laid on Wines, _viz._ Eight Pounds _per_ Ton on the _French_, and Twelve
Pounds _per_ Ton on _Spanish_ and _Portuguese_: This Difference (with the
low Subsidies put on their Linnens by former Acts, in respect to those of
other Places) was a great Means of bringing the Ballance of that Trade so
much against us, that the Parliament in the 7th and 8th of _Gul._ III.
thought fit to make an Act, (and is continued by this present Parliament
for a longer time) which in Effect, prohibited all Trade with that Nation
for One and Twenty Years, by laying a great Duty on the Importations
thence, in order to prevent a Correspondence, till the Trade should be
better regulated.
In the 14th _Car._ II. Logwood was permitted by Act of Parliament to be
imported, paying five Pounds _per_ Ton Duty; the same Act repeals two
Statutes of Queen _Elizabeth_ against Importing and Using it in Dying
here, and sets forth the Ingenuity of our Dyers, in finding out Ways to
fix the Colours made with it; and yet at the same time gave a Draw-back
of three Pounds fifteen Shillings _per_ Ton on all that should be
Exported, whereby Foreigners use it so much cheaper in their Manufactures
than ours can here; which proceeded from a too hasty making that Law, and
being advised, or rather abused, by those, who regarded more their own
Interest, than that of the Nation.
By an Act made 1 _Ja._ II. an Impost of Two Shillings and Four Pence _per
Cent._ was laid on Muscovado Sugars imported from the Plantations, to be
drawn back at Exportation; the Traders to the Plantations stirr’d in
this Matter, and set forth, That such a Duty would discourage the
Refining them here, by hindering the Exportation of refined Sugars, which
was then considerable, and carry that Manufacture to _Holland_ and
_Flanders_; but the Commissioners of the Customs prevailed against them,
and the Bill past; the fatal Consequences whereof soon appear’d; for
the Exporters of Muscavado Sugars, drawing back two Shillings and
Four-pence _per Cent._ by that Act, and Nine-pence _per Cent._ by the Act
of Tunnage and Poundage, foreign Markets were supplied with refined
Sugars from other Places cheaper, by about Twelve _per Cent._ than we
could furnish them hence, by which means we were beat out of that Trade:
and though the Duty of two Shillings and Four-pence _per Cent._ was not
continued on the Expiration of that Act, by the Parliament 2d W. and M.
(as they did the Three-pence _per_ Pound on Tobacco) the bad Effects
thereof being then apparent, yet ’tis Difficult to retrieve a lost
Trade, trading Nations being like expert Generals, who make Advantages of
the Mistakes of each other, and take care to hold what they get.
By a Statute 4th and 5th W. and M. twenty Shillings _per_ Ton was laid on
_Lapis Caliminaris_ dug here and Exported, on an Information given to the
House of Commons, that it was not to had any where else; the Merchants
concerned in exporting that Commodity, made Application, and set forth,
that such a Duty would bring in nothing to the Crown, but be a total Bar
to its Exportation; yet the Act past, and we were like to have made a
fatal Experiment; for till the Statute of the 7th and 8th of the same
King, which reduced the Duty to two Shillings _per_ Ton, the Exportation
ceased; and in the mean Time, those Places which had been discouraged
from digging, and calcining it, because we undersold them, set again to
work, and supplied the Markets where we vended ours.
What Injury was done by the Act made in the 9th and 10th W. III. for the
more effectual preventing the Importation of Foreign Bonelace, &c. doth
sufficiently appear by the Preamble of that made in the 11th and 12th of
the same Reign, for repealing it three Months after the Prohibition of
our Woollen Manufactures in _Flanders_ (which was occasioned by it)
should be there taken off; but I don’t understand that is yet done, and
it may prove an irrecoverable Loss to the Nation.
I mention these Things with great Submission to the Judgment of that
glorious Assembly, the Wisdom and Strength of the Nation; to whom I only
presume with all Humility to offer my Thoughts, that it would very much
tend to the putting Matters of Trade into a true Light before them, if
they were first referred to a Body of Men, well versed in the true
Principles thereof, and able to see through the Sophistical Arguments of
contending Parties, to be by them considered, and well digested, before
they received the Sanction of a Law.
And as to foreign Treaties; I do not think our Trade hath been so much
bettered by them as it might have been, for want of such a Committee; the
Representations made by private Merchants, (who generally differ
according as their Interests clash with each other) tending rather to
distract, than to inform the Government; which would not be, if their
first Applications were made to an experienced Committee, who had
Judgment enough to substract out of them what was proper to be offer’d;
by which means, our Demands might be rendered short and comprehensive.
