THE LINEN and WOOLLEN MANUFACTORY DISCOURSED: With the Nature of Companies and Trade in general: And particularly, that of the COMPANIES FOR The Linen Manufactory OF ENGLAND and IRELAND. With some REFLECTIONS HOW The TRADE of Ireland hath formerly, and may now affect England. Printed at the Request of a PEER of this Realm.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold by Thomas Mercer, at the Half-Moon joining the East-Corner of the Royal Exchange, Cornhill, 1691.   

The Linen and Woollen MANUFACTORY Discoursed.  
SIR,  
THE Deference I bear to your Integrity, and great Judgement, subjects me to the least of your Commands, and that brings before you my Thoughts on those several Heads you proposed to me.  
1. My Opinion of Companies in Trade, by Authority of the Great Seal in general.  
2. Of the present Company in England for the Linen Manufactory.  
3. Of that for the same in Ireland.  
I doubt you may judge of my Sense in this Discourse, as Men do of Minerals, that when they appear near the day, as they phrase it, and are easily come at, that the Vein is not good. So may you judge of my forward Opinion in the following Lines; however, you that command, can pardon, and by your better Judgement supply my Defects.  
I shall begin with that of Companies in general. These I take to have been very common in the early days of Trade, when Navigation was judged a Mystery next to that of the Black Art, and such as would venture their Persons and Estates into the New World, as they termed new found Countries, Heroes equal to Alexander and Caesar, Aes triplex circa pectus erat— Horace: In these Time's Kings could not exceed in their Grants and Privileges, that by them Adventurers might be increased, and Trade brought to their Dominions, we see how fond Princes were of Merchants, by the great Privileges our Kings gave to the Easterlings, as they then called the Flemings, the Still-Yard is a lasting Monument of their Grandeur; and our Chronicles tell how boldly they would upon any Distaste bear on our Kings.  
So were our Companies in following years courted by Foreign Princes, and States, to settle their Trade in their Dominions; but as Trade and and Commerce became familiar in the World, the Wisdom of Government made the Privileges of Trade universal to their Subjects: and so by degrees Companies were abated, and only such continued as were thought useful for preserving some particular Trades, that if left at large might become less profitable to the Kingdom.  
There is another Reason for Companies in Foreign Parts, which some bring to strengthen their Opinion for them here. They tell us Companies are frequent in France, Holland, Swedeland, and likewise in most small Princes Dominions; but in all these Places there may be Reasons which hold not here, some of them have but little Trade and Navigation, the People not affected with Trade, but content themselves with the Product of their own Country. Now in this Case there is Reason for the Government to encourage Companies even to the seeming loss of the People in general, that is by placing such Duties and Prohibitions on Foreigners: as to keep them out, that so their own Subjects may set their own Rates on what they import, otherwise they would not be able to manage a Trade that Foreigners could undersell them in, and so their Country would become a Province to other Princes, I take them to be not better who govern not their own Trade, but are beholding to Strangers. Companies in Countries under these Circumstances seem absolutely necessary to preserve some Trade of their own, but we in England are not under these Necessities.  
France and other Countries before mentioned have Inducements much of the same Nature; for though they may drive considerable Trades in the World, yet they come after us in their Foreign Plantations, and Trade, and where they are so, nothing but Companies can introduce them, but had they an open and secure Trade they would soon throw down the Enclosure, and make their Trade common to all their own Subjects.  
There is yet another reason for Companies, and that is all I can find which carries a pretence for any in England, that is, where there wants a Force and Government to secure Ships and Men, whilst they are employed in the Trade of the Country among Savages, and so have not the Protection of the Country, as in other more civilised Nations. Here, if the Government of the Kingdom do not at the public Charge set up and maintain Forts and Garrisons for the security of their own People that trade there, the Trade can be no other way carried on but by a Company and Joint-stock, and that Trade appropriated to them as a Fund and Recompense for their Charge of maintaining a Force and Government. But this seems to proceed rather from the Mistakes or Neglect in Government, than a good Expedient for Trade, that any Society of private Men should have a Regal Power to make War, or Peace, give Commissions, etc. may be thought an Indication of Weakness in the National Power they derive from, and is a Creature within a Creature that wants a Name: and however this Management may secure a Gain to the Company, yet at the same time it may be a Loss to the Nation to which they belong. As that of the African Company, which by the best Judgement is depricated as the Bane of our Foreign Plantations. Something of which is touched upon by Mr. Dalby Thomas in his Historical Account of the Rise and Growth of the West-India Colonies, a more Rational and Mercantine Discourse I have not met with. Now it might be thought more Honourable for the Nation to secure every part of their Trade at the public Charge, than to leave it to the Conduct of private Men▪ and so set up a Commonwealth within a Monarchy: that for any Miscarriages are not called to account like other Offenders, but treated like an Ally, I know not how better to distinguish Men that seize Ships and Goods where they find them without Process of Law.  
By this Account you will believe me no Friend to Companies; and I must confess my Judgement and Experience, as far as it goes, is against them: but still with a Reserve to such, as by a long Descent from their Predecessors, that purchased it by signal Service to the Nation, have in a manner a Freehold, as that of the Turkey, Hamburg, and some other Companies in being. But that Projectors and Courtiers should be inspired with New Lights, and out of Love to the Nation, create new Methods in Trades, that none before found out; and by enclosing Commons the Liberty of Trade into Shares, in the first place for themselves, and then for such others as will pay for both, is, I must confess, to me, a Mystery I desire to be a Stranger unto.  
And this brings me to the second part of your Enquiry, my Thoughts of the present Linen Manufactory in England. You know my Aversion to the Sin of this Age, Scandal and Reflection, to avoid which, I may perhaps be short in setting forth my Sense of this Company; and the Progress they make in the Design they propose, of making Linen to the Advantage of the Nation, and Profit of the Company.  
1. First then, I submit to better Judgements, that a Company and Joint-Stock is not a proper way to set up and increase Manufactory. It is usual for any Man that designs to take up the Trade of another, whom he pretends not to exceed, but labours to imitate, to follow the Steps of him he makes his Aim. Now than if we take up the Trade of Linen Manufactory from Germany, Holland, and France, let us see if any of these Kingdoms established it by Companies; if they did not, and grew great in it by other Methods, it might then be thought our best way to do as they did.  
But that the very Name of a Company and Joint-Stock in Trade, is a Spell to drive away, and keep out of that place where they reside, all Men of Industry, and Business that relates to what the Company pretends unto, is not new to any Man of Employment in the World. The great Motive to Labour and Encouragement of Trade, is an equal Freedom, and that none may be secluded from the delightful Walks of Liberty. Now Trade to Merchants, and mechanic Arts to Workmen are their Walks, which where any challenge a Right to keep the Key, they will not come; a Subjection in Manufactories where a People are obliged to one Master, though they have the full Value of their Labour, is not pleasing, they think themselves in perpetual Servitude, and so it is observed in Ireland, where the Irish made a Trade of Linen Yarn, no Man could engage them, but they would go to the Market and be better satisfied with a less price, than to be obliged to one Master: but this of a Company is one Master to a Kingdom; and whatever they pretend unto in saying they hinder no Man, yet they have such Advantages by being a Body incorporate, and having a Joint-Stock, that no Man of a private Purse dares engage in that Trade they call themselves a Company of: Much less will any new Stores come, where at their Entrance they must put on a Shackle of the Company's forging.  
2. We have the Practice of former Ages against the introducing of Manufactories by Companies. I do not find that the Woollen Manufactory, first introduced by Edward the Third who brought in the Flemings, was advanced by Companies, but that he gave like Immunities to all that would employ themselves in it. And however Notions and Opinions may prevail in Schools, the plain Methods of Labour are better understood by the Practic than Theory.  
There was much more Reason for a Company and Joint-Stock to set up the Woollen Manufactory in that ignorant Age, than there is for this of the Linen Manufactory; that of the Woollen was a new Art not known in this Kingdom, it required a great Stock to manage, there was required Foreign as well as Native Commodities to carry it on, Oil, dying Stuffs, etc. and when the Manufactory was made, there must be Skill and Interest abroad to introduce the Commodity where others had the Trade before them: but there is nothing of all this in the Linen Manufactory; Nature seems to design it for the weaker Sex. The best of Linen for Service is called House-wife's Cloth, here then is no need of the Broad Seal, or Joint-Stock to establish the Methods for the good Wife's weeding her Flax Garden, or how soon her Maid shall sit to her Wheel after washing her Dishes; the good Woman is Lady of the Soil, and holds a Court within herself, throws the Seed into the Ground, and works it till she brings it there again, I mean her Web to the bleaching Ground.  
