A DISCOURSE Concerning the TRADE OF IRELAND and SCOTLAND, As they stand in Competition with Trade of England, Being taken out of An ESSAY on TRADE.  
Written by Mr. John Cary, Merchant in Bristol,  
And Printed at Bristol, Anno 1695.  
Reprinted at London, 1696.   

A Discourse concerning Ireland and Scotland, showing how the Trade of those Kingdoms may be made more Profitable to England; being taken out of an Essay on Trade.  
IRELAND, 
Ireland.  of all the Plantations settled by the English hath proved most injurious to the Trade of this Kingdom, and so far from answering the ends of a Colony, that it doth wholly violate them; for if People be the Wealth of a Nation, then 'tis certain, that a bare parting with any of them cannot be its Advantage, unless accompanied with Circumstances whereby they may be rendered more useful both to themselves, and also to those they left behind them, else so far as you deprive it of such who should consume its Product and improve its Manufactures you lessen its true Interest, especially when that Colony sets up a separate, and not only provides sufficient of both for its self, but by the Overplus supplies other Markets, and thereby lessens its Sales abroad; This to a Kingdom so much made up of Manufactures as England is, must needs be attended with great Disadvantages, and yet to maintain a good Correspondence with Ireland is very convenient. I shall therefore consider what Topics may be laid down as general Rules for the Advantage of the former, and best agreeable with the true Interest of the latter.  
It was a Question once put by Pilate, what is Truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, etc. which Question seems to me rather to arise from a Perturbation in his own Mind, occasioned by the (fluctuating of several Interests, than from any Desire he had to receive an Answer, for we do not find he stayed to expect it; and the Consequence showed 'twas so, for his being willing to do the Jews A Pleasure, and fearing lest he should not be accounted a Friend to Caesar, made him pass Sentence against his Judgement on an innocent Person of whom he confessed, he found no fault in him; Interest doth generally bias our Judgements in such a manner, that the very supposing a thing to be so, makes us uneasy under any Discourse that persuades only to inquire into it; but Truth is the same still, and the easiest way to discover it, is by walking in the Paths of Plainness; Falsehood wants Sophistry to lacker and set it off, therefore Men usually represent their private Interests under the Name of a public Good, and thereby endeavour to gild the Pill they would have go down.  
The Heads I shall proceed on are these two. 

1. To show that Ireland, as things now stand, is very destructive to to the Interest of England.  
2. That the Methods which may be used to render it more serviceable to the Interest of this Nation, will also render it more serviceable to its own.    
These are plain Propositions, understood by every Man, and I hope to make them out with the same plainness.  
1. As to the first, that Ireland is now destructive to the Interest of England, I think it will for as long as that People enjoy so free and open a Trade to Foreign Parts, and thereby are encouraged to advance in their Woollen Manufactures, they must consequently lessen ours, than which they cannot do us a greater Mischief, being the Tools whereon we trade, when they sink, our Navigation sinks with them.  
Now the Advantage Ireland hath above England in making the Woollen Manufactures, will soon give them opportunities of outdoing us therein, first as it produces as good, or rather better Wool, and next as it furnishes all Provisions cheaper to the Workmen, which renders them able to live on easier Terms than ours can here, and this will in short time give Invitation for many more to remove thither.  
2. But 'tis the second Proposition which will not be so easily allowed; how the true Interest of Ireland will be advanced by such means as shall be used to promote that of England.  
Here we must consider, what is the true Interest of Ireland, and wherein it doth consist? Whither in Trade and Manufactures, or in Improvement of its Lands by a good Settlement? And I doubt not but on a strict Scrutiny it will appear to be the latter; for indeed till that is made, no Trade can be serviceable to any People farther than it doth help towards it; Nor is it the Advantage of an ill-peopled Colony whose Riches are to be the Fruits of the Earth to divert any number of the Inhabitants from its Cultivation, whilst they can find Vent for their Product, and be supplied with Conveniences another way; had our American Plantations done so, they had never been well settled, but much more of their Lands at this time unimproved; and this I take to be one great Reason why the English in Ireland have always lain open to the Insults of the Natives there, the Country being slenderly Peopled in the more inland Parts; if so, then certainly whatever hinders the Peopling, and consequently the cultivating and improving the Lands of Ireland, doth so far hinder the advancing its true Interest.  
