Columbia University in the City of New York 
 LIBRARY  
THE SELIGMAN LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS PURCHASED BY THE UNIVERSITY 1929   

A LETTER From a Merchant in SCOTLAND, To his Correspondent in London. Relating to the Duty upon SCOTCH-LINNEN.  
SIR  
I Have your Letter of the Instant, wherein you give me an Account, That the Parliament of England have Voted to lay an Additional Duty of 1 d. per el, on Scotch Linen, in order to raise Money to Supply the Deficiency of some Funds.  
Also you are pleased to Inform me, That as an Act of kindness to me, and the rest of your Friends here, you have used all your Interest, and engaged all your Friends against the said Bill, for which we suppose you expect our Thanks.  
We think ourselves obliged to thank you for your Intention, but are very sorry your Good Will should fall under the Unhappiness of a mistake; and therefore before we explain ourselves, we desire you by all means to desist any farther Solicitation of that Affair, unless you will be so kind as to engage all your Interests and Friends on the other hand, if it be possible, to get the Bill to Pass.  
Possibly you may think this something strange; but in order to convince your Judgement, that your Friendship may join with your Discretion in the Matter, I take the liberty to open your Eyes a little, and show you what is and what is not the true Interest of our Trade in Scotland.  
First, you are to understand, Scotland does not gain of England, but England gains of Scotland, by the General Trade of both Nations. I prove this by this Rule of Trade; That in Trade, that Nation Gains most which Exports most Goods of its own Growth, and receives back most Money. Now 'tis allowed that we receive from England about 60000 l. per Annum in Goods more than we Export to them; the Remainder of which we remit by Bills, which is Money; and consequently England Gains of Scotland 60000 1. per Annum, by the Trade.  
The reason of this is the want of those Manufactures in Scotland which we have from England, and which we cannot be without, nor be well supplied with elsewhere.  
We who have a true Notion of the English Trade, and the great disadvantages we are under in our Trading thither, have often Essayed to supply ourselves with those useful Goods, sometimes from Ireland, sometimes from Holland; but finding that either way it still enriched the persons who supplied us, and exhausted our Country of ready Money; and withal, in hopes of reaping the advantage of so beneficial a Trade, at last we began to inquire, why we might not make those Goods at home, which we buy so much to our disadvantage from abroad.  
On this Enquiry, we found we had Wool enough of our own, which, with the help of Spanish Wool, would enable us to make Broad-Cloths, and Stuffs, and what other things of that nature we might want; we found we have hands enough of our own Poor to Manufacture it, and to Spin, Wove, Knit, etc. And in short, we have with a Joint Stock Erected a Company for the carrying on this profitable useful design, and we have met with such success in it hitherto, as that we doubt not in a short time, not only to supply our own Nation, but Foreign parts also, and to let the World see that Scotland is an industrious Nation, and have only hitherto wanted due encouragement to make proof of it.  
Now in order to encourage our Design for the advantage of our Native Country, I know nothing in the World could have contributed more to us, than some discouragement on the vast Exportation of Linen. The Linen Manufacture in Scotland, is that which our Poor are so versed in, and so used to, that we find it difficult to bring them off from it; nay, though we give them better Wages than they can Earn in the other. Our Work seems new to them, and they think they are not so secure of constant Employ; but now if the English Parliament will lay a Duty on Scotch Linen, by which the Quantity sold may be diminished, the Poor will come under some necessity to work for us, and we shall soon have our Manufactures flourish.  
Besides, If we can but bring our Works to any Maturity against our next Parliament, we are in great hopes to get a general prohibition of all English Woollen Manufactures; to which, the Duty imposed upon our Linens in England will be a very great Argument; and if these Two Points are gained, we believe you will grant that our Company will be in a very good condition.  
As to the Goods we make, we have already very good Broad-Cloths and Serges made here; and we do not doubt in a very short time to purchase our Spanish Wool and Dyers Stuff abroad with our own Goods.  
By this short History of the Undertaking in Scotland, you will easily see that it is far from being our interest to oppose the laying a Duty on Scotch Linen in England.  
