negligence or misbehavior caused any hurt or damage to a person or any
other carriage or hindered free passage of any other carriage was to
forfeit up to 20s. Anyone leaving an empty cart or other obstruction on
a public highway was to forfeit up to 20s. Any cart, wagon, or carriage
driven without a person on foot or on horseback leading it had a
forfeiture up to 20s. Any driver of an empty cart, wagon, or carriage
who refused or neglected to make way for any coach or loaded cart,
wagon, or carriage was to forfeit up to 20. Any offender could be
apprehended without warrant by anyone who saw his offense, and who was
then to deliver him to a constable or other peace officer.
By 1719, the mail service was well-regulated. Letter rates within 80
miles of London were 3d. per piece of paper, then 12d. per ounce. Within
60 miles of New York City in America there were 4d. per piece of paper,
then 1s.4d. per ounce. Letters were still carried by post horses. From
London to New York, they were 1s. per piece of paper for the first three
pieces, then 4s. per ounce. In 1765, this rate was extended to all
colonial ports.
In 1754, canals began to be constructed linking the main rivers. The
barges were hauled by horses or men from the land near the river's edge.
Now goods of many inland towns cheapened and reached a national instead
of just a local market. In 1761 an almost illiterate man called James
Brindley cut the first real canal at Worsley for the Duke of
Bridgewater, who owned the coal deposits there. He kept the line of the
canal at one level to avoid having to make locks. It crossed one river
as a forty foot high aqueduct. He refused to use the beds of small
rivers, whose sluggish flow gave no adequate security against silting.
Coal at the destination point of Manchester fell to half its former
price. After Wedgwood headed a campaign to persuade Parliament to
construct a certain canal, he bought adjacent land on which he built his
great factory.
In 1713, the maximum interest rate that could be charged was reduced to
5% for the advancement of trade and improvement of lands because that
rate was the norm in foreign lands. Thus the maximum interest rate fell
from 10 to 8 to 6 and then to 5%. When Issac Newton was Master of the
Mint, he noted that too restricted a currency caused a high interest
rate to prevail, which was bad for commerce and the plans to set the
poor to work, but that too large a quantity of money in circulation
caused interest rates to fall, which encouraged luxury imports and the
export of bullion.
The Bank of England provided a safer deposit and lower interest than
goldsmiths or scriveners. It also issued notes for 10 and 15 (since
1759), and 20 pounds. Outside retail trade and wages payments, business
was conducted on a credit basis with a paper promise to pay at some
future date. Check use was still formal and rare. Tradesmen typically
authorized their apprentices to "write off or draw" from their accounts,
bringing their bank books. Depositors authorized other people such as
certain servants, relatives, cashiers, or company secretaries to make
use of their accounts. After 1721, the Bank dividend was about 6% a
year.
Promissory notes were assignable and endorsable and the holder could
recover against the signer or any endorser as was the case with bills of
exchange. In 1775, no more promissory or other notes, bills of exchange,
draughts, or undertakings in writing and being negotiable or
transferable could be made for under 20s., because it was hard for the
poorer sort of manufacturer, artificer, laborer and others to use them
without being subject to great extortion and abuse. Cash was to be used
instead.
By 1711, government finances had become so chaotic that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer sought to re-establish public credit by means of a
chartered commercial company, the shares of which were offered in
substitution for government stock. This South Sea Company was
established in 1711 with a monopoly to trade in South America. The
prospects of huge profits sent the share prices soaring. There was also
an increase in the money supply. These factors led to a speculation
bubble in 1720 in this stock. Also, many stock-jobbers promoted
companies of every description, such as one to extract gold from
seawater. There was an insurance boom with about seventy insurance
companies in existence, many virtually gambling in life contingencies.
There was speculation in insurance for all types of occurrences, such as
housebreaking, highway robbery, death by gin-drinking, and horses
becoming disabled. The total capital invested in all these enterprises
rose to over five times the cash resources of all Europe. When the
bubble burst, 100 pound South Sea stock had gone up to 1050 pounds and
back down again to 120. Since the government had in effect bought this
stock at a low price and paid off its debt with this stock at a high
price, this bubble relieved the government of much of its massive debt.