Now nothing doth this more than Trade abroad, and Manufactures at home. 

1. As they divert great Numbers of People which cannot be spared from Husbandry.  
2. As they so far lessen the Strength and Security of that Island.    
The true Interest then of Ireland being Husbandry, Trade and Manufactures stand diametrically opposite thereto; for Trade being of itself less laborious, and the Poor maintained thereby living more easy than such as are employed in the Field, doth invite them rather to settle in that way than the other; this is the reason why such Multitudes of People daily flock into Cities from the Country, if they have either Encouragement themselves, or can foresee any for their Children, whereas few withdraw from Trade to the Labour of a Country Life; of this we have an eminent Example in New-England, which tho' it was the first peopled, and by its Trade hath drawn thither great Numbers of Inhabitants, yet that large Colony hath not cultivated so much Ground, as far less Numbers have in other Plantations much later settled; for whereas in them the Product was thought to be their Wealth, and therefore the Setlers dispersed themselves, and with all the Assistance they could get endeavoured to clear and fit the Ground for breaking up, these took another Course, and by keeping together, chose rather to live on Buying and Selling, by which means their Improvements are very small, and their Product of no value suitable to their Numbers, so that it seems at present rather a Magazine of Trade, their chief Employment being to supply the other American Plantations with Fish catched on the Coasts, and some other things raised near the Sea side, and in Returns bring thence the Commodities of their Growth, which they again barter with us, or Ship to Markets themselves; and here it is to be noted, that the great Balance of their Trade is Ships, (which having plenty of Timber) they build on reasonable Rates, either for Sale, or to be employed for transporting their own Commodities, which being generally bulky, such as Timber, Mackrill, Bread, Horses, for the Plantations, and Codfish for Europe, great part of their value arises from their Freights; This was indeed their oversight at first, and now scarce to be retrieved; for had they then began with Planting, and followed that closely for some time, they might in all probability long since have made themselves Masters of a greater Product, which would have laid the Foundations of a much larger Trade both to Europe and other places in America; they are indeed a thrifty sort of People, but want Commodities of their own Product, and the Profits of a Nations Trade being very much limited according to that, if the Parliament should think fit by new Laws to hinder the Freedom they now enjoy in our American Plantations (which I judge absolutely necessary, because so much abused by their carrying those Commodities to Foreign Markets without touching first in England, to the lessening our Customs, and discouraging our Merchants here) their Trade must sink, and they see their errer too late.  
2. And as Foreign Trade and Manufactures lessen the Number of Husbandmen in Ireland, so secondly it lessens the Strength and Security of that Island, which lies in a good Number of hardy People, enured to Labour, who with it defend their own Interests, and cannot departed thence without leaving their All; whereas Merchants and Traders being but Temporary Residents, may and often do leave a place when it most requires their stay for its Defence; an Instance of this we had lately, when the trading part of the Inhabitants thereof, who could remove their effects left it soon, whilst the Men of Land came more uneasily away, because they left their Estates behind them, and had no Methods of maintaining themselves in England, but by living on what they brought with them, whereas the others soon fell into Trade here, and tho' they changed the place, were still in their Employments; now the Security of the Freeholders' of Ireland, is to engage as many as they can in the same Interest with themselves, which may be done by dividing the Lands into particular Farms, in bigness suitable to the Stocks of such as undertake them; by this means they fix their roots in the Ground, and bind them with a Band of Iron; nor would many of their People (if Trade were discouraged) return to England again, but employ themselves and their Stocks in improving such Farms as they should purchase either for Lives or Years at easy Rents, or making themselves Freeholders.  
