REASONS HUMBLY OFFERED To the Consideration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, On Behalf of the BILL to Restrain the Wearing of East-India and Persia Wrought Silks, etc.  
THAT the Advocates for the East-India Company rather blind and amuse the Matter controverted, than explain it; for the Dispute is not with or against the Trade in general, but that Branch only which is certainly destructive to England in the Value of its Land, Productions, Manufactories, Navigations, Land-carriages, and to the extreme Dispeopling thereof. All which we have and can make good.  
England's own Productions, is the Foundation of all its Wealth, Navigation and Merchandise; and the due Improvement thereof, especially in the Wool, is what ought to be principally regarded and promoted; and the Packs in the Honourable House of Lords bespeak no less.  
That England had never recovered the Mischiefs former great Importations of India wrought Silks brought upon us, had we not been beholden to the Invention of Worsted Crapes, which for several Years was a universal Fashion, and cut out the East-India Goods and recovered the Trade for Wool, when many Growers thereof at that first Invention, having Six, Eight, some Ten Years Wool before hand; and it did likewise greatly increase the Trade in Number, that now want Employment both at London and other Parts.  
That English Wool being first Improved by Manufactory in several Counties and Towns, and afterwards by Navigation and Merchandise to Spain and Italy, brings home unwrought Silks and Spanish Wool, for the Employment both of Silk Weavers and Clothiers; which Spanish Wool is again, with our own, Manufactured and Exported to Turkey and other Parts, and the principal ●…s thereof are raw Silk, and Grograin and Cotten Yarn, Unmanufactured; which again Employs Multitudes of People, that, as well as the former, live and consume the Productions of our own Lands.  
That the passing this Bill into a Law, will in a few Years greatly increase our numbers of People in this Kingdom, and will so invigorate the Minds of all Fabricators both in Silk, Wool, and Grograin Yarn, that have any thing of Stock or Credit by Faith and Hope, to contend with all other Disadvantages, tho' Money should be as scarce as at present; whereas the contrary will discourage (those of great Ability) to that degree, that the Out-Parishes of London, Tower-Hamblets, and all the Wool Manufacturing Towns in England, will not be able to support their Poor.  
That East-India wrought Silks, etc. is Destructive to all the before mentioned Advantages, to the Dispeopling of the Kingdom.  
That nothing is so great and unnatural a force upon Trade, as sending our Woollen Manufactures to East-India, in regard they are not worn there, but sent to Persia; to the extreme prejudice of our Turkey Merchants and that Trade. So that the Consumption of Woollen Manufactories is not increased thereby.  
That the more wrought Silks comes from East-India, the less raw Silk doth come both from India and Turkey; and nothing is so valuable an Exchange for our Gold and Silver as raw Silk.  
That the passing this Bill will give the East-India Trade either to the Scotch or Dutch, is so Frivolous as deserves no Answer, for it must produce the quite contrary Effect.  
That our Entertainment of so many thousand Strangers argues a necessity for passing the Bill, unless we intent to maintain them without Working, or Starve them.  
That whatever Reasons induced the French King to part with his Weaving Subjects, 'tis plain, that whilst he had them, he took great Care for their Preservation; for by his Edict 26th of October 1686. He not only Prohibited the Wearing all sorts of East-India Silks and Calicoes; but likewise under a severe Mulct, forbidden the Imitation of figured and flowered Silks, by Printing or Staining any thing in likeness thereof, and under the same Penalty commanded all them Prints and Tools for so doing, to be utterly demolished, and never to be made again. By which 'tis plain that King had another Opinion of this Trade and People, than the East-India Doctor, that in his Superfine Spun Linse-woollse Discourse would render it otherwise to us.  
That part of the Act for Navigation looks strangely Unreasonable if this Bill deserves not to Pass, when for the sake and profit only of Throwing and Dying of Silk, 'tis prohibited so to be brought both from East-India and several other Parts, for the Weaving part thereof is at least four times the Value to England than both Dying and Throwing is.  
