AN ANSWER TO MR. CARY's Reply, &c.  
MR. carry says, That the People of England wants Work; and therefore he is for prohibiting Indian Silks and calicoes: Which is to raise a Tax on the Subject to maintain them.  
Certainly no man that knows the state of England would ever use such an Argument; for, it is but too apparent we want not Work, but People, having Work enough to employ double the number of Hands. Let us but consider how much the Hollanders gain by their Fishing-Trade in our Seas, and what the Value is of the several Goods imported into, and spent in England, which might by Diligence( not Prohibitions) be produced and manufactur'd here; those two Articles, tho' others may be added, are sufficient to show, that we do not want Work in England, but rather People, and Laws to oblige them to work.  
He is likewise for Confining the Trade of England barely to Exchanging of Commodities, therefore would have no East-India Goods wore, because they are not the Returns of our Product and manufacture, but of money: Whereas in truth the East-India Company hath sent out, since October 1693, near Three hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds in English Products. Yet, supposing his Position were true, I affirm, That it is the Interest of England to sand their Product and manufacture to the best Market, and from thence to bring such Commodities as they cannot purchase cheaper any where else▪ which they ought to lay out where they may buy cheapest; and by this natural Circulation the Nation will be enriched; but, That we shall be obliged to take Commodities in exchange for ours, tho' never so dear, is a doctrine that no Merchant, or any Nation that understands their Interest, will harken to.  
But he adds, That if we do not take Their Manufacturies, they will not take Ours: Therefore he is for encouraging German linens, &c.  
Answ. We sand to Germany, Leather, Tin, led, Copprice, woollen, &c. and a great many other Goods of our Plantations, with which they cannot be supplied any where else cheaper. We do likewise take of them what is fit for our purpose. Now, if we take less of their linens, the balance must be paid us in money, and that money ought to be laid out to the best advantage. Now, if calicoes be three times cheaper than linens, as he allows, the Question is, Whether we had better sand one third of that money to India to buy calicoes, or take it out in linens from Germany, at triple the price.  
As to the Laws in force, which put a Restraint upon Trade, I will not pretend to meddle, leaving it to those who may more properly do it; I humbly conceive they are of the same nature with the Act for prohibiting Irish cattle, which Mr. carry is so much against.  
I think the Example of the Dutch ought to be followed, since that by their Trade and Policy, of a Po●r Distressed People, they are become the High and Mighty of the World, in less than a Hundred Years, and that under the great Disadvantage of a very chargeable Country. Indeed their Method of Trade is far different from that of Mr. Cary's, they have Lands and Manufacturies in proportion to the bigness of their Country, yet they do not think it the Interest of the Freeholder to kerb Trade, knowing that the only way to raise the Price of Lands and other Estates, is by a Free Trade, which increases Wealth and People.  
A Free Trade makes all manner of Commodities cheap; the cheapness of Commodities empowers our People to work cheaper; the cheapness of Work encourages a Foreign Trade; and a Foreign Trade brings Wealth and People, and that alone raises the Price of Lands and Houses.  
On the contrary, Prohibitions make clothing and every thing else dear; so that the People cannot live without they have a proportionable price for their Labour. And I conceive Prohibitions to be a principal Reason why we cannot Trade so cheap as our Neighbours do.  
Our Author concludes with his Method of making the East-India Trade profitable to the Kingdom, viz. by bringing Cotton and other Commodities, which being bulky, will employ more Shipping. That is in effect to say, We shall bring to England Materials to be manufactur'd which will stand us in a great deal more than the Goods now do ready manufactur'd. This is the way he proposes to enrich the Nation. I must confess it is of a Piece with the rest of his Discourse upon this Subject; it will employ the Poor to wove and Spin, and that is what he aims at right or wrong, not having a due Consideration whether the Nation gets by it, or not.