And as the security of Ireland is lessened at Land by Trade, so likewise at Sea, for which they depend on the Kingdom of England; now can it be thought this Nation will be at continual charges only to raise a People which shall vie with them in their Trade? Or that we can be able to do it when our Navigation decays? which it must do as the others increases, who afford us few Sailors towards Manning our Fleet, whilst our own are harassed by continual Presses; for let them be sure if the French King could have marched an Army thither as easy as he could to Flanders, the Lands of Ireland might long since have had other Landlords, maugre all the defence they, could have made.  
Nor does the profit of this Trade and Manufacture redound to the Freeholders', but only to the Traders, who as I hinted before, are a separate Interest, and remove at their Pleasures.  
But if the People of Ireland think England is bound to defend them against a Foreign Invasion, an Account of its own Interest and Security, they must be allowed to be in the right; yet let them consider also that we have power to limit their Trade, so as it may be least Prejudicial to our own, which in my Judgement cannot better be done, than by reducing that Kingdom to the State of our other Plantations, confining the Exportation of their Product only hither, and that also unmanufactured, and preventing their being supplied with Necessaries from other Nations; this will make Ireland profitable to England, and in some measure recompense the vast Charges we have been at for its Reduction and Delivery out of the Hands of foreign Powers and Popish Cutthroats, and that not less than twice in Forty Years, all paid by the People of England, a Guess whereat may be made by this, that the last cost, above Three Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds only in Transport Ships, for which we now pay Interest; and if the Charge of Transporting our Army thither, with their Provisions and Ammunition cost so much, what did the pay of the first, and purchase of the latter amount unto? Now 'tis very reasonable, the Nation should some way or other receive Satisfaction for its Expenses, and none seems more just and equal than this, which would only limit the Profits of a few Merchants, who carry on a Trade to the Prejudice of England; As for the Free Holder's, they would be supplied with Necessaries on as cheap Terms as now, and find Chapmen for their Product, which would be bought up by Factories settled from England, or they might send them hither themselves if they thought fit, and by this means all would be manufactured here, and Foreign Markets must be supplied hence as they are now thence.  
This is the way to prevent Transporting their Wool for other places to the prejudice of our Manufactures, and importing Tobacco with other of our Plantation Commodities directly thence, to the prejudice of our Customs and Merchants; this also would employ our Navigation, and by its short Voyages make Multitudes of Seamen; in short, we cannot imagine the Advantages it would bring to this Kingdom till Experience hath showed us.  
But then the Act of Prohibition must be repealed, there must be free Liberty to bring in Cattle both alive and dead, and all things else which that Land produces; and here I must again renew the Question, What is Truth? 'Twill be as difficult to persuade the Gentlemen of England that this is their true Interest, as it is those of Ireland that theirs does not consist in Trade and Manufactures, one being byassed by the breeding part of this Nation, as the others are by their Merchants, who represent their private Profits as the Nations; and it is not to be wondered they have Success therein, when it carries so much the Face of a present Advantage; but that the Gentlemen of England should be still fond of that Act after so many years smarting under it seems to me very strange than which I know no Law in my time hath been more perniceous to the Traffic of this Kingdom; 'twas this first put those of Ireland on that Trade which hath since almost cat out ours; 'twas this set them on Manufactures, which were so far advanced before the late Troubles, that the Sales of one Market, as I have been informed, came to a Thousand Pounds per Week; for so long as they had Liberty of importing their Product hither, and found a constant Sale when imported, they were contented therewith, but being put on a necessity of finding out Foreign Markets for their Previsions, this made their Merchants (who were before generally Factors to those of England, and are, to give them their due, an ingenious prying People) dive deeper, and since we refused to take the Flesh, they chose to keep the Fleece, and either to Ship it to Foreign Countries where 'twould yield a greater Price, or by a Manufacture to render it fit for those Markets wherein they vended the other; 'Twas this that hath produced such great Quantities of Wool in Ireland, as have at least equalled if not exceeded England, for the greatest part of the Lands of that Kingdom by reason of the thinness of