Now to appropriate this which the poorest Family may by Labour arrive unto, that is, finish and bring to Market a Piece of Cloth: to me seems an infallible Expedient to discourage universal Industry, making the World believe they will do Wonders in their Company, and by that means discourage all private Endeavours; and when all is done, themselves like the Mountain in the Fable bring forth a Mouse.  
3. As a Company will hinder the Increase of new Comers, so it will destroy such as are settled here already. There are, as I am told, in several parts of the Kingdom, private Men that employ themselves and their little Stock in the Linen Manufactory of Thread, Cloth, Tapes, etc. Now though I believe any one of these Men with five hundred pounds' Stock, shall actually increase the Trade more than a Company with five thousand pounds, yet this Company drives out five thousand small Traders that are now in it. Traders are like Armies in a Field, small parties, though numerous, yet being disjoint, give way to a united Force: and this of the Linen Manufactory above any Trade I know, if (which I must confess I doubt) it be for the Good of the Nation, requires more Charity than Grandeur to carry it on, the poor Spinner comes as often to her Master for Charity to a sick Child, or a Plaster for a Sore, as for Wages; and this she cannot have of a Company, but rather less for her Labour, when they have beat all private Undertakers out.  
These poor Spinners can now come to their Master's Doors at a good time, and eat of their good, though poor Masters Cheer; they can reason with him, if any mistake, or hardship be put upon them, and this poor People love to do, and not be at the Dispose of Servants, as they must be where their Access can only be by Doorkeepers, Clerks, etc. to the Governors of the Company.  
I have seen a short Discourse of that Labourer in Charity, Mr. Tho. Fermin, and his Endeavours to promote the Linen Manufactory, his Work was to relieve the poor, God's way, not by a Tax, which at best is but Man's way, and as it is employed in England not the best. But I lose Mr. Fermin; that he did in little, showed what might be done at large▪ and that would (in my weak Opinion) have been a more probable way, to have enured idle and the most useless Hands in the Kingdom to spinning Linen, as he proposed, than the Formalities of a Company.  
4. As a Company destroys particular persons, and hinders the Improvement every particular Man would make in the Trade a Company invades, or rather ingrosses; so a Company imposes upon the Nation in general: It is, a Natural Consequence, and let them say what they can, all Men will believe it, that as they become Masters of the Trade, so they will be of the Prices of the Commodity: and that they must have greater Rates for their Linen, than private persons could afford it for, is of necessity; otherwise how shall the Grandeur of the Company, Officers, etc. be maintained, and that which will be more than all the rest, the Frauds, Neglects, and Miscarriages of their numerous Agents, and Instruments employed in the managing part; and it is to be noted, that this Company (to which I believe we have nothing like in Story, if considered in all its preposterous Designs and Machines') hath not the Advantage of Companies that trade by Sea, for they by a Joint Stock make great Adventures in one Bottom, and so are in many things at no more Charge with the Management of Ten thousand pounds in Trade, than a private Man may be with One. But here with our Company it is not so, but on the contrary, the Company must be at more Charge than a private Man in their several Cheques, and controllers upon their Servants; whereas every private Man doth his own Work, and as it is always done so to most Advantage, so most especially in this of the Linen Manufactory, where there must be a particular Eye to every pound of Thread Weaving, Whitening, and a multitude of other things; all which extraordinary Charge and Difficulty the Company must lie under more than private Men, can no other way be raised, but by lessening the Wages of the Poor that make the Linen, and raising the Price on the Rich that wear it? Our Laws provide well against Forestallers in Markets, and though not so well as it might be, yet there is some care taken that Men have the fair buying of the Victuals they eat. This I have sometimes thought is like Tithing Mint and Rue, neglecting the more weighty things of the Law, we provide Men should not be cheated in buying a pennyworth of Eggs, but make no provision to secure them from the same Abuse in a hundred pounds laid out in clothes. The poor Artisan shall not be oppressed in laying out his penny to one poorer than himself, but he is without Remedy shortened by a Company in his Penny as it comes in. I have heard Complaints of this Nature in greater matters of the public Sales of the East-India Company, perhaps if due Consideration were had of these great Engrossers, there would be sound more Reason to restrain them, than a poor Woman that travels in the Country to buy up and sell in a Market a few Hens and Chickens. But to return to our Corporation for Imaginary Linen Manufactory.  
I shall now lay down what offers to me, that if it were possible to introduce it in this Kingdom, that yet it would not be for the Interest of the Nation to have a Linen Manufactory set up as a Trade in the Kingdom.  
Divine Providence that appoints to every Nation and Country a particular Portion, seems to allot that to England which was the first acceptable Sacrifice to his Omnipotency, that of the Flock: the Produce of which is the most universal Covering of all the civilised Countries of the World, our Woollen Manufactory; a Talon which no Nation hath to that perfection as we have. This hath been for many Ages the Support of the Nation, employing the poor at home, our Men and Ships at Sea. Now to decline this, and set up another Manufactory, looks like an extravagant Mechanic, who by his Improvidence hath lost his own Art, and thinks to retrieve his Misfortune by taking up that of another Mans. This is condemned in particular persons, and to be feared in a Community.  
But it will be said, there is not Employment for the Hands of the Nation in the Woollen Manufactory: and since Linen carries away so much of our Money, it seems the Interest of the Nation to employ idle Hands in that which will keep Money in the Kingdom.  
Now though both these Assertions have too much Truth in them▪ yet neither of them have Weight enough to enforce the Conclusion, that the Linen Manufactory is the only Remedy. If we search into the Bottom of our Distemper we shall find another Cause of our Disease.  
It is not because there is less Woollen Manufactory used in the World than formerly, that our Trade declines, nor yet because we make more than formerly; for it is demonstrable, that from the year 1673 to the year 1680, there was much more Wool wrought up in England, than in eleven years since: Nor is it altogether to be assigned to the present War; for that our Trade decayed in the latter part of King Charles the Second, and all the Reign of the late King. The Reasons then for our Decay in the Woollen Manufactory seem to be these.  
1. The Growth of course Woollen Manufactory in Germany, with which the Venetians trade to Turkey.  
2. The Prohibition of our Woollen Manufactory into France.  
3. The Increase of the Woollen Manufactory by our Neighbours with the help of our Wool, so that in some things they outdo us in the price they can sell at.  
4. By the great Wear of East-India, and other Silks, and the use of Calicoes, which was formerly supplied by our Tammies and Says.  
5. The want of the Consumption of Ireland, which abated all the Reign of the late King.  
There is yet a Cause as valid as any of the former, which for some Reasons I forbear to mention.  
Now to me it seems possible to Counterpoise all these, and to retrieve our Manufactory, and that by two ways.  
First, By preventing the Transporting of Wool, which if done, the French and others, that now furnish Markets abroad, would not be able to supply their own Expense.  
It may be thought a vain Assertion, after all Attempts that have been made to prevent the Exportation of our Wool, to say there is yet a way that may effectually do it. Yet I am morally sure it may be done both in England and Ireland; and if this were done, there is another thing that might oblige the French, when there is a Peace, to take off their Prohibitions on our Manufactory.  
The other way to bring our Woollen Manufactories into esteem abroad, is, to make them so cheap as to undersell the Germane Coarse Manufactories; and that may be done with ease, which I can make out upon occasion.  
These two things if practicable, as I persuade myself they are, will set the Woollen Manufactory on so good a Foot, as together with a Consumption, not yet practised in England, will find Employment for the meanest Hand in England. So that there will be rather Want than Superfluity of Hands in the Woollen Manufactory.  
Now if there be any thing in all I have said, it seems reasonable to consider well, before the Nation gives up its Staple and long continued Trade for a Shadow, as I take the Linen Manufactory to be: for although I believe it can never come to effect, yet so far it may go as to injure that of the Woollen, by diverting some that are now in i●, and so raise the price of Spinning, than which nothing can be more prejudicial; for as I mentioned before, nothing can retrieve our lost Trade abroad, but underselling our Competitors: so than we must labour to make ours as cheap as we can, and not set up another Manufactory, to bid who gives most for Spinners; a ready way to ruin the Clothing Trade of England, but not to set up the Linen, which whenever it thrives must have a better way than the Methods the Company takes.  
But because some pretend this Company may be of good use to the Nation in laying a Foundation for a Linen Manufactory, for Argument sake allow it doth take. Let us consider, beside what hath been said before of injuring the Woollen Manufactory, how it will affect the Kingdom in the two Pillars that support it, that of the Rents of Land, and the employing our Ships and Men at Sea, which are thought the Walls of the Nation.  
For the Rents of Land they must certainly fall, for that one Acre of Flax will employ as many Hands the year round, as the Wool of Sheep that graze twenty Acres of Ground. The Linen Manufactory employs few Men, the Woollen most, Weaving, Combing, Dressing, Shearing, Dying, etc. These Eat and Drink more than Women and Children; and so as the Land that the Sheep graze on raiseth the Rent, so will the Arable and Pasture that bears Corn, and breeds Cattle for their Subsistence.  
