THE NAKED TRUTH, IN AN Essay upon Trade: WITH SOME PROPOSALS FOR BRINGING The Balance on our Side, Humbly Offered to the PARLIAMENT.  Praestat esse Prometheum quam Epimetheum. 
LONDON: Printed in the Year MDCXCVI.   

The Naked Truth; in an ESSAY upon TRADE.  
Humbly offered to the Parliament.  
IT was said of Old, and grounded upon good Reason, That England was a mighty Animal that would never die, unless it destroy itself; and nothing is considered with greater regret and reluctancy, than the fall of that Person who was his own Executioner. How far too many of our own Subjects are at present engaged against the true Interest of their Native Mother, carried on in a necessitous pursuit of Preferment on the one Hand, and sinister and private Gain on the other, is lamentable to consider, whilst both are but serving a Foreign Interest, and nothing can attend the success of either Party but falling into the Hands of the Common Enemy. Providence hath been miraculously prospicious unto us in our happy Revolution, thereby enabling us by a frequent Meeting of our Great Council (which Blessing was denied us in our two last Reigns) to establish the Interest of England once more upon its true Basis, by discouraging that course of Trade which exhausted our Bullion to support our Pride and Luxury, and by making up those Mounds which were carefully erected by our Ancestors to secure the Merchandise of our Native Commodities, to our own Subjects; which were suffered to be pulled down in our last Reigns only to enslave us, Poverty being the proper Shoo-horn to Slavery; Pride and Luxury was the only means, upon one Hand, to impoverish our Nobility and Gentry, and thereby bring them into a dependence upon the Court for Preferment, which was the best Inducement to make Laws to answer their own Necessities; and the more our middle and lower sort of People are impoverished, the likelier they were to submit to Wooden Shoes. Our East-India and Turkey Trade hath been the Darlings of our late Reigns, which had their chiefest influence from our extravagant Expense in a Foreign Consumption; and it is not the least of our Misfortunes in the present juncture of our Affairs, that the private Interest of so many of our most considerable Traders, doth interfere with the present Necessities of the public; this makes a Civil War in our own Bowels, most Advices tending to the centre of private Interest; and if any thing is touched upon that doth interfere, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! whilst our Golden Fleece, the only spring of our Riches, hath been laid open to all Nations, without so much as the guard of Alien's Duties. It is now above forty Years since all Government in Trade hath been laid aside, and every private Man's Rule (both Foreigner and English) freely become his own choice; and could the cunning of France (in whose Favour these Alterations were chiefly made) but have found out a way to reap these Benefits in Trade, secluding the Industry of Holland from getting a like share, our Circumstances, I doubt, would have been worse than they are at present.  
This hath carried the balance of Trade so much against us, that our Necessities press us upon an Inquiry after the true Causes thereof: And I shall make no Apology for this Essay being an Englishman, it being clear to my Apprehension, that should we new model our Coin, and not our Trade, we shall only make a bad Matter worse.  
I will make it my Task to consider first the Strength of our Trade, in those Advantages which Providence hath afforded us.  
In the next place, how it stands in the present management, in point of Profit and Loss to the public.  
And then cast in my Mite towards its amendment.  
That our Golden Fleece is the spring of our Riches was never yet denied; and England bore no small Figure in the World before the Days of Edward III. when we parted with our Wool to other Nations, as Nature gave it us; and the bringing of it to be a Manufacture in England, hath as evidently been the Increase of our Riches; in which particular I may truly say, that we are now come to a very great Improvement, not only in respect of our Old Drapery, but more particularly in our New Drapery and Art of Dying, which hath been obtained these late Years. And we are now able to gratify our Fancies, with our own Growth, in a great variety of flowered and stripped Cloth, and the intermixture of a Harmony of Colours in our Norwich Stuffs, as well as administer to the Necessities of Nature.  
