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<DATE>2014-10-09</DATE>
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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140710.apex.</ITEM>
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<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD><HI>Several Complaints of Merchants and Traders of</HI> London, <HI>and other Ports of this Kingdom again&s;t the Commi&s;&s;i|oners and Officers of the Customs</HI></HEAD>
<P>THat by the Act of Tonnage and Poundage, 12 <HI>Car.</HI> 2. among&s;t other things it is provided and Enacted that all Merchants as well Denizens, as Strangers, coming into this Realm, &s;hall be well and hone&s;tly entreated, and demeaned for &s;uch things as Sub&s;idy by the &s;aid Act is granted, without oppre&s;&s;ion to them to be done, &amp;c.</P>
<P N="1">I. That the Commi&s;&s;ioners of the Cu&s;toms have of late, contrary to the &s;aid Act af|fronted and abu&s;ed Merchants with &s;currilous and foul Language, and other bad treat|ment, to the great di&s;couragement of Trade, and oppre&s;&s;ion of the &s;aid Merchants; who have been forced to be at great expences in Law-&s;uits for their Ju&s;t-rights: and fur|ther where Merchants have petitioned the Lords Commi&s;&s;ioners of the Trea&s;ury to be releived in ca&s;es of the like nature, &s;uch petitions have been referred to the &s;aid Com|mi&s;&s;ioners of the Cu&s;toms for them to examine the contents and report their opinions thereupon to the &s;aid Lords Commi&s;&s;ioners, wherein al&s;o the &s;aid Merchants have been treated and abu&s;ed as afore&s;aid by the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners of the Cu&s;toms.</P>
<P N="2">II. That by the twenty Fourth Rule of the Book of Rates, made part of the above&s;aid Act of Tonnage and Poundage, it is al&s;o provided that for avoiding all oppre&s;&s;ion by any of the Officers of the Cu&s;toms in any Port of this Kingdom in exacting unrea&s;onable Fees from the Merchant by rea&s;on of any Entry, or otherwi&s;e touching the &s;hipping or un&s;hipping of any Goods, Wares and Merchandi&s;es, no Officer, Clerk, or other be|longing to any Cu&s;tom-hou&s;e what&s;oever, &s;hall exact, requite, or receive, any other or greater Fee of any Merchant or other what&s;oever, than &s;uch as are or &s;hall be e&s;tabli&s;h|ed by the Commons in Parliament A&s;&s;embled, That if any Officer &s;hall offend, contrary to the &s;aid Rule, he &s;hall forfeit his Office and place, and be for ever after incapable of any Office in the Cu&s;tom-hou&s;e: That notwith&s;tanding, the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners of the Cu&s;toms have not only countenanced their Officers in exacting unrea&s;onable Fees of Merchants and others, where no Fees were due, but al&s;o have by fal&s;e &s;ugge&s;tions pro|cured &s;everal <HI>Noli Pro&s;equies</HI> to be Entered up upon &s;everal Informations brought and ex|hibited in the Court of Exchequer again&s;t Officers for exacting &s;uch unrea&s;onable Fees, whereby fair Merchants and Traders have been greatly oppre&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P N="3">III. By the 11th. Rule in the book of Rates, al&s;o made part of the above&s;aid Act of Tonnage and Poundage, it is declared that if any Tobacco or other Goods or Merchan|di&s;e brought into this Kingdom, &s;hall receive any dammage by Salt-water or otherwi&s;e; &s;o that the owner thereof &s;hall be prejudiced in the Sale of &s;uch Goods, the principal Officers of the Cu&s;tom-hou&s;e, or any two of them, whereof the Collector for the time being to be one, &s;hall have power to Choo&s;e two indifferent Merchants experienced in the value of &s;uch Goods, who upon vi&s;iting the &s;aid Goods &s;hall certifie and declare upon their corporal Oaths, fir&s;t admini&s;tred by the &s;aid Officers, what dammage &s;uch Goods have received, and are le&s;&s;ened in their true value, and according to &s;uch dammage, in relation to the Rates &s;et on them in this book, the &s;aid Officers are to make a propor|tionable abatement unto the Merchant or Owner of the Sub&s;idy due for the &s;ame.</P>
<P>That, notwith&s;tanding the &s;aid Rule and the good Provi&s;ion thereby for the ea&s;e of Merchants, and encouragement of Trade, the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners have from time to time denyed to permit Merchants to be cho&s;en and &s;worn for viewing of dammages and cer|tifying allowances, as by the &s;aid Rule is directed, but on the contrary have appointed Surveyors, and other Officers of their own to view &s;uch dammages, and to make &s;uch allowances, as to them only have &s;eemed meet, denying to hear any complaint of Mer|chants, though never &s;o ju&s;tly aggrieved in the premi&s;es, and in&s;tead of making abate|ment of &s;uch dammages, as their &s;aid Officers have allowed, off from the Original-Entry, or Po&s;t-Entry, Merchants have been forced to Enter and pay Cu&s;tome for their whole quantities, and to be at the trouble and charge of Certificates for &s;uch allowances, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to the great injury of Merchants, di&s;couragement of Trade, and contrary to the above|&s;aid Rule.</P>