We have natural Advantages in Trade above other Nations, besides the
Benefit of our Situation, the Foundation of our Woolen Manufactures being
as it were peculiar to our own Growth, and may be retained amongst
ourselves; an Advantage the _French_ have not, whose Wealth arising
chiefly from the Exportation of their Wines, Brandy, Salt, Paper, Silks,
and Linnens, both we and other Nations, have made such a Progress in them
all since the War began, as to render theirs less sought for; whereas,
nothing but our own Neglects, and ill Managements, can let our Neighbours
into our Manufactures, which we may soon put a stop to, by securing our
Wool at Home.
[Sidenote: Insurance.]
I cannot close this Discourse without speaking something of Insurance.
The first Design whereof, was to encourage the Merchants to export more
of our Product and Manufactures, when they knew how to ease themselves in
their Adventures, and to bear only such a Proportion thereof as they were
willing and able to do; but by the Irregular Practices of some Men, this
first Intention is wholly obviated; who without any Interest, have put in
early Policies, and gotten large Subscriptions on Ships, only to make
Advantage by selling them to others; and therefore have industriously
promoted false Reports, and spread Rumours, to the Prejudice of the Ships
and Masters, filling Mens Minds with Doubts, whereby the fair Trading
Merchant, when he comes to insure his Interest, either can get no one to
underwrite, or at such high Rates, that he finds it better to buy the
others Policies at advance; by this means these Stock-Jobbers of
Insurance, have, as it were, turn’d it into a Wager, to the great
Prejudice of Trade: likewise many ill-designing Men, their Policies being
over-valued, have (to the Abhorence of honest Traders, and to the Scandal
of Trade itself) contriv’d the Loss of their own Ships: On the other
Side, the Underwriters, when a Loss is ever so fairly proved, boggle in
their Payments, and force the Insured to be content with less than their
Agreements, for fear of engaging themselves in long and chargeable Suits.
Now, if the Parliament would please to take these Things into their
Consideration, they may reduce Insurance to its first Intention, by
obliging the Insured to bear such a proportionable Part of his Adventure,
(the Premio included) as to them shall seem fit, and also the Insurers,
when a Loss is fully made out, to pay their Subscriptions without
Abatement, which will prevent both; and if any Differences should arise,
to direct easy ways for adjusting them, without attending long Issues at
Law, or being bound up to such nice Rules in their Proofs, as the Affairs
of foreign Trade will not admit.
[Sidenote: Wilful casting away Ships by the Owners.]
I know, that by a Clause in a Statute made _primo Annæ_, the wilful
casting away, burning, or otherwise destroying a Ship, by any Captain,
Master, Mariner, or other Officer belonging to it, is made Felony,
without Benefit of Clergy; but that Statute is so qualify’d, that it is
difficult to convict the Offender, because the Fact must be done, to the
Prejudice of the Owner, or Owners, or of any Merchant or Merchants that
shall load Goods thereon, else he doth not come within its Penalty, so it
doth not reach the Evil I here mention, _viz._ the abominable Contrivance
of the Owners to have their own Ships destroyed, in order to make an
Advantage by their Insurances; (a Crime so black in itself, that it
cannot be mentioned without Horror.) These Men, when they frame their
dark Designs, will take Care, for the Security of those they employ, that
none besides themselves shall load Goods on the Ships they intend shall
be thus destroyed, and it cannot be supposed that they receive Prejudice
thereby themselves, so the Prosecution on that Statute is evaded; but if
the Insured were bound to make out their Interests, and to bear a
Proportionable Part of the Loss themselves, this would, as it were,
naturally prevent such scandalous Practices.
[Sidenote: Whether the Price of Labour is a Hindrance to Improvements in
our Products and Manufactures.]
Before I enter on the Business of the Poor, I will consider of a Question
that hath arrisen, and I have heard sometimes debated by Men of good
Understanding, which is, Whether the Labour of the Poor being so high,
does not hinder Improvements in our Product and Manufactures; which
having some Relation to the Subject Matter of this Discourse, I shall
offer my Thoughts thereon, with Submission to better Judgments, _viz._
That both our Product and Manufactures may be carried on to Advantage,
without running down the Labour of the Poor.