its Inhabitants, being turned rather to Pasture than Tillage, and this Prohibition discouraging the raising black Cattle, put the People on stocking them with She●p; which Overplus would again decrease, if Ireland becoming better peopled in its Inland Parts by laying aside Trade fell more on Tillage, or by repealing this Act the Inhabitants received Encouragement to betake themselves again to breeding black Cattle; now if it be true that not the quantity of a Commodity at Market, but the Demand when there, makes it bear a Price, it will appear that the Makers of that Law were out in their Politics, by not considering that the Product of Ireland must be consumed somewhere and if sent to Foreign parts formerly supplied hence 'twould abate the Exportation of ours, the Consequence whereof would be the lessening of their Expense abroad more than it was increased at home; nor did they at the same time take care to put us on any Footing equal with the others, by Abatement in the Customs on Exportation, and thereby enabling the Merchants of England to sell suitably with those of Ireland, but still continued Three Shillings per Barrel on Beef, and Four on Pork, whilst the others paid much less there, the same on Butter, Bread, Flower and other Provisions, so that a Slander by would have thought this Law had been contrived for the Advantage of Ireland; all which proceeded from the mistaken Interest of one part of the Kingdom, which (were it true) ought not to prevail to the Detriment of a National Trade, and the true Interest of the Remainder.  
Nor will it be reasonable unless this Liberty be given to bind up Ireland from a Foreign Trade, and consequently to confide the Consumption of its Product to a Home Expense, except what we shall occasionally fetch from them to carry abroad: This, as it will discourage the Freeholders' there, so will it Industry here, and the Trade must be managed by great Funds, small Stocks not being able to engage in transporting the Commodities they receive in barter to Foreign Markets, which they might in bringing them to England, being a shorter Voyage; and so consequently the Product of Ireland would have more Buyers, and the Inhabitants be supplied with Necessaries on cheaper Terms by this free Trade, than when their whole Dependence should be on those Monopolizers.  
The next Question will be, what Effect the taking off this Prohibition will have on our native Product? Wither it will lessen its Consumption? I am of Opinion it will not, because our Exports must be increased as theirs from Ireland are lessened, unless we do imagine Foreign Markets will not consume the same Quantities they did before, or will find out new ways to be supplied with them from other Places; besides, by how much more Charges are added to the Products of Ireland (as those of Freight and other petty Expenses on such bulky Commodities will be, if brought hither) so much will ours be put on the same Footing with them, and bear a better Price.  
It's well known that the exporting our Wool to Foreign Markets hath, by the ill Consequences thereof, abated its Price at Home; This hath been observed by Calculations made by considering Men, and the Reason was, because those Countries were thereby enabled to work up much larger Quantities of their own into various sorts of Manufactures, which both fitted their occasions at home, and supplied Markets abroad where we generally vended ours; by this means our Sales growing slack, and finding new Competitors in our Trade, we were forced to sell our Manufactures cheap, and this was done by making of them slighter, and by lessening the Prices both of Wool and Labour; whereas, had we kept our Wool at home, these Mischiefs had been prevented, and the French and other Nations could not have made such a Progress in Manufactures as they have done; their Wool being unfit to be wrought up by its self (unless mixed with English or Irish) must have sought a Market here, and been returned again to them in Manufactures, which is the true way to enrich this Kingdom; this would have drawn over great Numbers of People to be employed in the Clothing Trade, who would likewise have consumed our Product; and as these had increased so also had their Employment, which would have kept up the price of Wool, things being of value in Markets according as they are supplied by Nations standing in Competition for Trade, and it must be allowed that it was not the Interest of England to fall its Manufactures abroad, had we been the only Sellers; for according as they yielded there, so much is the Wealth of this Nation advanced: This our Forefathers knew when they made Laws not only to prohibit the Exportation of Wool hence, but also from Ireland, which Laws cannot be too strong, on whose due Observation depends our Wealth or Ruin; now if the Tra of Ireland was reduced to that of our other Colonies, and the same care taken about the Commodities of its growth, our danger from that Kingdom in Relation to this, would be at an end, when Methods may also be used to prevent its being exported hence.  