It also redistributed wealth. After the bubble burst, investors took
refuge in investing in 3-4% government fixed-interest securities. A
result of this bubble burst was the chartering of two corporations for
marine insurance and prohibition of such by any partnership or firm.
Private persons could continue to write policies, and they chose Lloyd's
Coffeehouse as their headquarters; it came to dominate the world of
marine insurance after the two chartered companies came to concentrate
on fire and life insurance. Lloyd's list became the foundation for a new
newspaper. There were specialty boxes at Lloyd's such as on America or
the Baltic. Many ships were reported captured by enemies or pirates, but
underwriting insurance was a lucrative business for many.
In 1717 the gold guinea was assigned a value of 21s. In 1774, the gold
standard was introduced. In 1774, clipped and deficient gold coin was
called in to be exchanged for new coin.
Local taxes were collected for the church, the poor, county courts of
justice, borough administration, and highways. National taxes included
the income, customs, and excise taxes. When the government tried to levy
excise taxes on wine, tobacco, and then on cider, there was a public
protest with mobs demonstrating against the power given to excise
inspectors to search in people's homes. These excise taxes were no
longer levied.
Duties were placed on items for encouraging industries within the
country and to pay the expenses of government. There were more and
higher duties to pay for war. At various times there were duties on
hides, skins, seal skins, gilt and silver wire, malt, mum [strong beer
made from malted wheat], cider, perry, spices, tea, coffee, cocoa nuts,
chocolate, cocoa paste, snuff, chinaware, drugs, calicoes, herrings,
apples, oysters, raw Italian and Chinese silk, gum arabic, gum senega,
tallow, hogs-lard, grease, beaver skins and wool, imported brandy,
raisins, coals and coal dust, coaches for one's own use or for hire,
except licensed hackney coaches; silver plate owned by persons,
corporations, and bodies politic; leases, bonds, and other deeds;
licenses for retailing wine, beer, and ale; 5% of salaries, fees, and
perquisites from office and employments including royal pensions and
gratuities over 100 pounds. When the price of wheat was high, as in
1765, when it was 6s. per bushel, wheat products could not be exported.
At other times, they could not be imported. Duties on imported wheat,
barley, rye, oats, beans, rice, Indian corn were also dropped. The
prohibition of importing salted beef, pork, bacon, and butter was
dropped. In 1770, no live cattle, pigs, mutton, pork, beef, either fresh
or salted could be exported or forfeit 50 pounds for every such animal
or 5s. per pound of such meat. In 1773, peas, beans, bacon, hams, and
cheese could be imported duty free, and in 1775 Labrador codfish. In
1775, raw goat skins could be imported duty-free to improve the domestic
manufacture of red, green, and blue leather.
In 1773, there were given costs above which various commodities could
not be exported: wheat at 44s. per quarter, rye, peas, or beans at 28s.,
barley and beer at 22s., oats at 14s. or else forfeit the goods, 20s.
per bushel and the ship or boat in which laden. (There are 8 bushes in a
quarter.)
A window tax replaced the hearth tax. These duties were 2s. on dwelling
houses, increased by 6d. per window for houses with 10-14 windows, and
increased by 9d. per window for houses with 15-19 windows, and increased
by 1s. per window for houses with 20 or more windows, per year to be
paid by the occupant. These were increased three more times, until the
dwelling house duty was 3s. and the duty for 25 or more windows was 2s.
Another duty for war was that on imported starch, certain imported
clothes, cards, dice, soap, vellum, parchment, and paper made in the
realm (4d.-1s.6d. per ream depending on quality) or imported (1-16s. per
ream). For pamphlets and newspapers made in the realm there was a duty
of 2d. per sheet and 12d. for every advertisement. When the duty was
paid, the paper was stamped. The penalty for nonpayment was 10 pounds
for sellers and 5 pounds for those writing or printing on the paper.
Later, there was a penalty of imprisonment in a House of Correction up
to three months for sellers or hawkers of pamphlets or newspapers, and
the apprehender received a reward of 20s. A parson marrying a couple
without publishing banns or license could forfeit 100 pounds.
Not paying duties was punishable by various forfeitures of money.
