REASONS Humbly Offered, why the Importation of Foreign-wrought Figured, Flowered, biased, Stitched and Stripe Silks and Drugets, Tameenes and Estimenes, and other Stuffs made of Wool, should be prohibited.  
THe Trade of Weaving is of great Antiquity and Usefulness, and for these Forty Years past, hath exceedingly Improved, and been very advantageous to this Nation, the Woollen Manufactures Wrought in England, being Exported to turkey, Italy, &c. have been chiefly paid for with Raw Silks and Hair, greatly beneficial to His Majesty in His Customs, to the encouragement of Navigation, and to the employing of very great numbers of English, there having been employed at one time in the City of London, and Parts adjacent, in and about the Weaving the said Silk and Hair, at least One Hundred Thousand Persons, old and young, besides very great numbers at Canterbury, Manchester, Exerter, Norwich, and other Places.  
That the English have arrived to very great Skill and Experience in the Weaving all manner of Silks and Stuffs, and having duly paid and answered the Customs for the Raw Silks, Hair, and other Commodities used in the Dying thereof, and working and providing( at the dead time of the year) great quantities of well-contrived, and workman-like Broad and Narrow Commodities, as well Plain as Fashionable, Figured and Flowered, expecting to Sell the same at other times, are disappointed by the frequent Importation of Foreign-wrought Commodities of Silk and Wool, especially from France, most of which( by small Sloops or Shallops) are privately conveyed hither without paying Custom, it being very obvious and plain, that not one piece in twenty are Entred or Paid for, to the great deceit of His Majesty. And however slight, defective, and old-fashioned the said Foreign Goods are, yet being here, and termed A la mode de France, are greatly used, to the deceit also of the Subject; whereby the English Artists, having little or no Vent for their Commodities, have no encouragement to Ingenuity, and many hundreds of Weavers, as well at London, Canterbury, Norwich, and other Places, have through these discouragements, especially for these last six years, been ruined, and enforced to desist from their Callings, and many of them betaken to Porteridge, and other servile employments, and great numbers of Persons, old and young, by them formerly set to Work, are now( for want thereof) become burdensome and chargeable to their respective Parishes; and without speedy remedy, the Art of Weaving will be here totally lost, to the great Dishonour of this Kingdom.  
That hereby also a great number of English Merchants, Trading to turkey and Italy for Raw Silks and Hair as aforesaid, are greatly discouraged by the small Vent for the same, and consequently the Vent for the Woollen Manufactures is and will be exceedingly lessened, to the great damage of His Majesty in His Customs, and the whole Kingdom in general.  
That the Mercers, Trading in Silks and Stuffs, are also greatly damnified; for that, although they usually venture upon small quantities of the English Woven Goods, sometimes but for one Garment which they Cut out of the Weavers Loom, because of the alteration of Fashions, yet will not the French Merchants sell the Mercer less than several pieces of great lengths, and at high Rates, and before he can have Vent for one half, the said Merchants immediately bring in other Fashions, so that either some whole pieces, or many Remnants, remain upon the Mercer's Hands, to his greater Loss than the Profit of the former will enable him to bear.  
That it hath been truly computed, that the English pay yearly for the Manufacturing of French-Women Silks,( besides Stuffs) which might be Wrought by Handicrafts in England, and which are generally paid for with moneys, not with other Commodities, the Sum of Five Hundred Five Thousand One Hundred and Ten Pounds: So that allowing to every Person, working in Silk, Fifteen Pounds per Annum,( which is the most, one with another, they do or can earn) it would employ Thirty Three Thousand Six Hundred Seventy Four, Men, Women and Children, which number, were they here employed, would be considerably advantageous to this Kingdom. And from hence it is evident, That the English do maintain the French Kings Subjects at Work, whilst the Natives here are ready to starve and perish through want thereof.  
That all these Inconveniences to Trade, and damage to the Kingdom, doth ensue by the Craft and subtlety of a few French Merchants in London, about seven or eight in number, who to enrich themselves, care not how many thousands of the English( especially the poor Handicrafts) are ruined.  
That the Weavers, in and about London, have been lately required by His Majesty and Council, to receive and employ Aliens and Strangers, Weavers, which they readily submitted unto, in confidence, that then Foreign Work would be discouraged, for that Foreign Work and Workmen coming together, will certainly ruin the English Artists; and if Work be brought, there can be no encouragement for Foreign Workmen to come, and many Strangers repairing hither of late, through want of employment in the Weavers Trade, have returned back again: And were there employment sufficient( which can never be but by discouragement of these French Silks and Stuffs) the Weavers will willingly and cheerfully embrace as many Strangers in the Weaving Trade, as shall by Authority be thought fit to be allowed here to reside.  
That the French King, because His Subjects have gained some little Experience in the Weaving of Silk Stockings, hath lately prohibited the Sale of English Stockings in His Countries, whereby that Trade is like to be lost.  
Now, inasmuch as the Weavers desire not to discourage the Importation or Use of such Silks as are not Wrought and Manufactured here, they hope they shall receive all due encouragement in such as they do or can Make, and which from the Reasons aforesaid will so greatly tend to the Advantage and Honour of this Kingdom: And therefore humbly Pray, That the Importation of all Foreign-wrought Figured, Flowered, biased, Stitched, and Stripe Silks and Drugets, Tameenes and Estimenes, and other Stuffs made of Wool, may be prohibited amongst other Commodities prohibited by the Bill of Imposition now under Consideration.