Nor is there any Reason to be offered why Ireland should have greater Liberty than our other Plantations, the Inhabitants whereof have an equal Desire to a free Trade, forgetting that the first design of their Settlement was to advance the Interest of England, against whom no Arguments can be used, which will not equally hold good against Ireland.  
1. As it was settled by Colonies spared from England.  
2. As it hath been still supported and defended at the Charge of England.  
3. As it hath received equal Advantages with the other Plantations from the Expense England hath been at in carrying on Wars abroad and Revolutions at home; and on this last there is greater Reason against Ireland than any of the rest, we have lately paid more Money for the Purchase of that Trade than the Profits thereof may bring to us and our Posterities for many Generations; so that 'twould be a piece of great Ingratitude for the Freeholders' of Ireland unwillingly to submit to any thing whereby the Interest of England may be advanced, to the Inhabitants whereof they are indebted for their Lands, who have laid down their Lives, and spent their Treasures to reinstate them in their Possessions.  
As for Corn, Fish, and Horses, whether a Liberty may not be allowed to transport them thence direct for other Markets on Ships, first entering here in England is a point worth serious Consideration.  
But the main objection as to England is yet behind, a great part of the Gentlemen of this Kingdom thinking it will sink the Rents of their Lands if Irish Cattle are admitted to be brought over alive, others, that the Importation of Provisions thence will fall the price of our own; and though in the former they do not so generally agree, differing according as their Lands are situated, and proper for breeding or seeding; yet in the latter they more unanimously consent, and cry out, This is the great Diana of the Ephesians, the less Provisions are brought in, the more of our own will be expended; whereas, if they did impartially consider, they would find it an empty Idol; nothing will advance their Lands like Trade and Manufactures, therefore whatever turns the Stream of these elsewhere lessens the Number of Inhabitants who should consume their Provisions, and when those increases so do the others, which (besides a home Consumption by People engaged in Employments distinct from Husbandry) doth always invite many Foreigners hither, who being temporary Residents, spend our Product, it being a sure Maxim, that where the Carcase is, there will the Eagles be gathered together.  
Besides, when the Irish Provisions are brought hither ' those Markets which were supplied with them thence before, will then have them hence, tho' perhaps at dearer Rates, and with them great Quantities of our own: No Man can imagine what Expense there would be of English Cattle were we once fallen into the Trade of making Provisions here, England as well in its Beef as Manufactures exceeding all other Countries, with this farther Advantage, that the former for Goodness and Price cannot be supplied from any other place save Ireland; nor do I suppose it so much the Interest of this Kingdom when Provisions are advanced only by a Home Expense, as when 'tis done by a Foreign Export, the first makes particular Men grow Rich, by preying on their Neighbours, but the Nation grows Rich by the latter, when we vend them abroad at good Prices; nor would our Plantations, which now take off the greatest part of the Cattle slaughtered in Ireland spend one Barrel less, if killed here.  
All Trade had a beginning, occasioned by some lucky Accident which put People on new Projects, and why England, which hath so many Plantations depending on it, should suspect a Consumption for its Cattle, I cannot imagine; we might then set the Rates of Provisions there, and the Merchants afford to give better Prices for them here, when they shall load them at home, and save the Charges of going to Ireland, without fear of having their early Markets forestalled thence; and the Planters being now grown Rich, are likewise better able to give greater Rates for them than they could at their first Settlement; England had never a fairer opportunity of making an Entry on this Trade, than now it hath, which would soon consume great Numbers of Cattle, and consequently give Encouragement to our Breeding Countries, as well as the Feeding.  