As to the first, our Product, I am of Opinion, that the running down the
Labour the Poor, is no advantage to it, nor is it the Interest of that
part of the Kingdom called _England_ to do it, nor can the People thereof
live on so low Wages as they do in other Countries; for we must consider,
that Wages must bear a Rate in all Nations according to the Price of
Provisions; where Wheat is sold for one Shilling _per_ Bushel, and all
Things suitable, a labouring Man may afford to work for Three-pence a
Day, as well as he can for Twelve-pence, where it is sold for four
Shillings; and this Price of Wheat arises chiefly from the Value of the
Land; for it cannot be imagined, that the Farmer who gives twenty
Shillings _per_ Acre, can afford it as low as he whose Lands cost him but
five Shillings _per_ Acre, and produces the same Crop, nor can Labour be
expected to be so low in such a Country, as in the other; this is the
Case of _England_, whose Lands yielding great Rents, require good Prices
for the Product; and this is the Freeholders Advantage; for supposing
Necessaries to be the Current Payment for Labour, in such Cases, whether
we call a Bushel of Wheat one Shilling, or Four Shillings, it will be all
one to him, for so much as he pays, but not for the Overplus of his Crop,
which makes a great Difference into his Pocket; you cannot fall Wages,
unless you fall Product; and if you fall Product, you must necessarily
fall Lands.
And as for the second, our Manufactures, I am of Opinion, that they may
be carried on to Advantage, without running down the Labour of the Poor;
for which I offer,
1. Observation, or Experience of what hath been done; we have and daily
do see that it is so; the Refiners of Sugars sell for Six-pence _per_
Pound, what yielded formerly Twelve-pence; the Distillers sell their
Spirits for one half of what they formerly did: Glass Bottles, Silk
Stockings, and other Manufactures (too many to be here enumerated) are
sold for not much more than half the Price they were some Years since,
without falling the Poor.
But then the Question will be, how this is done? Truly it proceeds from
the Ingenuity of the Manufacturer, and the Improvements he attains to in
the Ways of his Working: Thus the Refiners of Sugars go through that
Operation by easier Methods, and in less Time, than their Predecessors
did: Thus the Distillers draw more Spirits from the Things they work on,
than those formerly did who taught them the Art. The Glass-Maker hath
found a quicker way of making it out of Things which cost him little.
Silk Stockings are wove; Tobacco is cut by Engines; Books are printed;
Deal Boards are sawn with Mills; Lead is smelted by Wind-Furnaces; all
which save the Labour of many Hands, so the Wages of those employed need
not be fallen.
Besides which, there is a Cunning crept into Trades: The Clock-Maker hath
improved his Art to such a Degree, that Labour and Materials are the
least Part the Buyer pays for. The Variety of our Woollen Manufactures is
so pretty, that Fashion makes a Thing worth twice the Price it is sold
for after, the Humour of the Buyer carrying a great Sway in its Value.
Artificers, by Tools and Laves, fitted for different Uses, make such
Things, as would puzzle a Stander-by to set a Price on, according to the
worth of Mens Labour. The Plummer by new Inventions casts a Tun of Shot
for ten Shillings, which might seem to deserve forty.
The same Art is crept into Navigation; Freights are much fallen from what
they formerly were at, and yet Sailors Wages are still the same: Ships
are built more for Stowage, and made strong enough to be loaden between
Decks, and Voyages are performed in less Time. Wool is steved into them
by such proper Instruments, that three or four Bags are put, where one
would not else lye; Cranes and Blocks help to draw up more for one
Shilling, than Mens Labour without them would do for Five.
New Projections are every Day set on Foot to render the making our
Woollen Manufactures easy, which should be rendered cheaper by the
Contrivance of the Manufacturers, not by falling the Price of Labour:
Cheapness creates Expence, and gives fresh Employments, whereby the Poor
will be still kept at Work.
The same for our Product; Mines and Pits are drained by Engines and
Aquæducts instead of Hands: The Husbandman turns up the Ground with his
Sullow, not digs it with his Spade; covers his Grain with the Harrow, not
with the Rake; brings home his Harvest with Carts, not on Mens Backs; and
many other easier Methods are used, both for improving of Land, and
raising its Product, which lessen the Number of Labourers, and make Room
for better Wages to be given those that are employed.
Nor am I of their Opinion, who think the running down the Price of our
Growth and Product, that so they may buy Provisions cheap, an Advantage
to the inland Trade of this Kingdom, but of the contrary.
