But after all is done, when Money is raised with Ease and Equality to the
Subject, yet if great Care be not taken to see it well laid out, 'twill
fall short of answering the end designed; good Methods are as necessary
in this as the former, and the Nation will be more willing to give
chearfully, when it shall see the Publick Treasure managed to Advantage;
'twill be no difficult Task to make its Credit equal with private
Merchants, and its Penny pass as far, this will be done when its Payments
are as punctual; but then things must not be begun in the middle, but at
the right end; we quarrel in vain with a Collonel for not paying an
Hundred Pounds to his Regiment, when perhaps he receives but Seventy to
do it with; nor can the Captains pay their Soldiers to the full, when the
Money grows less in every Hand through which it passes; Labour is spent
to no purpose about the Conduit Pipes, when the Water stops in the
Spring; Errors in the Foundation are most fatal; when things are set
right at the Fountain Head, then 'twill be time to enquire into the
defects of the several Currents; Payments punctually made according to
agreement would encourage all Men to sell their Commodities cheap, and
put an end to the Abuses of Agents, Cloathiers of the Army, and
Ticket-Buyers, who do now prey on the Publick; the King would then have
his Money well laid out, and those who serve him be paid without dilatory
and chargeable Attendances; and when the Nation comes to be satisfied
that what Money is raised for carrying on the War is justly applyed to
its use, and managed with good Husbandry, the Parliament will give more
readily, and the People pay more chearfully; this will render his Majesty
the Terror of his Enemies, and the delight of his Friends, who will then
strive to outdo each other in their forwardness to serve him with their
Lives and Fortunes; especially when they shall see that due Care is also
taken to secure their Trade, which must enable them to pay their Taxes.
[Sidenote: Conclusion.]
And thus I have given my thoughts of these three Subjects; I shall only
add, that what I have done hath not proceeded from an Itch of Writing,
but purely from the Love I bear to my Native Country, whose Good and
Welfare I delight in, and should be glad to see it flourish and though
perhaps I may be thought mistaken in some particulars of this Discourse,
yet I believe few will disagree with me in the Foundation, that the
Interest of _England_ doth consist in Improving its _Trade_, _Product_,
and _Manufactures_; What I have imperfectly treated on I should be well
pleased to see a better Pen undertake, great things have often risen from
small Beginnings, perhaps this may stir up some abler Head (without
Reflections) to handle the Subject fuller, which, as it may be useful to
the Nation, so I should read it with great Delight for if the _Trade_ of
_England_ thrives, it answers my end, and I care not who proposes the
Methods.