the Petitioners of the great wrong and damage &s;u&s;tained by them, and the very Trade of this Land, as well by the vniu&s;t Taring and Abatement made by the Merchants of <HI>Holland,</HI> and other the vnited Provinces, vnder colour of defects of the Cloth &s;old them by the Petitioners; as al&s;o by the immoderate Impo&s;itions levied by the Lords States generall vp|on <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Cloth, yet leaving the Cloth of their owne Country free of the &s;ame.</P>
<P>It plea&s;ed this Honourable Boord by their letters dated in <HI>February, Anno</HI> 1624. to recommend the cau&s;e to the Right Honourable the Lord <HI>Carleton,</HI> then Amba&s;&s;adour re&s;ident with the &s;aid Lords States for his late Maie&s;ty of ble&s;&s;ed memory, to be by his Lord&s;hip negotiated with the &s;aid Lords States in his &s;aid Maie&s;ties name, and due redre&s;&s;e demanded; wherein after his Lord&s;hip had accordingly made very good entrance, it plea&s;ed his Maie&s;ty, that is now to commit the &s;econding thereof vnto the mo&s;t honourable the Duke of <HI>Buckingham,</HI> when his Grace went Am|ba&s;&s;adour extraordinary to the &s;aid Lords States, with whom al&s;o his Grace dealt effectually herein, as the &s;hortne&s;&s;e of the time would then permit.</P>
<P>But both his Grace and the &s;aid Lord <HI>Carleton</HI> returning before the cau&s;e could be brought to an end, by rea&s;on of the delayes v&s;ed by the <HI>Dutch</HI> party, and his Maie&s;ty having &s;ithence vntill now had no Amba&s;&s;adour there, the Petitioners for the Interim by mediation of your Lord|&s;hips obtained his Maie&s;ties Royall Letters to the &s;aid Lords States to accept of the per&s;on of Mr. <HI>Mi&s;&s;elden,</HI> Deputy Governour of the Company of Merchants Adventurers re&s;iding at <HI>Delfe</HI> in <HI>Holland,</HI> for the &s;ollicitation of the &s;aid cau&s;e, wherein he hath &s;ince accordingly travailed, but as yet without effect: In the meane time the grievance of Tare hath rather increa&s;ed then otherwi&s;e; the Company at <HI>Delfe</HI> having made an exact In|quiry &amp; collection of &s;uch &s;ummes as haue bin abated the la&s;t yeare in this kind, whereof they finde the totall to be aboue ten thou&s;and pound, from <HI>Decemb:</HI> 1625, to <HI>Decemb.</HI> 1626.</P>
<P>Now fora&s;much as this grievance of Tare, and the other of Impo&s;ition are &s;uch as without redre&s;&s;e will vtterly di&s;able the Petitioners to con|tinue their Trade: And for that they vnder&s;tand that his Maie&s;ty hath re&s;olved &s;hortly to &s;end over the Right Honourable the Lord <HI>Carleton</HI> a|fore&s;aid, as Amba&s;&s;adour extraordinary to the &s;aid Lords States: The Petitioners humble &s;uite is, that it will plea&s;e your good Lord&s;hipps to be a meanes to his Maie&s;ty, that the &s;aid cau&s;es of Tare and impo&s;itions may be committed and given in charge to the &s;aid Lord <HI>Carleton</HI> to be now by his Lord&s;hip re&s;umed and pur&s;ued to an effectuall remedy and conclu&s;ion: And the &s;aid Mr. <HI>Mi&s;&s;elden</HI> that hath &s;ollicited the &s;aid cau&s;es in the Interim as afore&s;aid, &s;hall attend his Lord&s;hip with full information, as well of that which hath pa&s;&s;ed in his Lord&s;hips ab&s;ence; as with what|&s;oever el&s;e &s;hall be requi&s;ite on the Merchant part: And the Petitioners &s;hall daily pray.</P>
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