This was accomplished with no small Difficulty, the Hanse-Towns of Germany and Flanders being very loath to part with so great a Benefit as the Manufacture of our Wool: And Edward III. obtained this Point upon them by main force, in a total stop of the Exportation of our Wool for a short time, upon the strictest Penalty; which was a very bold Attack when our Nation was wholly unskilful in the Manufacture; but good success crowned his noble Attempt, and when he had got a good Footing he gave a liberty to Export our Wool again, but took care to collect a good Duty out of it. And one thing he did to favour his Design, which I think deserves our notice at present, he put an effectual stop to the wearing of Furs 
‖ Decimo quarto, E. 3. cap. 4. , our Woollen Manufactures very much increased, and in the Reign of Henry IU. we were able to furnish other Parts as well as our own Nation; and he established the Company of Merchant-Adventurers to Trade to Zealand, Brabant and Holland, who were so successful in those Parts, that the Duke of Burgoine, in the Reign of Henry VI makes a Law totally to Prohibit our Cloth in his Dominions: Upon which Henry VI makes a Law to Prohibit all Merchandise growing or wrought in the said Duke's Dominions, 
Vicesimo octavo, Hen. 6. Cap 1.  from coming into England, upon Forfeiture, until he revoke the said Order: And the Duke of Burgoine being stiff in this Matter, the Year following Henry VI confirms the said Act for seven Years, which soon obliged him to a compliance. There was likewise some struggle of this nature between the Hanse-Towns and Queen Elizabeth, which was accommodated very much to the English Interest, as appears by the many and large Privileges granted to our English Merchants at Hamborough, Rotterdam and Dort, from which I may draw this natural Deduction, That we are able to give Rules in Trade to any part of the World, our Woollen Manufactures being certainly the commanding Commodity in Trade, and our Consumption of Foreign Commodities the most considerable of any one part of the World. Our New Drapery hath given us a very great advantage, being so agreeable to Spain and the West-Indies. And altho' our Nation is at present become the Emblem of Poverty, yet the Handle of the Riches of all Europe is in our Hands; and its lamentable to consider, that the blind Zeal of our Divisions should hinder us from making a right use of it; the long Wool of England is the Foundation of the Spanish Trade, which these late Years hath Enriched both France and Holland.  
I am now to show how our Trade stands at present in point of Profit and Loss to the Public: And I will herein confine myself to the four chief Branches thereof, viz. Our East-India-Trade; our Straits Trade to Turkey and Leghorn; our Trade to Holland, Flanders, Germany and Hamborough; and our Trade to Spain and the West-Indies; the two former of these are chiefly managed by our own Subjects, and the two latter lie open to the wide World, and are chiefly in the Hands of the Dutch.  
Our East-India-Trade is chiefly carried on with Gold and Silver sent from England, and taken in at Cadiz; when this Company lately enlarged themselves, by throwing open their Books for a short time (which I suppose was no voluntary Kindness to the public, but rather a touch of their Necessity) the Money then brought in (I suppose the lightest of it) paid almost Two hundred thousand Pounds in Bills, that were drawn upon them from Cadiz.  
The Commodities that we chiefly receive from the East-Indies, are Calicoes, Muslins, Indian wrought Silks, Pepper, Salt-Petre, Indigo, etc. The advantage of this Company is chiefly in their Muslins and Indian Silks (a great value in these Commodities being comprehended in a small Bulk) in their being become the general Wear in England; and this depends upon the cheap Workmanship of the Indians, being instructed to humour our English Fancies, by Artificers of all kinds sent from England; and this Trade being managed by a Joint-Stock, that can make what Presents they please (as appeared by a large Article in their Accounts) these Commodities are always the high Mode of England; a Dress that came under the satire of Juvenal when Rome was a parallel of our great City; exactly described,  

Tot premit ordinibus, tot adhuc compagibus altum,  
Ædificat caput, Andromachen a front ridebis,  
Post minor est—   
And I think that once in fifteen hundred Years is enough for any such Mode to appear in the World.  
This East-India-Trade hath been chiefly managed by a few Hands that have reaped the Benefit thereof; and being a Joint-Stock, managed with a great deal of Secrecy, it gives no advantage to the younger Sons of our Nobility and Gentry, and the hotness of the Climate hath wasted a multitude of our English Subjects. Papers are always stuck upon all Pillars of the Exchange, offering great Rewards to Seamen that will come in to this Company's Service. This Company laid the first Foundation to Stock-Jobbing, which of late Years hath received so many new Additions, that it is now become a voluminous Employment.  