Then for the Employment of our Shipping, it will never be pretended that we can arrive to Exportation of Linen; there are others and too many before us in that: and the Truth is, he that cannot thrive at his own Trade, will hardly in that of another Mans. If we are beat out of our Inheritance the Woollen Manufactory, by Foreigners, over whom we have such Advantages in our Wool, Fullers-Earth, and long continuance in the Trade, it can be nothing less than a Miracle for us to take from them their Linen Manufactory, in which they have so much the Ascendant over us.  
I shall end this part of my Discourse with the answer of a West Country Man to his Neighbour, that asked what Voyage he had made in a Fishing at New Found-Land that proved not good, I have made, said he, a brave Voyage, as you may guests, for I have sold my Bible and bought a Tobacco-Box. Would it not be so to this Nation, if they should change the Noblest Manufactory in the World, for the poorest, and most despicable? So are those People in all parts of the World that are Employed in the Linen Manufactory, which only thrives where the Country is crowded with Poor, and Bread not to be had at the charge of the Parish; where the Tenant is but a Vassal to his Lord, and there is no power in any to relieve, but in the Lord, who is a stranger to the practice.  
It is a mistake in them that believe the Linen Manufactory in Holland to be the Product of their own Country: it is only the easy part, that of Weaving and Whit'ning, most of their Thread comes from Saxony, where there is both Laws and Necessity for Industry; both of which, one as the blessing of God, the other by the impunity of our Government, this Kingdom is free from. And thus you have my Opinion and Grounds for it, that if it were possible to raise a Linen Manufactory, it is not profitable to the Kingdom, but of most dangerous Consequence to put that in the Heads of the Poor, that may alter the Employment of their Hands. I know some Countries where they would have ill Entertainment that should on any pretence change the Hands of the People; and this at least gives a pretence to the Spinners of Woollen to stand on their terms with their Masters.  
I now come to your third Enquiry; My Opinion of the Company for the Linen Manufactory of Ireland, and for that I have the same value as for this of England, but for different Causes, and they are these:  
First, Though it must be allowed that Ireland, every thing being considered, is the aptest part of the World for a Linen Manufactory; yet under its present Misfortunes I cannot see how it can be great in it, and that which may be set going in the Kingdom towards so good a Work, a Company seems the ready way to blast; for at the first Planting of a Country (and as Ireland now stands, so it must be considered) every Man comes with his design in his Head, some perhaps with a little Money in their Pockets, lay a Scheme for making Linen Cloth; they intent to settle themselves where they may find most Spinners, and spend their time in Riding the Country round to encourage them, and buy up the Linen Yarn. These Undertakers have their Friends and Partners in England, to whom they send over their Linen, and have back in Returns Tobacco, (for by the way it is to be noted they of Ireland are forbidden any but what comes directly from England) Hops, and English Manufactories. This now is a Trade and probable encouragement to make a growing Manufactory that England may gain by, and this way was begun in the latter end of Charles the Second Reign with hopeful success. But here these honest Men will meet with an invincible Enemy, with their Standard the Broad Seal set up, giving notice that they are the Men that will encourage and set on foot the Linen Manufactory; and this being Proclaimed puts an end to our several English Undertakers, and Foreign supplies of Poor that might be drawn to Ireland by the Encouragement of a Universal Freedom and Liberty, in setting up the Linen Manufactory. But however a Company may operate to the driving out the poor that are already in that Business of Linen I know not, but sure I am there is Experience of other Places that Companies keep out new Stores.  
But the Company will tell you, they hinder none from working or buying Linen; this would not be believed, if they had not the Broad Seal to tell us so. They are the first Men I ever heard of that were at the Charge of passing a Patent, only to tell us, they intended to do no Body wrong, nor proceed in the Trade they incorporate themselves in; whatever Belief the first part of their Declaration may gain, I leave the Squires of the Company (I mean those that pay the Reckoning) to judge: but for the last part, that they intent not to proceed in the Trade most believe, and yet they equally do Mischief, as if they did; since in the Opinion of the World these Men that incorporate get great Privileges, great Men to head them, and of their Fraternity, raise great Sums of Money of one half of the Company to be admitted in with those that pay nothing but a Trifle for a Pretence. I say all this gives Ground for honest Men that know not the Original Design, to believe that they intended to do as much mischief as they have power for: that is, proceed in buying Linen Yarn, etc.  
2. As the time is most improper for setting up a Linen Manufactory in Ireland, so are the Methods and Constitutions of Companies in Ireland destructive to both Kingdoms.  
Ireland I take to stand in its Relation to England much in the same Nature with our Foreign Plantations, and might be made more beneficial than them all. But if Ireland be at first setting out, after this late Devastation, begun with Companies that will, as I said before, be a Bar to the peopling that Kingdom with Foreign Protestants, and Ireland can never be safe whilst the Irish so overbalance the English, as they do to this day. So then there seems Reason to preserve Ireland, as a Foreign Plantation, from the implacable Enemy of England the Irish, but Companies in Trade will hinder Newcomers, and that makes for the Irish; this is against the Security of England.  
The next thing Ireland may be considered in, is how it stands as a Foreign Plantation to England in point of its Trade, and Consumption of our Woollen, Iron, and other Manufactories; and in that, by an Account I have seen, it exceeds all the West-India Plantations, as also in that of our Natural Product, Corn, Hops, Salt, etc.  
Now then, that which hinders the Increase of People (and that does Companies) abates the Consumption of the Product of England in Ireland.  
We will next consider Ireland in its Natural and Artificial Product as a Foreign Plantation, and as such how we should use it. I have before mentioned how they consume our Product, we will now see what becomes of theirs, and in that we use them as Foreign Plantations, prescribing them Rules, Methods, and Prohibitions in some of their Commodities, as their Wool, Linen, Yarn, etc. we oblige them to send no where but to England; and if they be kept to it in their Wool, as I am sure they may, England would find it wants, not abounds in Wool, for the seeming Excess of Wool in England is not because we have too much from Ireland, but because we have not all, for one pound of their Wool works up ten of Foreign, and that enables them in their Manufactories abroad, to furnish the Trade we formerly had entire to ourselves. But to return, as we prescribe Rules to Ireland what they shall send here, so we do what they shall send to other parts; to our Foreign Plantations they may not send any Manufactories, but have Liberty to send their Provisions, Servants and Horses; and as we confine what, how, and where they may export, so we do in many things their Imports; that they shall import none of our Foreign Plantation Commodities from thence direct, but all from England. After all this it may be thought Ireland is so entirely a Plantation of England, that it may deserve the Care of the Nation, to people that Kingdom, but the Noise of Companies will keep out Planters, and therefore to be suppressed.  
If any should presume to set up a Grant that might keep out People from the Foreign Plantations, it may be presumed the Government would lay its Hands on such mistaken Grants; this of the Linen Manufactory is such, it will keep out People disposed to that Manufactory, for such love to have Choice of Masters.  
Therefore we never see Companies set up in our Foreign Plantations, every Man is Master of his own Invention, Labour and Designs; so it seems the Interest of England as well as Ireland to have the like Freedom there; for if Companies are once admitted in Ireland, it is not the Subjects of either Kingdom shall be Masters of them; there are those in the World that know how to use such Advantages better than we do; and with their Money will soon purchase the Ruling Shares, especially when the Grant is designed for selling, not trading Shares, and being so bought, the Purchasers have Authority to set up a Joint-Stock, can sue, and must be sued as a Body Politic with all the other Privileges usual in such Grants. Being thus established, they shall engross all the Trade in the Kingdom, let their Company be called what you please, and these Men may live in what part of the World they think fit, and govern the Trade of Ireland by their Factors, though the Company bears the Name only of the Linen Manufactory.  
And however the Generality of Men see not the hidden Mysteries and Influences Companies have in Trade, yet Merchants and Handicrafts do; and that is the Reason I find those of Ireland give, why that wonderful Statute, (for such I take it to be) which gives greater Privileges to Foreigners than native Subjects, had no Effect, brought not ten Families, some say not one into Ireland, and all because Men love not Enclosures in Trade, though they may be in them themselves; for by the Statute before mentioned, any Foreign Protestant that would settle in Ireland, might upon his demand, taking the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy before any Justice of Peace, be made free of any City, Trade or Company in the Kingdom, paying twenty shillings, and was also by the same Statute declared, and was naturalised. But all this would not do whilst there were Companies in the Kingdom, though they are not of so appropriate a Constitution as this of the Linen Manufactory and all Companies of Joint Stocks are.  
I now come to show how in particular the Company for a Linen Manufactory in Ireland will affect England.  
1. It will prejudice England in its Manufactories of Fustian, Tapes and Manchester Ware, much of which are made by the Linen Yarn of Ireland.  