Officers for duties could search warehouses on suspicion of concealment
of coffee, tea, chocolate, or cocoa beans with an intent to avoid duties
after making an oath before a duty commissioner or Justice of the Peace
setting forth the grounds of such suspicion. A special warrant could be
issued authorizing the officer to seize such goods.
Wars were funded not only by some duties, but by lotteries and
short-term funding purchased at 5% yearly interest from the Bank of
England and by long-term funding by the sale of annuities.
County militias could be raised and called out to march together in
order to be better prepared to suppress insurrections or invasions.
Their horsemen were to be provided with broad sword, a case of pistols
with 12 inch barrels, a carabine with belt and bucket, a saddle, and a
bit and bridle. Each foot soldier was to be provided with a bayonet, a
cartouch-box, and a sword. In the militia act of 1757, there were quotas
for each parish, to be chosen by lot from lists of men 18-50 years old.
After militia service for three years, one could not be called again
until by rotation, and, if married, he was allowed to practice any trade
in which he was able in any town or place. While he was in the militia,
his parish had to pay an allowance to his family, if distressed, the
usual price of an agricultural laborer, according to the number and ages
of the children. Quakers could provide a substitute or pay money to
defray expenses of a substitute for three years. Exempt were peers,
commissioned officers in royal army or royal castle, other military
personnel, members of either university, clergymen, teachers of any
separate congregation, constables and peace officers, and watermen of
the Thames River.
This militia act was due to an invasion scare in 1756 because Great
Britain then had no allies on the continent. The old strategy of
maintaining a small army of 17,000 men and relying on volunteers had
really depended on England's allies to tie down France's land forces.
The militia act of 1757 was designed to reassure squires they would not
be used as adjuncts to the army. Only those with much property could be
officers. Enlistees could still carry on their trades and jobs. Costs
were to be from general taxation rather than by locality. But it was
almost impossible to get officers and there were many riots when parish
authorities tried to draw up lists of those liable to serve. In 1759 the
navy prevented French invasion.
Able-bodied men without a calling, employment, or visible means of
maintenance or livelihood could be searched for and conscripted into the
army. Volunteers who enlisted were paid 40s. and were not taken out of
her majesty's service by any process other than for some criminal
matter. King George II was the last king to lead his troops into battle.
Later, parishes were given 20s. for every soldier they summoned. Also,
persons who had a vote for member of Parliament were exempted.
Whipping was the usual punishment for offenses. A soldier who deserted
or joined in any mutiny or sedition in the royal army within the realm
was to suffer death or any other punishment determined by court martial.
In 1760, a soldier (later, or a marine) who slept at his post, left his
post before being relieved, communicated with any rebel or enemy, struck
or disobeyed any superior officer could suffer death, including those
soldiers in America.
During war, chief officers of towns quartered and billeted royal army
officers and soldiers in inns, livery stables, alehouses, and victualing
houses for 4d. a day, but not in any private house without consent of
the owner. From 1714 to 1739, the army regiments were split up and
scattered among the ale-houses of small towns for maintenance; this was
to disperse the soldiers. It was easier to count them, thereby keeping a
check on their number, which might be exaggerated if they were in large
groups in barracks. The towns protested having to maintain soldiers and
town magistrates imposed severe penalties for small offenses by
soldiers. Their drunkenness and violence were not tolerated as they were
for ordinary people. Their officers not being with them, the soldiers
retaliated with troublesomeness. As of 1763 English troops could be
quartered in unoccupied houses or barns and supplied with necessities
such as bedding, firewood, candles, vinegar, salt, cooking utensils, and
beer or cider. The Royal Hospital gave pensions to maimed and worn out
soldiers treated there.
Sailors had more status than soldiers because they had regular work as
seamen in times of peace and they did not remind the people of the idea
of a standing army, which they had hated especially since Cromwell.