The extravagant Expense of our Nation in Apparel, hath evidently been encouraged by the East-India Trade; and which adds to our loss, their Commodities are fully Manufactured abroad: Many ancient Entails that were carefully contrived by our forefather's, for the advantage of their Posterity, and to keep up the Monarchy of our English Nation, hath been insensibly cut off with Indian Silk: And it seems plain to me, that our Nation was plagued with their Commodities in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, when there was this good Law made to secure our gentlemen's Estates against the Syrenian Charms of these bewitching Commodities, that might assault their tender part. Whosoever shall Sell, 
Anno Quinto, Eliz. Cap. 6.  or Deliver to any Person (having not in Possession Lands or Fees, to the clear yearly value of 3000 l.) any Foreign Wares, not first Grown, or first wrought within the Queen's Dominions, appertaining to the Clothing or Adorning of the Body; for which Wares, or the Workmanship thereof, the Seller shall not receive the whole Money, or satisfaction in hand, or within Eight and twenty days after the making or delivering thereof, the Seller, Maker, etc. shall be without all remedy by order of any Law, Custom, or Decree, to recover any recompense for such Wares, or the Workmanship, whatsoever assurance he shall have by Bond, Surety, Promise, or Pawn of the Party, or any other; and all Assurances or Bonds in that case shall be Void. Which was a temporary Act, and it Expired.  
And I hope, I am now addressing myself to many Country Gentlemen, who can yet remember how much better it was in the Country, when the Kitchen was kept hot in a good hospitable Expense, and the Wool yielded a good Price, than it hath been since our Grandeur hath only appeared in the curiosity of a Parlour dressed up in Indian Silks and Muzlins, like Flower-pots, for a show.  
Our Turkey, or Straits Trade, is carried on partly with our Woollen Manufactures, and partly with Silver sent from England, and taken in at Cadiz; and it gives us in return Raw Silks of divers sorts, and a very good Staple, Grogerom Yarn, Drugs in abundance; (the vent of which hath a great dependence upon our Taverns) gaul's, etc. which are Commodities that are not fully Manufactured; and I think that this Trade deserves the favour of our Nation when it is in a flourishing Condition: But at present our Coin being low, and the balance of Trade so much against us, a Cloth Cloak seems as proper for our Wear as one of Camlet, since we run so great a hazard to procure the Latter; and our Turkey Merchants Estates being brought home at a great Expense to our Nation, it appears to me to be of great moment, to consider whether this Straits Trade does not yield too great an advantage to the Turks, in taking from them their Silks, Grogerom Yarn, Drugs, etc. for our Money and Cloth (that are both advantageous Commodities to encourage a War) when they are virtually our Enemies, as they act against the Emperor, and are encouraged by the King of France, whilst our Nation is only Impoverished with their Commodities, and we have quick vent for our Cloth to Flanders and Germany, for the use of our own Army; and to procure Linens from those parts that our Nation is in need of at home, to be at charge to impoverish ourselves, is but Tapping our Vessel at both ends; which may serve in an Election, but not in a War: Whilst it is evident that the good success of the War that we are at present engaged in, doth very much depend upon the strength of that side that is like to support it longest. Our Expenses in the way of living and carrying on our War, hath drained our Treasure (in ocular Demonstration) to a very low Ebb: And those Streams that brought in our Treasure from Spain and the West-Indies, are evidently diverted into another Channel: So that without consideration, we must inevitably fall. It is not an Indian Dress set forth with Scarlet Ribbons, kept warm with a Sable-Tippet, or the easy Victories that we obtain over a Glass of Red; nor indeed our Paper Credit, that will put the French King upon advantageous Offers of Peace; but indeed the quite contrary. And this leads me to the consideration of the profitable part of our Trade, which is in the hands of other Nations.  