Now though this Company cannot promote a Linen Manufactory in Ireland, yet they may, and if they design any thing, it must be that, engross the Linen Yarn in the North of Ireland, which was formerly sent to England, and employed as aforesaid, the want of which or setting a price upon it, must be of prejudice to the Manufactories of England, with some other Disadvantages that would swell this Discourse here to mention.  
2. If this Company should prevail, of which there is no reason to fear, they by their Compact made with the Company here, have agreed that all the Linen of Ireland shall be sold by the Company here, so then the People of England must pay for their Linen what they please, and that which is yet worse, the Linen and Linen Yarn, that hitherto hath been purchased by the Manufactories and Commodities of England, the Company will be paid for in Money: And then where is the Difference to have it from France or Ireland? Nor will the Company's selling for Money be an Advantage to Ireland, but to the contrary enable the Company to impose on the Kingdom what Goods, and at what Rates they please, when they have beat out the numerous Chapmen that use daily the Irish Trade: even the Farmers of the West of England would come for Ireland with their Hops, Cider, etc. and so the English of Ireland, who are our Bone and our Flesh, dealt with us as Brethren, but it will not be so when the Trade of Ireland is managed by Foreigners in Companies as it seems now designed.  
3. The admitting this Company for Linen Manufactory will be a Precedent for the same in all other Trades, and Employments of the Kingdom. It is said there is a Patent now passing for the Fishing of Ireland, there may with as much Reason be another for Ploughing.  
And why not some public spirited Projector have a Patent for a more excellent way of cutting Turf, a Fuel much used in Ireland?  
This way of appropriating the Trade of Ireland is happily of worse Consequence to England, than at first sight appears. Perhaps it will not be thought a Prejudice to England, that a Patent is granted for a Fishing in Ireland, when it shall be in the Name of Men of England. But when this Patent is transferred to Foreigners, and they with their Men and Ships manage this Fishing, what will England or Ireland get by it? Several Small-Crafts that use to come from England to the West of Ireland will be beat out of their Trade, and in conclusion Ireland made a Province for Trade to any Foreigners that will buy from our projecting Patentees.  
As I said before, Ireland is no more than one of our Foreign Plantations, only I think it will be allowed the first place, and more than any other in nearness of Blood, and that of our Nobles, there being many Families in that Kingdom descended from the ancient Families of this, and most of the Estates in Ireland held by the Descent from our Brethren, who purchased it with their Blood. These Reflections may prevail for our Care of them, at least equally to any Colony abroad; and we never think it our prejudice to have them thrive, nor would the Growth of Ireland, if rightly disposed or understood. And here give me leave to make a Digression, if it may be called so, but you may think it not foreign to the Discourse.  
I find it generally believed, that Ireland is as mischievous to our Trade in time of Peace, as it is destructive to our Men and Treasure in time of War. And though this Opinion never went far with me, yet something I did doubt was in it, until I met with that which gave plain Demonstration to the contrary, and it was this.  
I fell into an entire acquaintance with a Gentleman of Ireland, whose Experience, and long Continuance in all the Foreign Trade of that Kingdom, furnished him with Arguments I could not answer, to prove that England was a great Gainer by the Trade of Ireland. When I could not confute him, nor he prevail with me, he told me he would show me that which carried Authority with it, and so he did; being, as he assured me, the Work of some years, as he could spare time to compose it. The whole Discourse takes up many Sheets, upon the Trade of Ireland to all parts, and particular Remarks upon every Commodity exported and imported into that Kingdom, and where, and how it affects England. Some other things he reserved as Secrets from me, as he doth the rest to others; for it was never seen by any but one beside myself. Out of the whole he hath extracted an exact Account of the Exports and Imports for one year in a Medium out of six; and then distinguished what related to England, by what Ships brought in, and out; then computed the Value of each Commodity, and to what they were improved being manufactored in England; and than what Money in Specie, or Bills of Exchange, which is the same, was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland, all which being brought to a Sum, it appeared, that England gained by Ireland more than two Millions Sterling per annum. It seemed to me an incredible thing, but being, as he affirms, Matter of Fact, for which he hath the Account of the Customs, it is not to be denied, the Breviat is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easy to any Understanding, and therefore to mine: I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter, but he thinks it may be made better use of another way; and affirms, that as great as this looks, yet it might be improved to much more, if the Trade of Ireland were disposed, as it might be, to the Advantage of England. But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign, since the first Conquest of Ireland, consulted in its Trade, but left to its self, or treated like an Enemy, all the use made of it was, for Courtiers, Men of Projection and Necessity, to traffic, and dispose it into Grants, Employments, and Offices, and so made it rather a Forest for Game, than a Plantation of Trade and Commerce; and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second, was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England, believing it grew too fast, and encroached on their Trade, though it is demonstrable, Ireland doth us no hurt, but where we by our own Laws force it; and that act, pardon the Expression, like Lunatics that strive to suppress their Shadows, for fear they should assault them.  
None will say England would be the worse, if it were double the Acres it now is, and though the Sea part us from Ireland, may not Laws make us one, in our Interest and Trade, and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in general, than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion? There never was so fair an Opportunity for enriching this Nation by Ireland as now; it is by Divine Providence once more put a Blank in our Hands, in which his Majesty may stamp what he pleases: and we have Reason to believe, that he who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms, will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure. One thing I must not omit, which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland, that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts: That Ireland neither insures nor gains on England; for that in the last twenty years of Ireland's greatest Prosperity, not one Man of England purchased in Ireland, but numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England; as they of that Kingdom, I mean the English always do, as they increase their Fortunes. This being so, Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure, and affects us, though in a much larger Proportion, as Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay, whatever is gained in them terminates in England.  
I shall close this Discourse with the Complaint I have heard from the Generality of Merchants, that when all the Governments of Europe have for more than twenty years passed been consulting their Interest in Trade, and how they might improve it, we of England make no Provision for ours, but leave it to the Ravage of Strangers, and the worse Confusions of an ungoverned Multitude in Trade, whereas, if we had a Council of Trade composed of Merchants from all parts of the Kingdom, set apart for searching into the several Practices of Trade, and Miscarriages therein, England would have grown beyond any part of the World in Trade, and Navigation, and might thereby have prevented the wonderful Rise of France; whose prodigious Advance in Navigation and Commerce is assigned to the Experience and Conduct of Colebert that was originally bred a Merchant, of whom it is said, that when he was prime Minister of France, he would say he did his Master better Service in a Committee of Merchants, than at the Council-Board. We have much greater Funds for Trade than France can pretend to; and though we may want Coleberts', yet lesser Men, with greater Helps than he had, might at least retrieve, if not increase our lost Trade, which in several Branches are decayed almost to a total Loss: as that of Muscovy, Greenland, Newfoundland, and others.  
And if Fame be true, we are in the ready way to lose what we have left, the Exchange being filled with Projects, Wagers, Stock Jobbing, upon imagnary Wrecks, Pharee Companies of Manufactories, etc. all which bided ill, and is a Green Sickness in Trade; when Men are taken up with Rubbish, like Maids feeding on Chalk, and Cinders, rejecting wholesome Food. This Evil looks like a spreading Leprosy over the Nation, when Merchants and Tradesmen live like Gamesters on the Spoil of each other, setting up Projects instead of Merchandise, which cunning Men cut into Shares, and so manage their Designs, as to fix their Ignis fatuus at last on innocent and well meaning Men, to the Ruin of them and their Families. I name not Men or Things to avoid Reflections; but wish those that are faulty in this matter would consider, that such Artifices, however the Hand of Justice in this World cannot reach, yet the Cries of Widows and Fatherless ascend a Tribunal that brings all things to Judgement. Those Frauds are of a new Stamp, not known in former Ages, and therefore want a Law to restrain them: which, it is hoped, the Great Council of the Nation will look into, and that there may never more appear amongst us any of these Sirens, that a Council of Trade may be the standing Probationers of all new Inventions, and Expedients for Trade, that so Quacks in Trade may be suppressed, and honest Industry and ingenuous Discoveries encouraged.  