Justices of the Peace, mayors, and other officers could bind boys as
apprentices to sea service if they were at least ten and their parents
were chargeable to the parish or begged for alms. This indenture to the
masters or owners of ships lasted until the boy reached 21. The boy's
parish paid 50s. for clothing and bedding for such sea service. No such
apprentice could be impressed into the navy until at least 18 years of
age. Master and owners of ships that carried 30-50 tuns had to take one
such apprentice and one more boy for the next 50 tuns, and one more boy
for every 100 tuns over 100 tuns, or else forfeit 10 pounds to the boy's
parish. Boys voluntarily binding themselves to such sea service were
exempt from impressment for the next three years. This was to increase
the number of able and experience mariners and seamen for the navy and
for the trade and commerce of the nation.
No masters or commanders of merchant ships were to proceed on a voyage
beyond the seas without first agreeing in writing on wages with the
seamen, except for apprentices. Such agreement had to be signed by the
seamen. Offenders were to forfeit 5 pounds per seaman, which sum went to
the use of Greenwich Hospital. Any seaman leaving the ship before being
discharged in writing was to forfeit one month's pay because too many
left the ship before it was unladen.
There were some ships of 2000 tons. The steering wheel had been
introduced because a sudden heavy sea could wrest a tiller from the
hands of a helmsman. Triangular head-sails with jib boom and stay-sails
on stays between masts were in use so that ships could sail closer into
the wind. The length of ships was still determined by the same length of
trees that could be grown. Sailing ships were still vulnerable to a lee
shore. Latitude was easy to determine using the reflecting octant
invented by John Hadley in 1731, and a sextant invented in 1757, with
mirrors and a small telescope to measure the angle between a celestial
body such as the sun or north star and the horizon. But longitude could
not be determined with any degree of accuracy. One method relied on
accurate predictions of the future position of the moon as observed from
a fixed reference point, such as Greenwich. By precisely observing the
local time of the moon's occultation of a known star at a particular
place, and looking up in a table the predicted time of the event at
Greenwich, one could approximate the time difference of the place from
Greenwich. There were so many shipwrecks on this account that the
government offered a reward to anyone who found a way to measure
longitude accurately. In 1763 carpenter and clockmaker John Harrison
made the chronometer to do this with an accuracy of 2 1/2 seconds per
month, and received 5,000 pounds. He was promised 10,000 pounds to
explain the principle of his timekeeper and build three more. The
chronometer kept time with extreme accuracy and was mounted to remove
the effect of the ship's motion. To find a ship's position, a navigator
noted the time and measured the positions of certain stars. He compared
these positions with tables that showed the stars' positions at
Greenwich mean time, and then calculated the ship's position.
Officer positions were no longer bought, but were subject to
examination for a minimum of knowledge, especially in navigation. In
1729 the Naval Academy was established. Boys entered at age 13 to 16 and
spent two or three years there.
Only about 15% of the crew of navy ships were volunteers. Many were
gaolbirds, having chosen the Navy over more gaol time for debt. Press
gangs seized men in the port towns and from ships coming into harbor.
>From 10% to 20% of the crew were foreigners, many of these pressed men.
About 1756, the Marine Society was founded for training and placing poor
boys in work in naval and merchant ships. This not only supplied men and
boys for the Navy, but saved boys from a life of vagrancy and crime.
These boys usually became reliable and obedient sailors.
The life of a sailor was a hard one, requiring much strength. Sailors
did not know how to swim, so falling overboard usually meant death.
Flogging was the usual punishment in the Navy, even for small offenses.
The amount of flogging due for each offense rose over time. If flogging
were fatal, there would be an inquiry and occasionally punishment. A
sailor's meals were usually hard bread invested with weevils and
maggots, dried or salted meat or fish, and small quantities of oatmeal,
butter, and cheese. Many sailors had scurvy or other deficiency
diseases. Experiments with lime and lemon juice as remedies for scurvy
were made around 1764, but were not used in the Navy until about 1800.
Many more sailors died from these diseases than from battle. Rum and
water was a daily ration introduced in 1745. The ordinary sailor was
paid about one pound a month, a rate established in 1650s which became
outdated. This was not in cash, but in a ticket which entitled him to
payment in full if he presented it at the pay office in London, but was
subject to swinging deductions if he tried to cash it in another port.