To understand this rightly, let us begin with the Shop-keeper, or Buyer
and Seller, who is the Wheel whereon the inland Trade turns, as he buys
of the Importer and Manufacturer, and sells again to the Country; suppose
this Man spends two hundred Pounds _per Annum_, in all Things necessary
for himself and Family, as Provisions, Cloaths, House-Rent, and other
Expences, the Question will be, what Part of this is laid out in Flesh,
Corn, Butter, Cheese, &c. barely considered according to their first cost
in the Market? I presume fifty or sixty Pounds _per Annum_ to be the
most, whereon the Advance to him will not be so much, by keeping up our
Product to a good Rate, as the Profits which will consequently arise in
his Trade will amount unto: For by this Means the Farmer will be enabled
to give a better Rent to his Landlord, who may then keep a more plentiful
Table, spend more Wine, Fruit, Sugar, Spices, and other Things wherewith
he is furnished from the City, suit himself and his Family oftner, and
carry on a great Splendor in every Thing; the Farmer according to his
Condition may do the same, and give higher Wages to the Labourers
imployed in Husbandry, who may then live better, and buy new Cloathes
oftner, instead of patching up old ones; by this means the Manufacturers
will be encouraged to give a better Price for Wool and Labour, when they
shall find a Vent as fast as they can make; and a Flux of Wealth causing
a Variety of Fashions, will add Wings to their Inventions, when they
shall see their Manufactures advanced in their Values by the Buyer’s
Fancy; this likewise will encourage the Merchants to encrease their
Exports, when they shall find a quick Vent for their Imports; by which
regular Circulation, Payments will be short, and all will grow rich; but
when Trade deadens in the Fountain, when the Gentlemen and the Farmers
are kept low, every one in his Order feels it: It being most certain, and
grounded on the Observation of all Men who have lookt into it, that in
those Countries where Provisions are Cheap, the People are generally
Poor, both proceeding from the want of Trade; so that he who will give a
right Judgment in this Matter, must not consider Things only as they
offer themselves at the first Sight, but as they will be in their
Consequences.
As to the other Part of _Great Britain_, called _Scotland_, I can say
little with Relation to this Matter, my Knowledge of that part of the
Kingdom being not sufficient to enable me to do it: But I am apt to
believe, that the same general Maxim must hold good there also, _viz._
That the Rates of Labour must be according to the Prices of Provisions,
and those according to the Rents of the Lands.
[Sidenote: The Poor.]
Having thus gone through the State of the Nation with respect to its
Trade, I will next consider it with respect to the Poor.
And here it cannot but seem strange, that this Kingdom, which so much
abounds in Product and Manufactures, besides the Imployment given in
Navigation, should want work for any of its People; the _Dutch_, who have
little of the two former, if compared with us, and do not exceed us in
the latter, suffer no Beggars; whereas we, whose Wealth consists in the
Labour of our Inhabitants, seem to encourage them in an idle way of
Living, contrary to their own and the Nations Interest.
The Curse under which Man first fell, was Labour; _That by the Sweat of
his Brows he should eat his Bread_: This is a state of Happiness, if
compared to that which attends Idleness: He that walks the Streets of
_London_, and observes the Fatigues used by _Beggars_, to make themselves
seem Objects of Charity, must conclude, that they take more Pains than an
honest Man doth at his Trade, and yet seem not to get Bread to eat:
Beggary is now become an Art or Mystery, to which Children are brought up
from their Cradles; any thing that may move Compassion is made a
Livelyhood, a sore Leg or Arm, or for want thereof a pretended one; the
Tricks and Devices I have observed to be used by these People, have often
made me think, that those Parts, if better employed, might be made useful
to the Nation.
Here I will consider,
1. What hath been the Cause of this Mischief of Idleness, and how it hath
crept in upon us.
2. What must be done to restrain its going farther.
3. What Methods are proper to be used, in order to make a Provision for
those who are past their Labour.
As to the first, we shall find that it hath proceeded, partly from the
Abuse of those Laws we have, and partly from want of better; Licences for
Alehouses were at first granted for good Ends, not to draw Men aside from
their Labour by Games and Sports, but to support and refresh them under
it; and as they were then a Maintainance to the Aged, so poor Families
had Opportunities of being supplied with a Cup of Ale from Abroad, who
could not keep it at Home; great Observation was also made to prevent
idle Tipling, our Fore-fathers considered, that Time so spent, was a Loss
to the Nation, whose Interest was improved by the Labour of its
Inhabitants; whereas, Alehouses are now encouraged, to promote the Income
of Excise, on whom there must be no Restraint, lest the King’s Revenue
should be lessened; thus we live by Sense, and look only at Things we
see, without revolving on what the Issue will be, not considering, that
the Labour of each Man, if well employ’d, whilst he sits in an
Ale-house, would be worth much more to the Nation, than the Excise he
pays.