Our Trade to Holland, Flanders, Germany, and Hamborough, is carried on with the Native Commodities of our own Nation; and we are furnished from thence with Linens of all kinds, agreeable to all ranks of People, Whalebone, Wire, Madders, Spicery, etc. And the balance of Trade in these parts in former days, was always upon our side: They have taken from us Eighty Thousand Broad-Cloths a Year; and the value of Fifty Thousand in Cottons and Kerseys (as Sir Walter Raleigh tells us:) But then our general Wear in England in fine Linens, was Hollands, Cambrics, Silesia Lawns, and other fine Flaxen Linens from Flanders; and I think we knew no Muslins until about Five and twenty years since; ever since we got the Manufacture of our Wool from the Flemings, as oft as any good opportunity hath been offered, it hath always been improved to draw it thither again; and no wonder, the benefit being so great. And since we have obtained upon them beyond their power in that particular, a farther Contest hath oft times arose about the Merchandise of our Woollen Manufacture; whether they should fix a Factory in England, (or employ English Factors, which is the same) to buy our Woollen Manufactures, and sell their Linens at the utmost advantage of our Markets? or, Whether we should have the Merchandise of our Native Commodities fix a Factory in those parts, and buy their Commodities at the best advantage of their Markets? That side which prevails in this matter, doth gain the Merchandise, the Freight, the management of the Exchange, and the Government of Trade; a matter worth contending for. From Henry IV. to Edward VI the Merchandise of our Woollen Manufactures, was divided between our Merchant Adventurers and the Foreign Merchants of the Still-yard, but for the encouragement of our English Merchants, Aliens Duties were always paid by the Still-yard Merchants, notwithstanding Naturalisation, until the Twenty second year of Henry VIII. at which time there was an Act made, that Denizens should pay the same Duties that Aliens did. But the Merchants of the Stil-yard by their Money, got themselves exempt, under the title of Merchants of the House of Almain, or Tutonicorum: And I dread nothing more at this time than Foreign Merchants under the title Tutonicorum: For these Merchants got their first footing in England in the Reign of Henry VIII. by lending him Money to carry on his Wars abroad. This was a great point gained up on the English Merchants. And in the 32 Henry. VIII. cap. 16. it appears, that Aliens Duties in the general was taken off by the King's Proclamation. This advantage prevailed so far upon the Foreign Merchant's side, that in the year 1552, the Fifth year of Edward VI they Shipped off Forty four thousand clothes, and our English Merchants not Four thousand; and all was Exported and Imported in Foreign Bottoms, as appears by the Journals of Edward VI The English Merchants being at this low Ebb, put in their Complaint to the King and Council against these Merchants Tutonicorum; and they gave in their Answer to the said Complaint, upon the Eighteenth day of January; and upon the Twenty fifth their Answer was delivered to some Learned Counsel, to peruse it, upon the Eighteenth day of February. The Merchant Adventurers put in their Replication to the said Answer: And upon the Twenty third a Decree was made by the Board, That upon knowledge and information of their Charters, they had found First, That they were no sufficient Corporation. Secondly, That their Names, Numbers and Nations were unknown. Thirdly, When Edward IV. did restore them to their Privileges, it was upon the condition, that they should cover no Foreigners Goods, which they had done. For these Considerations, Sentence was given, That they had forfeited their Liberties, and were to be no more than Strangers. Upon the 28 th'. day came Ambassadors from Hamborough, Lubeck, and the Regent of Flanders to speak upon the behalf of these Merchants Tutonicorum. And upon the 2 d. of March, the Answer for the Ambassadors was committed to the Lord Chancellor, the two Secretaries, Sir Robert Bows, and Sir John Baker, Judge Montague Griffith; Solicitors Gosnald, Goodrick and Brooks. It remained under consideration until the first day of May, and then the Merchants Tutonicorum, received their full Answer, confirming the former Judgement of the Counsel. This gave encouragement to a great many English Merchants to come into this Company. And in October the Third following, Three hundred Merchants of this Company of Merchant Adventurers, met together, and lent Edward VI Forty thousand Pounds to be paid in Flanders: And they Shipped off Forty thousand clothes. And the Merchandise to these parts, remained in English hands from this time till the year 1663. And now it is reduced to the same low ebb again, Aliens Duties having been taken off ever since the 25th. of Charles II. and the same inconveniences attended our Nation at that time as we labour under at present. In point of Gold, it is thus expressed in a Statute made the same year, Divers Covetous Persons of their own Authority, 
Anno Quinto Edw. VI Cap. 19  have of late taken upon them to make Exchanges as well of Coined Gold as Coined Silver; receiving and paying therefore more in value than hath been declared by the King's Proclamation to be current for, to the great hindrance of the Commonwealth. Before I part with this considerable branch of our Trade, I cannot but take notice of a very great hardship that was put upon Flanders in the 12 th'. of Car. II. in the settling of our Books of Rates; as if we had been at that time in a Confederacy with the King of France, we were to put a stop to their Trade, that he might buy the better Pennyworths in their Towns; each Ell of Flanders Linens is charged at five Shillings to pay Custom; which was four times the Custom of any Linens from France at that time.  
I come now to consider our new Drapery in our Trade to Spain and the West-Indies, which is the greatest improvement that England ever made: This brings home our Silver, Spanish Wool, Cochineal, Iron, etc. And it was Incorporated for some time, in the beginning of the Reign of James I. But we knew no such thing as our new Drapery in those days.  