That Manufacturing of Silk is as Reasonable and as Natural, and no more Foreign to England than to France, Holland or Flanders, tho' of later attainment; and it being so greatly beneficial (as it certainly is) deserves and requires to be the more tenderly Cherished and Supported.  
That at the price Provisions sell in England, 'tis impossible for English Manufacturers, either Clothiers, Silk Weavers or Silk Throwsters, to work Cheaper then they do.  
That 'tis the Interest of all Fabricators, to Work and Sell as Cheap as they can Afford, and Trade will in that Case certainly adjust itself, and they that do not will Suffer for it: But we believe not, that our Noble Ancestors placed the Wooll-packs just under the Throne, to make Wool as little worth as it possibly could.  
That neither Italian, French, or Dutch Silks can prejudice us in our Trades, so much as India Silks will and does, we Working upon more equal Terms with them.  
That Passing this Bill may occasion the East-India Company to Import the more China and Bengal raw Silks and Cotten Yarn, to the greater Employment of Shipping and our Manufacturers, which the other will destroy.  
That the Great Mogul will be no more displeased at this, than the Great Turk was, when those Merchants left bringing over Turkey Manufactured Silk, Hair Grograins and Tammies (which in our Memory were the general Wear of our Grandmothers and Mothers) and now instead thereof import us only raw Silk Grograin and Cotten Yarn to England's great Advantage.  
That what is commonly called East-India Silk, the principal Substance with which it is made, is their fine Cotton-Yarn, of which sort of Yarn the Company never brought much, if any unwrought; and it being softer in feeling than our English Worsted, better gratifies the Fancies of our nice Females. And except in that respect, our Grazetts and Autherines' are as good a wear as they, if made to the Value. And these India Silks, are by the Draper or Mercer, sold as dear, or dearer than English Silks or Stuffs.  
That skilful Seamen are made by our Newcastle and Coasting Trade, in such small Vessels as are continually plying, to serve our numerous Manufacturers with Coals, Corn, Butter and Cheese and other Necessaries, whilst Trading to India, consumes them more than in an ordinary manner; and if it be for the sake of their bringing wrought Silks, they'll die in a bad Cause; for in respect to Navigation, raw Silk from Turkey, is five times more bulky than wrought from India.  
That if for the gain of the East-India Company, our Manufactures must be destroyed, or work at their Prices, that have all the Necessaries for Life, six times as cheap as England can afford, and want neither  nor Fuel; the value of Land, and all its Productions and Rents, must sink answerably thereto.  
That we cannot believe, that good Policy for England which is for Holland, they living in a small spot of Ground, are obliged in reason to leave Trade more free, and lay their Taxes on the Consumers only: But we that are blest with a large Tract of fruitful Land, rich Mines, productive and laborious Cattle, convenient Ports and Navigable Rivers, must with the Manufacturing our own Productions improve our Land, by feeding our People, support our Trade, Traffic, Navigation and Land-Carriage, and by all Lawful ways increase our People; and if for the sake of any one of these, the others are prejudiced, the Public must suffer Diminution thereby; but if in Conjunction all are Advanced, this, and this only, will procure a healthful Constitution in the Body Politic; and when the other parts of the World can agree on a free Trade, it will be time for us to consider; and till then, make the best Improvement of the Blessings of Almighty God.  
That the Sentiments of that great Member of the East-India Company, Sir Josiah Child, may judge betwixt us in the 43d Page of his Discourse concerning Trade, says, That whatsoever advances the value of Land in purchase, 

That improves the Rent of Farms,  
That increaseth the bulk of Foreign Trade,  
That multiplies Domestic Artificers,  
That inclines the Nation to Thriftiness,  
That employs the Poor,  
That increaseth the stock of the People, must be procuring Causes of Riches.    
We shall conclude with the undeniable Maxim, of the said Sir Josiah, which he lays down in his Preface to the said Book.  
That a Foreign Expense, especially of Foreign Manufactures, is the worst Expense a Nation can be inclinable too, and aught to be prevented as much as possibly.