But if a Manufactory is thought fit for Ireland, and its Circumstances will admit thereof, let that of Linen be encouraged; this may draw over multitudes of French Refuges, and put them upon an Employment wherewith they were formerly acquainted, which we must assist by the Benefit of Importation Custom free, and the Advantage of Fashion; and then these two Kingdoms encouraging different Manufactures, will be serviceable to each other, for which Stocks would not be wanting, even from the People of England, who would delight to see Ireland thrive, when their Manufactures crossed not ours; This would in time alter the Balance of our Trade with France, when we shall send thither more Woollen, and receive thence less Linen.  
If the wisdom of the Parliament shall think fit by these, or any other Methods, to make Ireland more serviceable to the Trade of England, it will advance both the Lands and Traffic of this Kingdom, and so make us all better able to pay the Charge of this long and expensive War.  
I shall next say something to the Trade of Scotland, 
Scotland.  which hath formerly consumed more of our Woollen Manufactures than now it doth, since that Nation is fallen on making them there, which they do out of their own Wool, with the help of what they get from us, also of Spanish, both from hence and from Holland.  
But their chief Manufactures are Linen, Butter, and Herrings; 'twere to be wished the former was more encouraged by this Government, with Liberty to bring it hither Custom free, provided they would send us also their Wool, and then our Manufactures would not justle with each other; King James the II. limited their Trade to his Pleasure, by Act of Parliament; which I take to be a great reason why that People were so much at his Devotion: but the Liberty of a free Trade, was made one of the Terms whereon His present Majesty received the Crown; who hath since given them Encouragement to settle Plantations abroad, such as they shall either Plant, or buy from Foreign Princes, which he hath promised to enfranchise with the same Rights and Privileges he doth grant in like Cases, to the Subjects of his other Dominions.  
They have also fallen lately on the thoughts of Codd Fishing, whereof they have great shoals about their Coasts, which formerly they use to pickle and send away in Casks, but now intent to cure, after the manner 'tis done in Newfoundland.  
And doubtless these three things would much encourage Trade, had they Stocks to manage them; but those they want. I have heard it discoursed, that the Cash of that Kingdom amounted to One Million of Pounds Sterling; but I scarce believe it does to One Half, perhaps not to One Third, which properly belongs to its Inhabitants; therefore they propose to carry on the Woollen Manufactures, Plantations, and Fishery by English Stocks, the two last by Companies, which will consist chief of Londoners, who first promoted the Designs, and will furnish moneys for making them. Now I cannot think any Nation can settle Plantations abroad to advantage, which wants Stock and Manufactures of its own to supply them, the great Profit of Plantations being to encourage Manufactures at Home; and the means to settle them, is by giving long credit co the Planters abroad, and when this is done, by Money taken up at Interest from another Nation, the whole Profit will redound to the Lender's; so that the Scotch may make Settlements abroad, but if neither the Stock nor Manufactures are their own, they will have only the name of being Proprietors, whilst others carry away the Profits; like a Gentleman, who pays as much for Interest yearly as the Rents of his Lands bring in, he may have the Possession, but the Usurer has the Income of his Estate; so for their Fishing, which being managed on English Stocks, will bring them only so much as shall pay for the labour of those Employed about it; The same for their Woollen Manufactures.  
On the other side, if the Trade to these Plantations is driven by an English Corporation, the Scotch indeed will get Employments for their Sailors, but all the Product will be other Men's, who will take care for their own Advantage to keep the Planters poor abroad, and the Inhabitants from inspecting into it at home.  
Besides, that Kingdom being now supplied from England with West-India Commodities at cheaper Rates than they can expect to raise them, will want vent for their new Product when brought Home, unless absolutely prohibited to be imported thither from hence, which will be a new Tax on the Spender, paid only to a Foreign Monopoly; neither can they Export them to sell on equal Terms with the English: So that on the whole I cannot see what advantage the Scotch can make at this time of day, by settling Plantations; which if they do attempt, we must be sure to take care of Ireland, and by reducing it to the terms of a Colony, prevent their selling the Product there, which I am apt to think is the main thing they aim at.  
FINIS.