Our Nation hath lost Five hundred thousand Pounds per Annum, by not Incorporating our Spanish Trade. This New Drapery of ours hath set up France in Merchandise, and enriched Holland. The French turned their Claret, Brandy, Alamodes and Lutestrings, into Colchester Bays, Serges, and Perpetuana's, and sent them to Spain and the West-Indies; and had in return to France pieces of Eight, Spanish Wool, Cochineal, Iron, etc. and by this means made themselves Masters of a third part of the Spanish Trade. This Trade at present is almost wholly centred in the hands of the Dutch, which makes them Masters of the Silver, which is brought into Holland to serve our occasions as well as their own; and by Bills sent into England, they have gained 25 l. per. Cent. to buy our Bays and Serges for Spain, to fetch home more Silver; which must be a very gainful Trade to them. And this open Trade to Holland in the Channel now it is in, must unavoidably destroy our English Merchants in the general. The chief Branch of this Spanish Trade that we are interessed in, is with the Portuguese for Wine, who have laid a very high Duty upon our Woollen Manufactures, almost to a Prohibition. So this must be the purchase of our Money from Cadiz. So that in the West as well as the East-Indies, the impoverishing part of Trade falls to our lot, and the profitable part of the Dutch. And the most encouraging thought that offers to my apprehension in this whole matter, is, that what we have lost since the Wars, hath chiefly fallen into the hands of our Allies, who are engaged with us in the War, and nearest the Danger, who in Gratitude will bear a greater share if need require, being as well able to do that as lend us Mony. Charity seems now to begin at home, and should we Mortgage and Borrow much longer, Vul●us fit immedicabile, & pars sincera trahitur. And it may be best on both sides to ●ix the foot of our Accounts: When a Cure seems a little desperate, we are very apt to cry out, Ense Recidendum. It is true, say some, English Merchants ought to be Encouraged; but it is not a proper Season during the Wars. A Man in a deep Consumption applies himself to his Physician in the Autumn, and he told him he could do nothing for him until such Sp●ing-herbs did appear: This was but a melancholy Answer; but it had been overwhelming, had there been no certainty of the Spring. And we find a careful Shepherd upon the first notice that a Sheep is seized with Worms, instantly bestirs himself to a Cure, knowing that they will not only eat on, but engender; which is nearest my Simile, being upon the Golden Fleece. I have now gone through the easy part of my Task, and yet the nature of our Distemper bespeaks its own Cure. There appears to me but one way to bring the Balance of Trade upon our side, which if dextrously managed, would soon effect it. We have many considerable Traders at present employed in bringing home superfluous Commodities, that are purchased with our Bullion, to the hindrance of our own Native Commodities. Another sort of People that are dronishly employed in Clubbing their Stocks to engross Commodities, under pretence of Banks for the good of the Public, whereby our Nation is Excised at a very ill time. A third sort, of no inconsiderable number, that like Mahomet's Fleas, shelter themselves in the Fleece, and Charity must be very high, to judge some of them by their Actions, to be in any other way for Heaven; and these like a dead weight hang upon the Master-wheel of our Trade, which gives motion to all the rest; these live splendidly in a needless Employment, between the Maker of our Woollen Manufacture and the Buyer, when at the same we as much want Hands and Stock to Export our Native Commodities to Spain, Flanders, Germany and Hamborough, thereby to bring home a real profit to our Nation in a fair way of Trade; and to disengage these Hands from the one, and engage upon the other, is what I chiefly offer at, which I humbly conceive must be done by sharpness upon one Hand, and encouragement upon the other. Corruption hath so far prevailed among us, that no Law can be effectual to prevent the Exportation of our Money when there is a profit to be made thereby; and the higher Customs are set upon Commodities that are any way handy, the less Money is brought in to the King. The K of France made a Market of us by the prohibition of his Alamodes and Lute-strings, they were always plenty and the Custom saved; and Fashion is truly termed a Witch, the dearer and scacrer any Commodity, the more the Mode; 30 s. a yard for Muslins, and only the shadow of a Commodity, when procured. This must be effected, on this side, by Acts of Parliament, whose Penalties must force their own Execution, strictly prohibiting the Consumption of these superfluous Commodities that drain our Treasure. And I am confirmed in this Opinion by the practice of former Days, when the same necessity required it. In the 5th Year of Richard II. we have this account of the state of the Nation at that time, and what was done. 