By which means a Stop may be put to those Men, who like Cadmus' Serpents Teeth sowed in the Ground, bring up Men in Armour killing one another: I wish the Moral prove not truer than the Fable, we see Losses between private Men in Gaming often end in Blood; and National Gaming, Projects and Deceits, with Wagers on the Success of Companies, taking Cities, and Success of Monarches, must needs alienate the Affections of the Subject one from the other, and some from the King. This to me seems not an accidental Misfortune, but an Artifice of France, to raise Divisions amongst us, and bring our Trade to Confusion; for the French have as well Jesuits in Trade, as in Religion, to distract us. But we have not such invincible Champions for the first, as blessed be God we have for the latter: In my weak Judgement and Reflection on the present Condition of this Nation, nothing hath a worse Aspect than the Trade, Navigation, and Manufactories of it, and all for want of public Spirited Men, that would, like our Ancestors, who whatever they were at home, every Man, when in Parliament, was no less than a County, or Burrough, and spoke not himself, but them. If this Bravery of Mind were in our Senators now, the Commerce of England would not look like a Scramble, for want of due Regulation; which cannot properly be without Men of practical Heads in Trade appropriated to the Work; nor is the present War a valid Pretext for the Neglect, since there seems as much Reason to provide for Trade in Time of War against Times of Peace, as there is for Armies in Time of Peace against a Time of War, which God in his due time put an End unto.  
FINIS.   

SOME Considerations: Humbly Offered to Demonstrate How prejudicial it would be to the English Plantations, Revenues of the Crown, the Navigation and general Good of this Kingdom, that the sole Trade for Negroes should be granted to a Company with a Joint-stock exclusive to all others.  
THe great and unspeakable Advantage the West-India Plantations are to England, is so well known, that it needs no demonstration to prove it. The only thing Necessary, is to endeavour to improve and increase this mighty advantageous Trade, by securing them from the Insults of their Enemies, and enabling them to make larger quantities of the Commodities of those Colonies.  
Now the means most conducive thereunto will be to make the Trade to Africa open and free for all the Native Subjects of England, which Trade for Slaves is chiefly from Acra to Angola, and contains about 1200 Miles Sea-cost, in which extent the present African Company have neither Fort, Castle, nor Factory; so that they have not the least colour for a Pretence to an exclusive Right of Trade into those Parts.  
It is well known, that the Riches of the Plantations consists in Slaves chiefly, by whose strength and labour all their Commodities, as Tobacco, Sugar, Cotton, Indigo, Ginger, etc. are produced; and the more Slaves those Plantations are supplied with, the more Commodities are made, and the stronger they are to defend themselves against any Insults. Neither can there be any more danger of being overstockt with Negroes, than there is that too much Tobacco, Sugar, etc. should be sent to England; for it is a plain consequence, the more Negroes the more Goods will be produced, the more Goods the more Custom paid, and all those Commodities rendered here at home so cheap as will enable this Nation to send them abroad cheap also. to the great discouraging of the Plantation-Trade of all other Nations. Wherefore it is very plain, that a large supply of Negroes will not only bring great Riches to this Kingdom, but will also greatly Increase our Navigation.  
Whereas on the contrary, should the African Trade be enclosed, and confined to the Wills and Powers of a Company, the consequence would prove as fatal to the Plantations as a Power given to one Person in England to supply the Gardeners with Servants, and the Farmers and Carriers with Horses: It is not to be doubted that the one would be constrained to pay yearly for his Servants as much as his Years product would amount to, and the other for his Team as much as the Rent of his Farm, which would prove great Discouragements to their Labour and Industry. This may we reasonably suppose would be the Case of the Planters in the West-Indies, were there but one Person that must supply them with Slaves, they being so extremely Necessary, that it is impossible to live without them, every Man being rich or poor according to his Stock in Slaves. A Man that may be Proprietor of 10000 Acres of Land, would still be poor had he no stock of Negroes to employ upon it.  
It might be fairly Objected, That the present African Company have carried on their Trade but very imperfectly as to their own Advantage, (notwithstanding that was all the Design they aimed at) as may be plainly proved from the Care they have taken to supply all the Plantatitions, it being very well known that they have not for these 20 Years or more sent one Ships-loading of Negroes to Virginia nor Maryland, which are two very large Countries, and capable of making twice as much Tobacco as they now do, were they but well supplied with Negroes.  
Every Negro that is sent into those Plantations, makes as much Tobacco yearly as pays from 30 l. to 40 l. Sterl. Custom, but the Company think that is not material to their Stock: They understand the People are generally poor, and therefore will not venture to trust them; whereas at the same time private Men have, (tho' with the hazard of being seized by the Companies Agents) and had it not been for that Supply those Countries had been in a much worse Condition than at present they are.  
To further demonstrate what before is hinted at, that the Company have no Forts, Castles nor Factories from Acra to Angola, nor do they suppose them necessary to carry on the Slave-Trade, is plainly proved from their own Practice and Management of that Trade, for when they design a Ship to trade for Slaves, they put a Lee-ward Cargo (as they term it) on board the Ship, and give the Master or the chief Officer of the Ship full power to dispose, barter and sell the said Cargo for their Accounts, allowing them a Commission of 4 per Cent. for disposing of the said Cargo, taking on board the Negroes, and delivering them to their Factors in the Plantations, who have usually been the Governors of those Places, who have disposed of the Negroes not always to the poor Planters liking, but necessity hath no law, so must submit to the Will and Pleasure of their Superiors.  
Now this great and growing Evil can only be prevented by permitting more Sellers of Negroes than one, wherefore since it is evidently demonstrable, that it is no charge to carry on and manage the Slave-Trade, and of what great Concern it is to encourage and support the English Plantations, whereby the Navigation of the Kingdom, Revenues of the Crown, and the General Good of this Narion is so much advanced, therefore it is humbly hoped that the Trade from Acra to Angola inclusive may be henceforth judged and allowed to be free and open for all the Subjects of this Kingdom.   

A LETTER From a MEMBER of the Parliament of Scotland To his Friend at LONDON, Concerning their late ACT, for Establishing a Company of that Kingdom, Tradeing to Africa and the Indies.  
SIR,  
THE Account you give me by your last, of the various Shapes into which some Persons at London have Transformed our late Act of Parliament, for Establishing a Company Tradeing to Africa and the Indies, and their representing it under so many several Colours, to those of different Capacities and Affections, puts me in mind of the Shepherd, who, ambitious to be thought Weatherwise, never failed with an air of Gravity, to publish his pretended Revelations of the ensuing Wether, in various and quite contrary manners to his several Profelites, thereby securing to himself certain Evidences in all Wethers that could happen, if any should dare to call the Infallibility of his Predictions into question. And really, The exact Idea you give me of the manner in which these Persons seem to busy themselves in other men's Affairs, affords me matter sufficient to renew my Speculation, concerning the precarious Nature of all Mankind, in point of Interest; and by Retrospection into some Transactions of this and the last Age, I am induced to trouble you with the following Narrative of some Observations naturally arising from the same, which to me seem directly to point at the Temper, Inclination, and real Interest of all BRITAIN: But before I launch into so wide an Ocean, I cannot forbear expressing the Satisfaction I have in Reflecting, That the whole Representatives of a Nation so little experienced in Trade, as ours, should with so unanimous a Voice (Nemine contradicente) agree to such Measures and Foundation of Trade, as now seem worth the Notice of so great a People as our Neighbouring Nation; and my Satisfaction therein is still the more exalted, by finding in your Account, That the most Sober and Tradeing People of that Kingdom, are so far from conceiving any disgust at, or dislike to it, that they generally express an Inclination to be concerned in it: Excepting (as you observe) a few who (every body knows) are preingaged to a dear Self-monopolising Interest, together with some few others, whose Instructions from a Foreign Court must in all probability oblige them to lay hold of any seeming Opportunity for blowing the Coal of Sedition in this Island, that they may fish in troubled Waters: And as a little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump, you must always expect to find such Persons very vigilant, by their Emissaries, to amuse the Unthinking Crowd with groundless Apparitions; and by a more industrious Artifice, have their designing Insinuations buzzed into the Ears of some great Ministers, who, having the bent of their Thoughts employed about Matters of State and Government, suitable to the great Sphere in which they move, may possibly, through want of Time, consider this Matter no further than by a bare superficial View of such fallacious Positions as may probably, by Prepossession, be dogmatically obtruded upon them, to serve private Ends, though masked under the specious Pretences of a National Concern. Wherefore, I hope those worthy Gentlemen at London, who are concerned in this Company, will endeavour to anticipate any evil Effect of these or the like Misrepresentations and groundless Suggestions mentioned in your Letter, by obviating the Fallacy of such noisy Arguments as (you say) are daily with an Air of Magisterial Stiffness dictated at Garraways, and from thence diffused amongst the credulous Multitude; which, whensoever impartially examined and considered, will doubtless appear to have no other Merit at bottom, than a Noose of Sophistry to catch Woodcocks in. For there was never any Constitution of Trade concerted by any Free Kingdom, State or Commonwealth in Europe, with greater regard to the Constitutions and Privileges of all other Nations in Amity with His Majesty, than this hath been: yea, should we have had a Committee of English Merchants to Examine and Report our Proceedings while we were Passing this ACT, they could not possibly have been more nicely tender of Encroaching upon, or Interferring with the English Immunities, either Abroad or at Home, than we have been. And in regard that Piracy, Hostility, and all manner of violent Force, is not only inconsistent with, but diametrically opposite to the natural Laws and Institutions of Trade, we have, in the Body of this ACT, precluded the Company from Acting or Settling in the very Indies, without Consent of the Natives. And, in short, we had then the Law of Nations so immediately under our Consideration, that it was thought by the most Precautious of our Assembly, we had left no room for so much as a possibility of Cavilling. But there's none so blind as they who will not see; and by what you write, I find, had there been any thing in our Act that could not bear the Trial of the strictest Enquiry on the aforesaid Heads, it had certainly been long e'er now ripped up and printed in Capital Letters by those who were at the Trouble and Expense of Reprinting the Act at London in several shapes, and under a new Title of their own framing, of design to adapt it more properly to the Notion of Rivalship and Emulation, which (you say) they so industriously preach in Coffeehouses.  