Prize money from conquered ships was substantial. To encourage seamen
to enter the navy, Parliament provided that the prizes be divided among
flag officers, commanders, other officers, seamen, marines, and soldiers
on board every ship of war, including private ships commissioned by the
Admiral, as directed by the king, or as agreed with the owner of a
private ship. It included an enemy's ships, and goods and arms on the
ships or in fortresses on the land. There was also bounty money for
enemy ships taken or destroyed. For retaking or salvaging English goods
taken by the enemy, 1/8th their value was paid. Privateers colluding
with others to fraudulently take their merchant ships forfeited their
ships, with 1/3rd going to the person who made the discovery and
prosecuted.
Later, any able seaman volunteering for the navy was to receive 5
pounds bounty. Any seaman volunteering for the navy was to receive a
bounty of 3 pounds. If a navy seaman was killed or drowned, his widow
was to receive a year's pay as bounty. No seaman in a merchant ship was
to receive more than 35s. per month because of war at that time.
Still later, anyone who ran goods or avoided customs was excused and
indemnified if he enlisted in the navy as a common sailor for three
years.
Those under 18 or over 55 were made exempt from impressment into the
king's service. The time of service was limited to five years if the
serviceman so demanded. Worn out and decrepit seamen no longer being
treated at the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich received a pension
as determined by the hospital.
In war, the Navy favored blockading tactics over attack by fireships,
which grew obsolete. In peace, when not used in convoys to remote lands,
many ships of war were used as cruisers to guard the coast, to trade,
and to accompany merchant ships going out and returning home. About
1755, marine forces of the navy were raised and quartered on shore.
No war ship could carry goods except gold, silver, and jewels and
except the goods of a ship in danger of shipwreck or already
shipwrecked.
The king was authorized to prohibit the export of gunpowder, saltpeter,
ammunition, and arms.
When a ship had been forced on shore or stranded on the coast, it had
been the practice for people to plunder it and to demand high payment
for salvaging its goods. So a statute required that salvage only be done
by sheriff, mayors, and other officials. A person who defaced the marks
on goods or hindered the saving of the ship had to pay double
satisfaction to the person aggrieved and spend 12 months at hard labor
in a House of Correction. If a person unduly carried off goods, he
forfeited treble damages. If he made a hole in the ship or stole the
pump from the ship, he was guilty of felony without benefit of clergy.
The owner of the island of Skerries was allowed to erect a lighthouse
and charge passing ships other than Navy ships 1d. per tun.
Only pilots examined and admitted into the society of pilots and, if no
such pilot was readily available, a ship's own owner, master, or mate
could pilot ships up the Thames River, or else forfeit 10 pounds for the
first offense, 20 pounds for the second, and 40 pounds thereafter. Any
pilot losing a ship could no longer be a pilot. There had to be at least
120 qualified pilots. The prices of piloting were 3 pounds 10s. for
ships drawing 7 feet of water, and 10s. more for each additional foot
drawn up to 8 pounds 10s. for ships drawing 17 feet of water.
To preserve navigation, ships were not to throw any ballast, filth,
rubbish, gravel, earth, stone, or filth into rivers or ports where the
tide or water flowed or ran or else forfeit 50s.- 5 pounds. Ships on the
Thames River could take as ballast to stabilize a ship without cargo:
dung, compost, earth, or soil from laystalls in London. There was a toll
on ships entering the port of London to pay for repairs to its walls.
Many persons insuring ships for large premiums became bankrupt, thus
ruining or impoverishing many merchants and traders. So the king was
authorized to grant charters to two distinct corporations for the
insurance of ships, goods, and merchandise or going to sea or for
lending money upon bottomry [borrowing money and and pledging the ship
as security]. Each corporation had to pay 300,000 pounds to the
Exchequer and to have sufficient ready money to pay for losses insured
by them. They were to raise capital stock and could make calls of money
from their members in proportion to their stocks for any further money
required.
Any owner, master, or mariner who cast away, burned, or otherwise
destroyed a ship to the prejudice of underwriters of policies of
insurance or of any merchants whose goods have been loaded on the ship
was to suffer death.
The owners of ships were not liable for losses by reason of theft
without their knowledge by the master or mariners of goods beyond the
value of the ship. This was to prevent the discouragement of owning
ships.