Anno quinto Rich. 2. cap. 2.  For the great mischief which the Realm suffereth, and long hath done, for that Gold and Silver, as well in Money, Vessels, Plate and Jewels, as otherwise, by Exchanges made in divers manners, is carried out of the Realm, so that in effect there is none thereof left; which thing, if it should longer be suffered, would shortly be the destruction of the same Realm (which God prohibit) it is asserted and recorded, and the King enjoineth all manner of People, etc. The substance of this Act was to prohibit the Exportation of our Money, particularly levelling at the Custom-house Officers in an extraordinary Reward to be given by the King, if any of them was found tardy in this Affair: And that which was the chiefest care at this time, was the setting the price of Wine to be sold in Gross or Retail, and the forfeiture of them that sell them dearer; and a Power given to the chief Officer of a City or Borough to sell them at the same Prices if the Owner would not; and a Subsidy granted to the King, so that the Money that comes thereby may be wholly employed upon the keeping of the Sea. I can't but here observe the good Genius of this time, 
Anno sexto Rich. 2. c. 3.  in so ingenuous and frank a Confession of the Truth, whilst, like the Laodiceans, we are Rich in Fancy or Design, 
In H— d.  a multitude of weighty Money hoarded up— which will be brought out—  
The next parallel that I observe of this nature, 
If you will sell your Liberties.  is anno quinto & sexto Edw. 6. cap. 19 where it is thus expressed, That divers covetous Persons of their own Authorities have of late taken upon them to make Exchanges as well of coined Gold as coined Silver, receiving and paying therefore more in value than hath been declared by the King's Proclamation to be current for, within his Realm and other his Dominions, to the great hindrance of the Commonwealth of this Realm, it was then Enacted, That no Person or Persons should receive or pay away any Gold, etc. at any other price than the same is or shall be declared by the King's Proclamation to be current for: Which seems to imply, that the advance price of Gold was then brought down, and gradually settled by the King's Proclamation, which deserves our present Consideration. But the next Year the price of Wine was likewise settled at two Pence a Quart, and the number of Taverns reduced to forty in the City of London. But that which is most considerable to my present purpose, is the Statute made the first Year of Philip and Mary, cap 2. Whosoever shall wear Silk in or upon his Hat, Bonnet, Scabbard, Hose, Shoes or Spur-leather, shall be three Months Imprisoned, and pay 10 l. except Mayors, Aldermen, etc. If any Person knowing his Servant to offend, doth not put him forth of his Service within fourteen Days, or do retain him again, he shall forfeit 100 l. This Statute was kept on foot the whole Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and Repealed in express Words the first Year of King James I. I shall only add in this Matter, that I think our Indian Silks and Muslins, which are fully Manufactured abroad, do our Nation the greatest mischief at present, and a stop of the consumption of these will ease us of our Scottish Fears. This I must confess was a sharp Statute against our Straits Trade, but the more we consume of our own Commodities, the better price we shall get for those we sell; and the more the Linens of Flanders and Germany are consumed in England, the better able will they be to give us a good price; and in point of Policy, more to be encouraged at this time than Turks and Indians. But a Silk-Weaver is not out of his way when turned to Worsted, Druggets, Norwich-Stuffs, etc. What I further propose, is an effectual stop to Engrossing of Commodities, and the preserving the Sale of Goods in the public Market, which will bring in a good Stock into the advantage of the public; and none so fit to make Merchants to Export our Woollen Manufactures, as those Persons that understand them; hereby our Cloth-factors may be capable to pay that Debt which they owe to the public. Should we New-Coin our Money to its full Weight, and not remove this Temptation of Exporting it, it will be but a Compliment to us, and soon make its Exit. A multitude of Paper hath been spent upon the subject of our Coin, most of which I take to be no other than the Cry of a Lapwing, when his Nests is like to be disturbed; and the great alteration of Exchanges, the same with the Scholar, that endeavoured, in his Declamation, to possess his Auditors with the Belief of a dimness that had befallen the World, by the unhappy Accident of an Ass that drank up the Moon. If we are honest and keep our Money at home, as Law requires, it is the same thing whether an Ounce of Silver is ordered to go for 5 s. or 5 s. 6 d. if it answer the end that it was designed for in the accommodation of Trade; that in one Commodity that I have an overplus, I shall receive another that my need requires; and good care hath been successively taken that no Foreign Merchant should sell any Foreign Commodities, but he should lay out his Money in England; for we are able to furnish Commodities for any Commodity that our Occasions require, and let Foreign Bullion take its own course, whilst the Government of the Mint is in the King's Hand.  