<P N="4"><PB N="2" REF="3" MS="y"> IV. That by &s;everal Acts of Parliament made in the Reigns of <HI>Edward the 4th. Richard the</HI> 3<HI>d. Henry the 8th.</HI> and <HI>Carolu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> the</HI> 2<HI>d.</HI> for many good rea&s;ons therein contained, a|mong&s;t other things, Iron wyre, otherwi&s;e called White-wyre; Bone-lace, Buttons, and all manner of foreign Needle work are prohibited to be brought into this Kingdom, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> that notwith&s;tanding the &s;aid Acts of Parliament, great quantities of the &s;aid Com|modities have been of late imported into this &s;aid Kingdom; by the encouragement of the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners upon payment of Cu&s;tom, thereby fru&s;trating the good intent of the &s;aid Laws, and impoveri&s;hing His Maje&s;ties Subjects employed in the manufacturing of the &s;aid Commodities in <HI>England,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="5">V. That by &s;everal other Acts made in the 18th. 20th. and 23d. years of the Reign of King <HI>Charles</HI> the &s;econd, all live Cattel, Beef, Pork and Bacon, and Fi&s;h taken by Foreigners are al&s;o prohibited to be brought into this Kingdom from <HI>Ireland,</HI> or any other Foreign Parts, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all &s;uch the &s;aid Cattel and Goods, &s;o brought into this Kingdom, as al&s;o of the Ships and Ve&s;&s;els in which they are Import|ed, and makes the Importation of the &s;aid Cattel and Goods, a common Nui&s;ance, and the avoiding and evading any of the penalties contained in the &s;aid Act to be <HI>Premunire.</HI></P>
<P>That notwith&s;tanding all which, the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners and Officers, &s;ometimes upon payment of Cu&s;tom, and at other times by pretended &s;eizures of the &s;aid Goods for pri|vate rewards have combined with Foreigners and others, and cau&s;ed to be imported great quantities of the Goods &s;o prohibited by the &s;aid Acts, to the great decay of the Fi&s;hery of the Nation; and to the great prejudice of the Graziers, the Breeders of Cattel and Hogs, and the Curers of Engli&s;h Bacon, and other Traders of this Kingdom, and in high Contempt to the Authority of Parliament.</P>
<P N="6">VI That by an Act in the 29th and 30th years of King <HI>Charles</HI> II. all <HI>French</HI> Wines, Brandy, and other <HI>French</HI> Goods, for the Rea&s;ons therein contained, were prohibited to be Imported into this Kingdom, under the penalty of the forfeiture of the &s;aid Goods, <HI>viz.</HI> The Wines and Brandy to be &s;taved, and the other Goods to be burnt, and al&s;o of the value of the &s;aid Goods to be recovered of the Importers, one Moiety thereof to the Poor of the Pari&s;h, where the &s;aid Goods &s;hould happen to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;iezed, and the other Moiety to him or them that &s;hould &s;ieze and &s;ue for the &s;ame: And al&s;o the Importa|tion of any of the &s;aid Goods was by the &s;aid Act declared to be a common Nui&s;ance, and the Commi&s;&s;ioners and Officers of the Cu&s;toms were thereby required not only to &s;ieze and pro&s;ecute, but to be aiding and a&s;&s;i&s;ting to all others in &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ing and pro&s;ecuting the &s;ame. That notwith&s;tanding the &s;aid Act, and the good provi&s;ion thereby, the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners and Officers of the Cu&s;toms, did not only encourage Merchants to Im|port great quantities thereof, and to enter and pay Cu&s;tom for the &s;ame, under &s;ham denominations, but al&s;o did, as much as in them lay, di&s;courage all per&s;ons who did endeavour to &s;ieze any of the Goods prohibited by the &s;aid Act, or pro&s;ecute per&s;ons Importing the &s;ame.</P>
<P N="7">VII. That by one other Act made in the 12th year of King <HI>Charles</HI> the II. Entitu|led, <HI>An Act for encouraging and encrea&s;ing the Shipping and Navigation of this Kingdom,</HI> wherein, by the good Providence of God, the Wealth, Safety and Strength thereof is &s;o much concerned: No Goods or Commodities what&s;oever of the growth, produ|ction, or manufacture of <HI>A&s;ia, Africa</HI> or <HI>America;</HI> or of any part thereof, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;hall be Imported into <HI>England, &amp;c.</HI> in any other Ships or Ve&s;&s;els what&s;oever, but in &s;uch as do truly, and without fraud, belong only to the people of <HI>England, &amp;c.</HI> and that no Goods or Commodities, that are of Foreign growth, production, or manufacture, &s;hall be brought into this Kingdom, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> in any Shipping what&s;oever; from any place what|&s;oever; but only from the place of their &s;aid growth, production or manufacture, or from &s;uch Port or place where the &s;aid Commodities can only, or are, or u&s;ually have been fir&s;t Shipped for Tran&s;portation, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all &s;uch Goods, together with the Ships and Ve&s;&s;els, with all their Furniture, Tackle and Apparel, in which they, or any of them, &s;hall be Imported; That the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners and Officers of the Cu&s;toms, have (under pretence of improving the &s;aid Cu&s;toms) encou|raged the Importation of the &s;aid Commodities from <HI>Holland</HI> and other places, in For|reign Shipping, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> contrary to the true intent and meaning of the &s;aid Act, and in contempt of the &s;ame, to the great prejudice, not only of the Shipping of this King|dom, (which have been thereby le&s;&s;ened near a third part in their real value) but al&s;o to the great di&s;couragement of the Seamen thereof, who have al&s;o been thereby (toge|ther with the hard u&s;age of the &s;aid Commi&s;&s;ioners in other trivial matters) forced to Sail with Foreign Nations.</P>
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