Obj. Oh! but (say they,) Tho' there be nothing in the Act that at present may seem to interferr with, yet in the Consequence it may prove pernicious to the Interest of England.  
In Answer to which, give me leave to observe, That as this Act was calculated for a Common and Public Good; so though it be a received and standing Maxim, That No Evil is to be done, that Good may come of it; yet no reasonable Man will urge from thence the Alternative, That we ought to forbear doing an apparent Public Good, because of a remote possibility of an imaginary Evil Consequence.  
And before I step further, pray let us take a short View of what Prospect there may be of this bug-bearing Consequence. Why, truly Scotland proposeth an Advantage by Foreign Trade, and leaves it at England's door to accept or refuse, being concerned for one Moiety of all the Profits, Emoluments and Advantages arising from such Trade; and by the buy, England's embracing that Offer, seems to me an auspicious Prognostic of future Success. Now, should we happen to be frustrate in our Expectation by this Trade, than all the vain Jealousies of Rivalship and Competition fall of course. But if it should (as I hope it may) answer our Wishes, by a plentiful and prosperous Harvest, in return to our Honest and Infant-Undertaking, England, sure, would be mightily hurt, to reap One Half of all the Profits thereof; which I pray God may prove the happy Consequence, so much feared by your Monopoly-men.  
Yet all this (you say) cannot please them that are resolved to be implacable; for that there are a certain sort of such good-natured Christians in the World, as would choose rather to lose a certain Benefit and Advantage to themselves, than endure the very thoughts of seeing their Neighbours in any tolerable degree of equal Prosperity. In allusion to which, 'tis no new thing to tell you, That ever since the Reformation of Religion, the Jesuits, in their various shapes, have left no means unessayed, to propagate the several Sects and Schisms which, during the last Age, have, like a general Contagion, overspread this Island, and undoubtedly gave the first rise to all the sad Catastrophe and dismal Consequences of the late bloody Civil Wars. And even so, since the Union of both Kingdoms under one Monarchy, we have too too manifest and pregnant Proof of how far the Matchevilian Maxims of Policy have, by the means of French Pensioners and Emissaries, gained credit enough at the Court of England, to improve the Remnants and Dregs of the ancient Feuds of both Kingdoms into an almost avowed Reason of State (though a much mistaken one) That it was the Interest of England, to suppress and keep Scotland poor. Which was indeed chiefly intended and contrived with design to leave England in the lurch, and carry on the real Interest of France, where this Maxim had its birth, by regaining Scotland into their ancient League.  
For the Sting and hidden Poison of the Serpent lay in this, That the People of Scotland, from the natural consideration they must needs have of any severe Treatment, or unreasonable and intolerable Exactions imposed upon them by their domineering Neighbours, might in time be tempted, like the Israelites in the Wilderness, to murmur and look back into the Onions, Melons, Garlic, and fleshpots of their old acquaintance.  
Yet by the Influence of this Jesuitical, Barbarous and Hellish Principle, together with the general Corruption of such colleaguing and self-designing Ministers as have (to the grief of these Nations) been at the Helm of Affairs during those latter Reigns, this poor Nation in particular hath been most unmercifully cramped and fettered in its natural Liberties, both as to Religion, Property, Trade, and indeed, all the real Badges of a Free and independent Kingdom, other than in shadow; till the late Providential and Happy Revolution gave us not only a fair opportunity of reassuming all our ancient Freedoms, and natural Liberties, but also of extending the same, in point of Trade, far beyond those Limits which some of our Neighbours seem now unwilling to allow Us.  
And I would gladly offer it to the serious Consideration of any Honest, Unbyass'd and Free-thinking Englishman, Whether, upon His present Majesty's Accession to the Crown of England, when Ireland was in a manner quite lopped off, France making mighty Preparations for War, all Europe invelop'd in almost unquenchable Flames; and England itself, not free from Intestine Divisions, and Bosom Enemies, who flattered themselves with the Hopes that Scotland would, from the consideration of its being so long kept at Arm's-length, be tempted to act by an Interest separate from that of England? Whether (I say) upon condition of assurance then, that we would follow England's Example, in placing the Crown of this Realm upon the Heads of our present Gracious Sovereign, and and His late Royal Consort (of Blessed Memory,) when they feared our Demurring upon it, England would not have willingly fulfilled, and put us in possession of the long promised Union of both Nations; and settled the same upon such an equal and lasting Foundation, as that we might have freedom of Trading into the very Heart of their Plantations?  
For, how little soever the apparent Proportion be, which our Nation may at present seem to bear on the Theatre of Public Action, as being in a manner wholly eclipsed by the refulgent and radiant Beams of England's more resplendent Greatness, I may without Hyperbole justly say, That as Matters than stood, We had the Balance of Europe in our Hands.  
Yet all the Considerations we had in view of our own particular Interest, and the Advantages which we might have made of that Opportunity, soon gave way to the irresistible Zeal and Affection which we had for the Restorer of the Protestant Religion, and common Liberties of Britain. For, lest that by any Delays in our Proceedings, the Measures of England might be protracted, We did, in almost One Breath, Declare the Throne Vacant, ourselves a Free, Independent State, Their Royal Highness' King and Queen of this Realm, and war against all Their Majesty's Enemies; as not in the least doubting, but that such our generous and frank Proceeding, with respect to our Neighbours, at so critical a Juncture of Affairs, might in due time reasonably plead for a grateful Resentment from the King and Parliament of England, by an equally generous Condescension, on their side, to our having the same freedom of Trade, by which, but a little time before, the wisest and most leading Men of that Nation thought it their Interest to have secured our Affection.  
And that this was the sense of the Court of England at that time, needs no further Evidence than His Majesty's two successive Speeches to both Houses of His First Parliament; wherein the consideration of an entire Union with Scotland was seriously recommended: In order to which, some Schemes were prepared and consulted by certain Noble Patriots of both Nations.  
But no sooner had we, in the interim, solemnly consummated, in manner aforesaid, all that England could have either wished or feared from us on that Occasion; but of a sudden, all thoughts of such Union fell to the ground: so that being left to chew our Cud upon that melancholy Proverb, Post est occasio calva, which in our Dialect may be rendered, A True Scotchman is Wise behindhand; our next and only Remedy was, to make the best of a bad Market. In order to which, we then Resolved to think of framing such wholesome and advantageous Laws for the Advancement of our poor Trade, as might not only rouse up and animate the depressed and often-disappointed Genius of our fellow-Natives, but also invite and induce Strangers more experienced in Trade, to embark upon the same bottom with us: and to that end, We did, in the Third Session of this current Parliament, Anno 1693, Pass a Preliminary Act, conceived in general Terms, for the Encouragement of Foreign Trade, which you see narrated in the beginning of this last Act: By the gracious and necessary Concessions of which, we have a plain Demonstration, through the Virtue of those Noble and worthy Patriots whom His Majesty's discerning Eye singled out of the Crowd of Pretenders to the Offices of State, That our present King is not only Pater Patriae, but Pater Patriarum; and, like the true Emblem of that Immense Deity whose Anointed he is, diffuseth his Favours with a more unconfined and universal Influence than any of our late Kings of Britain; Their natural Easiness of Temper giving many fatal Opportunities to the mercenary Ministers of those Times, both to impose on their Masters, and prey upon the Liberties of their fellow-Subjects: whereas, our present King doth not only penetrate into what is Just, but hath also a Nobleness of Soul, to execute, with an impartial Hand, what to him seemeth to be so. And that the giving his Royal Sanction to this Act, was the effect both of his Justice and Gratitude, is plain from the natural Regard which in Reason we must needs suppose him to have had to our frank and seasonable Services, when in themselves they were most Valuable, and when indeed he stood most in need of them.  
Obj. But (you say) the Outcry is, That these are such unprecedented Concessions and Exceptions as never were, or aught to be granted by a Prince to any Society or Company of Traders in the World: Ergo,—  
Ha! Is the Hue and Cry got up then? I am glad of it: For certainly, the Great, the Grave, and Wise Men of the Nation, do never join in that Chorus.  