And in this Counter-Scuffle about our Coin, to my Apprehension there appeared a Jackdaw amongst the Rooks, in his artificial distinction of the Extrinsic, Intrinsic and Real Value of our Coin, adherent to the Species, when a Dog won't eat it; and I always thought that the real Value was in the Commodity's exchange, one for the other, and but virtually in the Mony.  
But I proceed to my Design in Hand, the Encouragement of our Trade, by such good Laws that were recommended by His Majesty's most Gracious Speech, which will give Encouragement to all our Subjects in general to fall in to the Exportation of our Native Commodities, which can alone relieve us. And this can be done but by these two ways: First, by Incorporating those Places that are most proper for our Old and New Drapery, and then making those Companies so Extensive (each Person Trading with his own Stock) that it may be secure from Monopoly. In the next place, by Repealing the Statute of the 25 Car. II. that destroyed Aliens Duties, which in the first Year of Queen Eliz. were called the ancient Revenues of the Crown. And nothing hath conduced so much to our present Calamity, as the colouring Foreigners Goods; our Nation hath hereby been surprised, and our Interest supplanted, and Poverty is always the Daughter of Perjury, and this hath been the Ruin of our Seamen, which hath been twice recommended by His Majesty's Speech. By this Statute of Elizabeth, all English Merchants were obliged to Ship their Goods upon English Ships, or pay Aliens Duties; instead 
Primo Eliz. cap. 13.  of ten Groats for a Cloth to pay a Noble. And it is a vain thing to expect that a Germane Merchant shall send for an English Ship to Bremen, to carry his Linens for England? Or, that he should order his Factor here to send his Cloth in any other than upon his own bottom, when he is likely to be concerned in the Shipping? The Merchandise and Freight will be one good step towards the bringing the balance upon our side.  
The loss of the Manufacture of so great a part of our Wool which is Exported, and the Exportation of so great a quantity of our Woollen Manufacture, not fully Manufactured, is at present a very impoverishing consequence to us; we lose cent. per cent. in the first, and twenty per cent in the latter.  
Application hath been made by the Clothiers in the first of these, and by the Dyer's in the latter: But it hath not hitherto been worth our Notice; and the present Bill to prevent the Exportation of Wool as it is Drawn, is certainly an encouragement to Exportation: The turning of Felony into a Praemunire is in this case the same thing, it being the same benefit to the Informer; and the keeping of the Statute a foot of the first of King William and Queen Mary, is giving an allowance to Export 3300 Todd of Wool to the Island of Jersie and Gernsie, more than was allowed by the Statute of the 12 Car. II. and under the shelter of 6600 there may be 60000, and Southampton is the only place in England to wound us in this Particular: It commands the best Wool in England in its kind, in a place that is remote from our chiefest places of its Manufacture; and how easy is it for French Lute-Strings, Alamodes, &c. to be Imported upon us in the same Channel. In the 27 Year of the Reign of Edward III it was made Felony to English Men to Export Wool upon the pain of Life and Member, and of forfeiture of the said Merchandise, 
V●●●simo Septimo Ed. 3. Cap. 3.  and of all their Goods and Chattels, and of forfeiture of all their Lands and Tenements to the chief Lords, and the chief Lords shall have a writ of Escheat in the case. They then found this Felony to be a snare in the matter, and in the 38 of the same Reign they repealed the Felony, and continued the other forfeiture; and why we may not at this time Colect a moderate Duty out of all our Woollen Manufacture Exported, without being fully Manufactured, as well as our Forefathers did so considerable a Duty out of our Wool that was Exported when it is growing so fast upon us, is beyond my apprehension. The Duty arising out of Wool from the Staple at Calais, was 38000 Pounds a year, which may be computed at 100000 at this time; whilst these Commodities Died in Holland, are Exported to Spain, Germany, and the East-Indies; to which places we are able to send. It was Enacted in the Reign of Henry VII. that no Cloth should be Exported until it was Barbed, Rowed, Shorn; and the full art of Dying was not obtained until of late years, but of very great concern to us to secure it as far as we can: Dying Wares are very bulky, and affects our Shipping, brings a Duty to the King. Many Commodities are of our own growth, as Allom, Coperas, Wool, etc. and it employs variety of Artificers in Dying, Pressing, Listing, Tillet-Painting, etc.  
