A PROPOSAL FOR Raising Sixty Thousand Pound per Annum, Without Charge of Collecting, In a triple Benefit to the NATION by the Payment.  
Humbly Offered to the Parliament of GREAT BRITAIN.  
I. THE Duke of rouen, in his Treatise of the Interest of all Christendom, tells us, That England is a mighty Animal, that will never die, unless it kills itself: That the Swiss seems to be made for the Mountains, and the Mountains for the Swiss: That the Hollanders seem to be made for the Sea, and the Sea for the Hollanders: That it's the Interest of the Swiss to be always in Peace, and that it's the Interest of the Hollanders to be always in a War; and where Force fails, Money prevails, is a Dutch Proverb.  
II. The Interest and Prosperity of this Kingdom depending upon Trade, I shall here show, by Instances of Fact, how far Foreign Money hath prevailed in making Laws to the Destruction of our Commerce: Edward the Third made the first Advance, by stoping of our wool from Exportation, and in the first Settlement of Custom, where the Denizen paid Six Shillings and Eight Pence, the Alien paid Ten Shillings, Anno vicesimo septimo Ed. 3. cap. 1. But the Government being left to his Grandson, Richard the Second, in his Infancy, Foreign Money prevailed in getting a Parliament, that made Laws to destroy what he had so happily advanced, and by Act of Parliament made Anno secundo Rich. 2. cap. 1. all Restraints laid upon Aliens were taken off, and they were put upon an Equal Foot in Trade with the Denizens. Anno decimo quarto Rich. 2. cap. 5. a Law was made, that no Denizen should carry wool, Leather, Woollfels, nor led, out of the Realm of England, to the Parts beyond the Sea, upon pain of Forfeiture of the same, but only Strangers. And I hope it will not be denied here, but that this was a Foreign Parliament. This unhappy Prince was hereby soon dethroned, and the Government fixed in a wrong Line, which kept up such Differences between the Houses of York and Lancaster the succeeding Reigns, that Merchant Aliens had the Benefit of our merchandise and Commerce, until the Reign of Henry the Seventh, who turned the Tide, and by the Second Law that he made, obliged Merchant Aliens, made Denizens by Letters Patents, or by Act of Parliament, to pay Aliens Duties; and if any Goods or merchandise were entered in any other than the true Merchant Owner's Name, he should Forfeit his Goods, be imprisoned and fined at the King's Pleasure. Anno tertio Hen. 7. cap. 7. the Merchants of the Stillyard, by their Bribes in the next Reign, destroyed what was so happily set up in this, and Rooted out the English Factory at Antwerp; which was happily Retrieved in the Fifth and Sixth Year of Edward the Sixth, and upon the famed Foot carried on the whole Reign of Queen Elizabeth, who in her first Year called Aliens Duties the ancient Revenue for her Crown, and made them a Security to our Navigation, by obliging all Merchants to pay Aliens Duties that shipped upon Foreign Bottoms, Anno primo Eliz. cap. 13. All which was overturned by Act of Parliament, in favour of Scotland, in the first Year of King James, by a Subsidy granted to the King for his Life out of wool exported, Anno primo Jacobi, cap. 33. Which laid the Foundation of our Civil Wars. At the Restoration of King Charles the Second, the Book of Rates was settled, and the Aliens Duty established; where the Natural Born Subject paid One Shilling upon the old Subsidy, the Merchant Alien paid Two Shillings; where the Natural Born Subject paid Three Shillings and Four Pence upon a Cloth exported, the Merchant Alien paid a Noble, Anno duodecimo Car. cap. 4. In the Twenty-fifth Year of King Charles, Aliens Duties were taken off our Woollen Manufactures exported by Act of Parliament, which gave a fatal Stroke to our merchandise and Navigation. And in the Convention Parliament, Lilli-bo-lero, the Dutchman in every particular was put upon an Equal Foot with the Natural Born Subject. In the Tenth Year of King William, a Bill came from Holland, which was passed into a Law, to take off all Duties from our Woollen Manufactures exported. No Application was ever made by any English Merchant to have the Duties taken off, but a surprise when it appeared in the Votes. One milner a Merchant, who bought Goods for Mr. Dorvel of Holland, kept several Bails of Cloth at a Pack-house in Coleman-street, that were packed up some Weeks before the Bill came in, and had the Benefit of the Act, who always in former time took the first opportunity of Shipping. But that which at this time gives the true Proof, whether this was a Dutch or an English Parliament, A Petition was put in by the English Merchants, to desire that this Benefit should be limited to the Natural Born Subjects; and a Debate arising, whether their Petition should be considered, upon a Divison of the House, it passed in the Negative.  
III. It is therefore humbly Proposed, That Ten Groats upon a Cloth exported by Aliens may be added to the Bill depending, for the better Collecting her Majesties Customs upon Goods imported, which will advance Sixty Thousand Pounds per Annum: And shall only add, that no British Merchant in Foreign Parts is upon an Equal Foot in Trade, with the Natural Born Subject; and that Money in Holland at this time upon good Security is at Three per Cent.  
IV. That this Duty upon the Woollen manufacture is but One and a Half per Cent. as likewise the Duty upon Importation; when many of our Woollen Manufactures are loaded with Eight per Cent. Unnecessary Charge.   

A PROPOSAL for Raising 60000 l. per Annum.