But above all, our Laws to set the Poor at Work are short and Defective,
tending rather to maintain them so, then to raise them to a better way of
Living; ’tis true, those Laws design well, but consisting only in
Generals, and not reducing Things to practicable Methods, they fall short
of answering their Ends, and thereby render the Poor more bold, when they
know the Parish Officers are bound, either to provide them Work, or to
give them Maintenance.
Now, if we delighted more in the Encouraging our Manufactures, our Poor
might be better Employed, and then ’twould be a shame, for any Person
capable of Labour, to live idle; which leads me to the second
Consideration, What must be done to restrain this Habit of Idleness from
going farther.
Here I find, that nothing but good Laws can do it, such as may provide
Work for those who arc willing, and force them to work that are able; and
for this use, I think Work-houses very expedient, but they must be
founded on such Principles, as may employ the Poor, for which they must
be fitted, and the Poor for them; wherein Employments must be provided
for all sorts of People, who must also be compelled to go thither when
sent, and the Work-houses to receive them; and the Materials which seem
most proper for them are Simples, such as Wool, Hemp, Cotton, and the
like, which may either be sent in by the Manufacturers, or be bought up
on a Stock raised for that End; these will employ great Numbers, of both
Sexes, and all Ages, either by beating and fitting the Hemp, or by
dressing and spinning the Flax, or by carding and Spinning the Wool and
Cotton, of different Finenesses; and if a Reward was given to that Person
who should spin the finest Thread of either, as they do in _Ireland_ for
their Linnen, to be adjudged Yearly, and paid by the County, or by any
other manner as shall be thought fit, ’twould very much promote
Industry and Ingenuity, whilst every one being stir’d up by Ambition
and Hopes of Profit, would endeavour to exceed the rest; by which means
we should also grow more excellent in our Manufactures.
Nor should these Houses hinder any who desire to Work at Home, or the
Manufacturers from employing them, the Design being to provide Places for
those who care not to Work any where, and to make the Parish Officers
more Industrious to find them out, when they know whither to send them,
by which means they would be better able to maintain the Impotent.
It seems also convenient, that these Work-houses, when settled in Cities
and great Towns, should not be only Parochial, but one or more in each
Place, as will best suit it; which would prevent the Poors being sent
from Parish to Parish, and provided for no where; and when once the Poor
shall come by use to be in love with Labour, ’twill be strange to see
an idle Person; then they will be so far from being a Burthen to the
Nation, that they will become its Wealth, and their own Lives also will
be more comfortable to them.
There are other things which will employ the Poor besides our
Manufactures, and are also equally Beneficial to the Nation; such as
Navigation, Husbandry, and Handicrafts; here if these or such-like Rules
were observed, they might be made more advantagious to all.
As first, Let the Justices of the Peace have Power to assign Youth to
Artificers, Husbandry, Manufacturers, and Mariners, and to bind them
Apprentices for a Time certain, at such Ages as they shall think ’em
fit to go on those Employments, who should also be obliged to receive
them; and though this may at first seem hard, as hindring the Masters
from taking Servants who may bring them Money, yet after some time it
will not, when those who were so bound out themselves, shall only do for
others, what was done for them before; and this also may be now made good
to them, by such an Overplus of Years in their Apprentiships, as may be
an Equivalent to the Money.
And as for those of elder Years, who will rather Beg than Work, let them
be forced to serve the King in his Fleet, or the Merchants on board their
Ships; the Sea is very good to cure sore Legs and Arms, especially such
as are Counterfeits, against which, the Capstern, with the Taunts of the
Sailors, is a certain Remedy.
Next, for Ale-houses, Coffee-houses, and such like Employments, let them
be kept only by aged People, or such who have numerous Families.
Let Masters of Ships be obliged to carry with them some Landmen every
Voyage, which will increase our Seamen; and let the Justices have Power
to force them to receive such as are willing to enter themselves, and to
settle the Rates of their Wages.
Let young People be prohibited from Hawking about the Streets, and from
Singing Ballads; if these Things be allowed, they are fitter for Age.