The last thing that I humbly recommend for the advancement of our Trade in Foreign parts, is the redressing the cheating abuses in Trade, by falsifying and straining our Manufactures; and giving all encouragement to true making: A piece of English Cloth brought to its Perfection, is a noble Commodity: And by slight making and falsifying it, we give an advantage to Foreign Nations to gain upon us, with Commodities of a worse quality, but better made; and thereby give away those advantages which Providence hath given us: And the Name of God is hereby Blasphemed among the Turks, through us Christians, which is like the Whoredoms of Jezabel.  
Our Commonwealth is at this time very much oppressed by Engrossing. An Excise for the Common good was not thought advisable, whilst in the mean while we are brought into it by private hands. One hundred thousand Cauldron of Coals it's believed hath been bought up by Persons that designed to make a Market of them; and the fit distance between a Lady-day and Michaelmas that the Act was to commence with a considerable Duty, gave good encouragement: The mildness of the Winter, through God's Providence, hath hitherto prevented the sharpness of their Designs; notwithstanding which, Coals are now worth Six and forty Shillings a Cauldron. By a Statute now in force, which was made in the 7th year of Edward VI. it was Enacted, That no Person, or Persons, shall buy any Wood, Coals, or Fuel, but only such that will burn or consume the same, 
Homo Homini Lupus.  or such Person that will sell the same by Retail to such as will burn and consume the same by their own occupying, without fraud or covin, upon forfeiture of treble the value of the Coals, one half to the King, and one half to the Informer. If Fifty thousand Cauldron of these forfeited Coals were applied to the King's use upon a treble forfeiture at forty Shillings a Cauldron, it would advance Three hundred thousand Pounds; which would help well at this time. Spanish and English Wool is Engrossed, Oil, Cochineal, all Commodities where Engrossing is practicable; and a very great Complaint upon our English Wool from all parts of the Kingdom.  
In the 4th year of Edward IU. it was Enacted, That no Person for three years should buy any Wool, unless he made it into Yarn, or some sort of Manufacture. This Act was continued in the 4th Year of Henry VII. for 10 Years longer, limited to 28 Counties. The same Act was continued for 10 Years more, in the 22d Year of Henry VIII. And in the 5th and 6th Years of Edward VI. it was made general, but with that great caution, that the King by his Proclamation should dissolve the said Act; notwithstanding which it remained in force 70 Years, and was repealed the 21st Year of James Is't. and the reviving of this Act would be a double advantage to Trade, in preventing the Exportation of Wool, and in enhansing the Price of it. Precedents are safe Rules to walk by, the Interest being still the same.  
At a common heap of Losses in Juvenal's time, he tells us of one Codrus that brought a good burden to the heap in a great zeal, Nihil habuit Codrus; quis enim negat? Et tamen infelix perdidit totum nihil. Our Losses are not come upon us upon a sudden; we have many Codrus' that have lost French Commissions, which were carried on under English Colours for two or three per Cent. whilst the French Merchant saved thereby five, or six per. Cent. in his Customs; French Wines being charged 30 s. per Tun upon Aliens accounts, whilst these Men would be thought to have lost their Estates too, though they had none. And were all the Commissions known that are at this time managed for Foreigners under Engligh Colours, this short account would answer its Titles; and no wonder, when our East-India Company shall carry on a Trade for the Persians, and sell their Goods for a Commission, or Permission, as they call it; which is plain demonstration to me, That if Spain or Italy was a better Market for Indian Commodities than England, that Calendar the Persian would find out a way to carry them thither, and not pay 18 per cent. to the East-India Company, to sell them in England; and how great their share was in the East-India Ships is not mentioned; so that to pretend that our East-India Trade do as well bring in Money as send it out, is at this time but imposing upon the Public; and so long as we have a Mint going in the Indies, as their Papers tell us, to Coin Silver, I doubt we shall want it at home; but after all, nothing can keep us poor but our own Divisions. And how little is that Merchant to be pitied, who, when secured from the imminent danger of Charybdis, by the hazardous interposition of a Friend, and advised to steer a middle course, should yet contrary to such advice, and the ancient and practised Rules of Navigation split his Ship upon Scylla.  
I have now gone through that Task to the best of my judgement, which my Native Interest engaged me in, and submit the whole to the Consideration of this August Assembly.  
FINIS.