THE ANSWERS TO THE Reasons offered by the Hamborough Company, For Excepting the Rivers Elbe, Weser and Eyder, Out of the BILL for a Free Trade in the Woollen Manufactures of England.  
Objection. FIrst, they object and say, That the like Bill was rejected last Sessions of Parliament.  
Answer. That Bill was Committed, and the Committee heard Council on both sides several times, and were satisfied that it was a good Bill, and the same was Reported, and Ordered to be Engrossed. But upon the great Importunity of the Hamborough Company, alleging, That the Clothiers would be ruined if the Bill should pass; the House did not think fit to pass it at that time: But the Clothiers were presently sensible of the decay of their Trade, and have suffered very much since that time, and have not been able to employ the Poor as formerly; so that the Parishes are forced to maintain them.  
Objection. The Hamborough Company object and say, That far greater Quantities of the Woollen Manufacture was Exported, when the Trade was in their Hands, than since a Liberty was given to other Merchants to Export the same.  
Answer. It was proved, before a Committee of this Honourable House, that during the three Years granted by Act of Parliament, for a Free Trade in the Woollen Manufactures, there was Sold, for Exportation, by the Clothiers of England, and actually exported to Holland, Flanders, Brabant and Germany, to the value of Five hundred thousand Pounds more than when the Trade was under the Regulation of the Hamborough Company only; and the Companies Allegation, That Foreigners have been the chief Managers of this Trade, is a great mistake.  
Objection. The Company object and say, That they have great Quantities of Goods at Hamborough, and have, and can, supply the Germans according to their Patterns.  
Answer. The Germans have, for several Years, utterly disliked the Companies way of Dealing; and, therefore, will not go to Hamborough to supply themselves: And if they cannot be furnished with Goods directly from England, they rather choose to supply themselves with Goods from Holland, or elsewhere.  
Objection. The Company object and say, That the three Rivers of Elbe, Weser and Eyder, are only the Inlets to the North part of Germany.  
Answer. These Rivers are also Inlets to the South parts of Germany, to wit, Francfort, Newremburgh, etc. and they are, and may be, supplied, through these Rivers, from England, Eight Pounds per Cent. cheaper than they can be supplied from Holland; besides, the Hollanders have prohibited all died Goods from England: So that if those three Rivers be granted to the Hamborough Company only, it will be, in effect, a Confirmation of their Charter; for they will then have the sole Trade to all Germany, because no other English Merchants can Trade thither, but through those Rivers, unless such Persons will be Free of their Company; which is, in effect, to ensnare them to observe and keep their By-Laws, which are oppressive and destructive to Trade, as hath been proved before a Committee of Their Majesty's Privy Council.  
The Clothiers and Others, in the West of England, can have Linen and other Commodities from abroad, cheaper by Ten Pounds per Cent. than from London, which the Hamborough Company know to be true; and, therefore, they have obstructed the Trade in those Parts, by vexing several Merchants with unjust Suits in Law, and in the High Court of Chancery, merely for Trading in the Woollen Manufactures of England.  
The Trading Members of the Hamborough Company are but few; and if the Clothiers shall not be permitted to sell their Cloth for Exportation, for ready Money to all Buyers, the Clothiers will, in a little time, be very much Impoverished, and will not be able to pay their Rents, nor to maintain their Families.