But to be more serious; 'Tis true, that these Concessions may seem somewhat strange to a People whose Wealth, Capacity, Naval Strength, Foreign Possessions, Plantations, Forts, and Universal Settlements, want no more to carry on what Trade soever they please, than to will and to execute.  
But on the other hand, if they look upon Scotland, and consider it, as in itself it is, deficient to a degree of Extremity, in all the necessary Qualifications of Trade above-recited; they must own of course, that nothing less than these Concessions and Exemptions could give this New Company a prospect of so much as a Possibility of ever grappling with such infinite and almost insuperable Difficulties as they (and indeed, all other Beginnings) must necessarily encounter with: so that if such Exemptions had not been granted, we had as good have erected no Company.  
And as to these Concessions being without Precedent, I will not pretend to give an Instance of any that are exactly the same with the Privileges contained in this Act: but if I let you see much greater, I hope that may serve the turn. Nor to do that, need I go so far from hence, as to search into the Records of other Nations, such as France, Holland, Denmark, and others who have given illimited Powers, and vast Encouragements to their respective Tradeing Companies; but even in Scotland, when we could not be presumed to have had any great Notions of Trade about Thirty five Years past, upon the Restauration of King Charles II. in his First Parliament, and the several Sessions thereof, (before the French King had time to plant his Janissaries in the Court of England,) there were several Acts Passed in favour of Trade and Manufactories, with Privileges and Exemptions far exceeding any in this Act, with respect to the Purposes for which they were granted, Mutatis Mutandis.  
And that I may not seem to speak altogether without Book, I shall give you an Instance of one for all; namely, the Act Passed, in the Year 1661., for the Fishings, and Erecting of Companies for Promoting the same; which being too long to be transcribed, I send you, by way of Postscript, a short Abstract of the most considerable Privileges and Exemptions therein contained, as they stand in order, in the Act itself; and all these were Granted for Perpetuity: Whereas, all the most Important Concessions in this late Act are limited, some to Ten, some to Twenty one Years; in which time (God knows) we must run very fast, to come up with any of all our neighbouring Nations, who have started so long before Us.  
Now let us further compare both the said Acts, and the Purposes for which they were severally intended, and then, with respect to this last, we must think of going we know not whither, undergo the Danger of boisterous Storms, and long Voyages, with which we are not acquainted: tie up our Stomaches to strict, regular, and unaccustomed Diets; prepare against the Effects of quite contrary Climates, and there purchase Plantations, Colonies, Settlements, and build Forts, etc. Yet as to the Time when all this will happen, he must be a wiser Man than I, that can tell.  
But as to the former Act for the Fishing, etc. all Matters thereunto relating were to be transacted in view of our own Doors, and in our own Power. But than you'll ask me, How it came to pass, that this excellent Constitution for our Fishings has had no better Effect? Why truly, I'll tell you, For the very same Reason which may possibly prove the Overthrow of this New Undertaking (which God forbid) if we have no better luck in getting honester Men at the Head of it: For the Dutch, who have got most of their Wealth by Fishing in other men's Waters, looking upon us then with a jealous Eye, found a way (as it was then believed) to grease a certain Great Man in the Fist; who thereupon embarked himself, and all his Friends, with all his Might, on our Bottom; and who being once at the Head of all, thwarted all, overruled all, and ruin'd all: For the Honest and Well-meaning Men, finding themselves no other than Ciphers, grew wearied, and so gave up the Cudgels.  
By all which, you have a plain Demonstration and Proof, That what may do in one Nation, will not do in another. But I'm resolved to wait with Patience, and hope for the best: Exitus acta probat; the meaning of which is in English, The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating.  
Obj. But then (you say,) The unanswerable and thundering Dilemma, which these Grumblers would seem, and do actually boast, to fasten upon His Majesty, is, That either he must retract what he has done, by some public Mark of his Discountenancing this New Company, or otherwise he cannot in reason deny the like Concessions to the several Tradeing Companies of England, who have so largely contributed towards the Expense of this present War.  
Answ. This is truly the most plausible Difficulty of all that's offered, and such a Noose as may readily catch Larks, but will never gravel the judicious part of Mankind more than any of the former, as being all of one piece. The better to obviate which, I shall give you a plain, easy, just and adequate Parallel in the like Case. As for Example: Supposing me Lord of a considerable Manor producing abundance of Corn, Hay, Fruit, and having all the marks of a fertile and well-cultivated Soil, which I have Let to Farm for a certain Annual or Yearly Rend; which Rent I have, by Contract of Marriage, appropriated to the Payment of my Wife's Jointure: in the interim, there comes to me an Undertaker, with a Proposal, That whereas I am also Proprietor of a certain piece of unprofitable, waste Ground, together with some Acres of Land quite under Water, both which yield me no Rent; he will engage, at his own Hazard, Labour and Expense, to cultivate the one, and drain the other, providing I grant him a Lease thereof free of all Rent for Twenty one Years; to which I readily and reasonably assent, as foreseeing the Advantage that must thereby accrue, if not to myself immediately, yet to my Heirs and Successors. Upon the executing of which Lease, should he who Farmed my Principal Manor in manner aforesaid, come and tax me of being an exacting and partial Landlord, if I would not also let him sit Rentfree, as well as his new Neighbour-Undertaker; Pray, what Regard do you think I ought to observe to any Demand that were grounded only upon such a Reason? The Application whereof is so easy and natural, that it were calling your Judgement into question, to expatiate any more upon that Head: Yet lest you may say that omne simile est dissimile, and think this to be only an indirect Answer to all the Parts of your Objection, I shall touch them severally.  
And, First, As to any public Mark of His Majesty's Discountenance to this New Company, which would be the doing and undoing of a thing with the same breath, is so tender a Point, that the very Thoughts of it is attacking and wounding His Majesty, at once, in two of his most peculiar Attributes, Wisdom in Council, and Steadfastness of Resolution.  
Then as to what Concessions may be advisable to be given to all or any of the Tradeing Companies of England, I must suspend my weak Judgement therein, the King, and ensuing Parliament, being the only proper Judges thereof; only thus far I'll venture to judge, That whoever audaciously dare pretend to anticipate the Sense of so Great and August an Assembly, by Dictating in Coffeehouses what his Arrogance thinks, forsooth, they ought to do, may likewise think himself well come off at last, if he escape with only a Reprimand.  
And then as to the last Branch of the Objection, which seems to point at, our not contributing, so largely as they have, towards the Expense of the War; let us consider, whether they think Us equally concerned? and whether We may expect a proportionable share of the Glory and Advantage? If not, than we are but Auxiliaries, and ought not to undergo any narrow scrutiny on that head: For, A given Horse ought not to be examined in the Mouth.  
But supposing (as indeed I think) We are equally concerned in the same Common Cause; it must be confessed, That we cannot boast of any great store of Wealth, (for which we may partly thank those Familiar Spirits of France, who by a Legerdemain Trick of Hocus Pocus, have too often assumed the shapes of Court-Cards, in the most considerable Games which have (till of late Years) been played on the English Stage;) yet, in Proportion to what our Strength was, in any tolerable measure, able to bear, we have always signified our good Inclination, by giving such Supplies, from time to time, as have not only raised very considerable Numbers of excellent Troops, but also Maintained the same, till called out of the Nation by His Majesty, and then we successively raised others, to be a constant Nursery for the English Army. This was all we could do; and could we have done more, we stood in need of no Spurr to do it: The Widow's Mite in the Gospel was more acceptable to Our Saviour, than all the large Offerings of those who gave only out of the Abundance of their Superfluities: Of them to whom much hath been given, much shall be required. And if His Majesty should question us upon this head, we can justly answer him with a Scripture Phrase, Silver and Gold have we none; but such as we have, we give unto him. True Hearts, and Valiant Hands; Brave Trusty Lads, armed with Natural Buff, who dare encounter Fire and Smoke, and whose Undaunted Resolution and Valour, upon all Occasions of Trial, have, to the Diminution of their Number, given at least some small Addition to the Advancing Glory of the English Arms: which if we had not given, an equal Number of equal Troops from any of our most entirely beloved Confederate Princes (if any such they had to spare) would certainly be good Meat, but must needs have cost England very dear Sauce.  
And since I now treat of our Usefulness to England, how little soever they may value it; I shall beg leave to look back again upon the further Motives that induced us to be forward in Passing this Act, and take also a further view of the Advantages that may probably arise, not only unto ourselves, but to England in general, by it.  