We are informed the Parliament are considering of Methods also to prevent the Improvement of the Woollen Manufacture in Ireland, and that one way they are pleased to think of, is to encourage the Linen Manufacture there. It is, no question, a very proper way, and if it can be brought to pass, will certainly answer the End; and it seemed strange to us at first sight, that the Parliament should not apprehend the very same thing in Scotland, but attempt to discourage our Linen Trade, which is the only present hindrance of our falling into the Woollen, at as large a rate as ever Ireland can pretend to.  
If ever we in Scotland bring our Woollen Manufacture to such a head as we hope to do, we do not question but we may have a Hamborough as well as an East-India Company, with Privileges as great as other Companies enjoy; and indeed I cannot see why the English should envy us the Improvement of Trade, and the Growth of our own Country, since they themselves received the first Instructions in all their Manufactures from their Neighbours the Flemings.  
And yet, I acknowledge, we ought not to think that the English do envy us at all, or that they will at all resent our Setting up the Woollen Manufacture for that. If we had been to ask of your Nation, what they would do for us, to encourage and help us forward in the Infancy of our Undertaking, we could have desired no greater Favour than they have done us in discouraging our Linen Work.  
The Making of Linen in Scotland seems to have been introduced rather by a Necessity than a Profit; the Wages to the Poor is very small, the Profit to the Merchant much less, and the Advantage to the Nation none at all. But if we can come to some degree of Improvement in the Woollen Trade, we may in time be as Rich, and as Populous as England; for so many thousands of our People would never have gone abroad, if some useful and profitable Manufacture had been settled at home.  
This we are upon, and this we hope to accomplish; and since so happy a Juncture offers itself to remove the only Obstacle, viz. the Linen Trade, we beg of you by no means to hinder it.  
It is needless, I suppose, to use any Arguments here to convince you that a Duty on Scots Cloth in England will lessen the making of it; but you may take a little to demonstrate the General.  
1. We have no Vent for our Linen but into England and Ireland, our own Expense excepted; now the Market in England is secured by our selling Cheaper than the Germany Linen, for our Scots Cloth is rather inferior to the Germany Linen in its quality, and if it be but at the same price, the Germany Linen sells before it; but we under-sell them 1 d. per el, and that secures the Trade. Now this Duty which is just a Penny an Ell, brings them to an Equality, and so the Germans will have all the Trade: I appeal to the Drapers and Merchants at London for the truth of this.  
But it may be Objected, That we may abate 1 d. per Ell in the Price; to that I answer, With all my heart; for then either the Maker would put none out, or the Merchant would buy none, and that would do our business as well.  
At present the utmost profit can be made is not above a Halfpenny per el, and if the Merchant must abate 1 d. he must lose a halfpenny, and then he would not deal in it; if the Poor must abate it in their Price, they Work for so little already, that they would leave it, and all run to us for Woollen Work: Either way will answer our end, for it will be a full stop to our Sale of Cloth to England, and that would cause our People to want Work, and so they may by degrees be brought to the Woollen Manufacture.  
As to our Vent in Ireland, the Parliament resolving to Encourage the Making of Linen in that Kingdom, will lessen our Exportation thither also; and so in time we may come to make no more Linen than we use ourselves.  
If you ask, What advantage this will be to us, since we only sink one Manufacture to raise another? I answer,  
1. 'Twill save us 70000 l per Ann. which we really lose in the Balance of our Trade to England, and which England now actually gets of us in Trade, by Exporting so much more value in Manufactures to us than it Imports from us; and though to so Rich a Nation as England it is not much, 'tis very considerable to us.  
2. 'Twill employ a multitude more hands than the Linen does, and so much more advantage, and will be a means to keep our People at Home.  
3. In time we may, as is before noted, be able to vie with the English themselves, and have a Vent abroad, which will increase our Shipping, every our Merchants, and improve the whole Kingdom.  
These and many other advantages will be the effect of it, and therefore we all earnestly desire you to make no Opposition to the Bill, but hope your Answer to this will bring us Word, that 'tis past into an Act which, we pray, may never be Repealed.