As to the First of these, we observed, That the Customs, Fashions, and Luxury of other Nations, having bewitched our Travelling Nobility and Gentry, had introduced a certain kind of Necessity among us, of using and consuming many more and greater quantities of Foreign Commodities than were so much as ever known almost to the honest Simplicity of our plain and wise Forefathers, and more truly than we had superfluous Money to pay for; especially at such exorbitant Rates as are imposed upon us at the third, fourth, fifth, and (possibly) sixth hand, by our own Pedlars, and the exacting Brokers of all other Countries about us. This we see a growing Evil, and such as we could not justly answer for, to our Constituents, who were equally concerned, if we had not taken it into our most serious Consideration, and with all expedition applied the most effectual Remedy we could think of; which, after all our Consultations, and the best Advice we could have, terminated in this Act; as hoping thereby, that at some time or other we may, by degrees, come to have at first Hand, and upon an equal Lay, such Foreign Commodities as are now palm'd upon us.  
By all which, you may plainly see, we had no sinister Design; we meant no harm to any other Kingdom, State, or Company: Evil to them that Evil think: We had no thoughts of drowning our Neighbour's Garden, but of watering our own; and I have no reason to doubt, but that the Simplicity and Honesty of our Intention therein, will upon all occasions meet with a suitable Return.  
And as to what further Advantages England may probably reap from this Act; I think, with submission, that of all sorts of Men, the English East-India Company hath least reason to murmur at it; and I am glad to hear the Wisest of them do not, nor indeed, any of them (I believe) at their Heart. For, whatsoever Concessions, Exemptions, or Establishment, the Wisdom of the ensuing Parliament may think fit to grant to that Company, they have reason enough, from the consideration of their own Mismanagement, which (I humbly presume) occasioned the late Treatment some of them had at Westminster, to ground the best part of their Hopes for better Treatment there at this time, upon the Emulation which Our Act hath seemingly entitled them to raise in the Hearts of their Friends in Parliament, whom I heartily wish to be many: Salvo Jure cujuslibet. For I am sure, the World is spacious enough to contain both Them, and the Scotch Company, for more Efforts than either one or other, or both of them, are able to put in execution. They may, in time, be serviceable each to the other, Manus Manum fricat; and as I hope, the English Company may have reason, before the Determination of the ensuing Session, to Thank the King and Parliament. They will at the same time be pleased to remember, that they owe us a Day in Harvest; that is, some seasonable piece of Friendship.  
Now, if the ensuing Parliament do (as I believe they will) take the East-India Company into their Care, whether out of a particular Regard to the said Company, or with respect to the Interest of the whole Nation, or out of Emulation, from a mixed Consideration of both; I shall have infinite Satisfaction, to find that we are so far useful to our Neighbours, as to let them see that to be their Interest now, which for some Years past they at least seemed to have overlooked, till we put them in mind of it. And my Hopes are, That if Emulation will once enter within the Doors of that Noble Assembly, they will raise their Thoughts upon the very Wings of Emulation, and take the right Sow by the Lugg; that is, cast their Eyes about them, and point at Objects worthy of such Noble Efforts as They only are able to put in Practice, by curbing the Enemies of Britain, and putting some stop to the Career and overgrown Greatness of its Rivals in Trade▪ of whose Affection or Friendship England can be no longer secure, than they are sure of Gaining by England: Whereas, We poor Mortals must at all times look upon ourselves as in the State of Matrimony, For better for worse: So that if we are not allowed some reasonable measure of Due Benevolence, that Essential Part of Conjugal Duty, the World will certainly look upon Us as the more excusable, if at some time or other we should venture to peep abroad.  
Object. But still these Grumblers (you say) do urge that this New Company will Steal vast Quantities of Goods both by Sea and Land into England, and over-stock the Markets there with Indian Goods, to be Sold at Under-rates, to the apparent loss of the English East-India and African Companies.  
This is truly a very wide supposition; yet supposing it all to be true, (as I believe it cannot) pray wherein is England hurt by it? For over all England there must be a vast many more Buyers than Sellers of any one particular Commodity, and as Of two Evils the least is to be chosen; so, Of two interferring Interests, the most public and universal good of these two is always preferable to the other; then beyond dispute, the Buyers of such particular Commodity (whom I take to be the Body of the Nation) will find it their Interest at all times, to beat down the Market-price; especially of Foreign Goods; otherwise our Forefathers of both Nations, were very much overseen to make so many Laws, which stand yet Unrepealed, against the Forestall of Markets, and the Engrossing of Commodities into few hands. So that if all Restrictions, Limitations, and Prohibitions upon Trade between both Nations were wholly abrogated, the great and natural ends of Trade, would (in my humble opinion) be more universally and much better answered.  
Now, upon summing up the Evidence on both sides, I find we must reckon upon many Enemy's beyond-Sea: But I hope I may modestly conclude, That after a true Scrutiny is made, this Act will meet with no Enemies within the Isle of Britain, but who may be comprehended in one or other of two sorts, and these Two (some say) very near related: The first are, such who may seemingly grumble at this Act, for no other reason, but to make a Scaling-ladder of it, to a Wall which (without it) they were past all hopes of ever getting over. The others are, a certain set of Men, who (like Watermens) row one way, and look another. From both which, I hope, the Legislative Power and Government of both Nations will protect this Orphan.  
To Conclude then: As Almighty God, in his Alwise Providence, often revealeth and brings to pass his Great and Excellent Purposes, by ordinary and unexpected Means; who knows, but that the harmonious Unity which (I hope) will appear in the Equal, Just, and Impartial Management and Administration of this New Scotch-English, or English-Scotch Indian Company, may, in good time, be a happy Motive and Inducement to (at least) all the Wise Men of either Nation, to lay aside misplaced Passion, the Prejudices of Infancy and Education; Reason justly for their Own and Public Interests sake; obliterate and bury in oblivion the distinguishing Names of Scotch and English; and then voluntarily list themselves under the United Banner of Undivided Britain; to be one in Interest, and Inclination, in Offence and Defence. From the Consequences of which happy Day, we may date the Aera of BRITAIN's being Truly GREAT. And pray, what should hinder it? Nature seems to have intended Us for One People, as having concentered us within the same Liquid Walls; we are the Subjects of One King; we speak the same Language, differing only in Dialect, as most Counties do; we profess the same Religion, differing only in some Forms, which may or may not be; our Law's point at the same End, to distribute Justice, and defend Liberty and Property: All which may be soon reconciled, if the Wisdoms of both Nations should once heartily set about it.  
No Man alive can have greater Veneration for the Government and People of England, or be more tender of giving them any the least umbrage of Offence, than myself: But if any particular Person will, from the Light within him, apply to his own Breast any Expression herein that may seem harsh, that's his fault, and not mine: In which case, I'd advise him, like a Friend, to lie still and be quiet; expiate for any former Escapes in his Life, by a better Regulation of his Actions in time to come; submit to all Laws and Ordinances of such as are put in Authority over us, and let the Wisdom of the Nation Rule the Nation.  
If herein I have not answered your Expectation, yet you have an Instance of my hearty and sincere good Wishes to the Interest of Britain, and of my readiness to comply with your Desire, whensoever you are pleased to Command,  
EDINBURGH, Novemb. 14. 1695. SIR, Your Humble Servant, PHILONAX VERAX.   

An Abstract of the Privileges contained in An Act (mentioned pag. 7.) for the Fishings, etc.  
Salted, Cordage, Hemp, Cork, Pitch, Tarr, Clapboard, Knapple, Skewhoops and Nets, free of all Custom, or other Imposition whatsoever.  
All Herring and White Fish taken and prepared therewith, free of any manner of Taxation or Burden in the Exportation of the same.  
All Strangers concerned therein, Naturalised of course, and also free of all Taxation upon their other Effects, for the space of Seven Years next after such their Naturalisation.  
All Beer, Ale, Strong-waters, and other Provisions for Out-reeking of any Vessel for the said Fishings, free of all manner of Impositions whatsoever.  
All Lords, and Proprietors of Land, in all Places throughout the Kingdom where such Fishing is carried on, to protect, maintain and defend the same, and all Masters of Ships, Fishers, and others whatsoever thereunto belonging, from all harm and trouble; otherwise, to refund and satisfy respectively all Loss and Damage sustained upon their Land.  
All Ships, Boats, and other Vessels, in the exercise of the said Trade of Fishing, and their employment therein, no ways Arrestible by any Creditor: The Fishers, Masters and Servants in the said Vessels, during the whole time and season of such Fishing, and their employment therein, free from all Actions of Debt, and no ways conveenable before any Judge or Judicature whatsoever, for any Cause or Causes Civil, which might be intended against them: and generally all the said Persons, Masters and Servants, free of all Captions, Arrestments, or other Attachments on their Persons, or against their Materials and Instruments of Fishing, they being actually serving therein allanerly.  
The Stock and Profits thereof free of all Stents and Taxations.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
Page 6. l. 39 for Exceptions r. Exemptions. pag. 7. l. 23. for hence r. Home.