As for the Wool of North-Britain, I am not sufficiently verst therein, to give a true Account of the Nature of it.
Methods to prevent the Exportation of Wool.I know many Methods have been thought of to prevent this pernicious Mischief, but all the Laws I have yet seen, seem to reach but half Way, they depend too much on Force and Penalties, and too little on Method; we must begin deeper, and secure the Wool from the Time of its growing, till ’tis wrought up into Manufactures, and I think nothing less Than a Register, to be kept in every County, will do it.
Nor will this be attended with so much Trouble and Charge to the Nation in general, or to private Persons in particular, as may at first be thought: The Time of Sheering being once a Year, those who keep Sheep may give Notice to the Officer appointed for that District, of the Number of Sheep they have to sheer, and the Day whereon they intend to do it, that so he may be present to see the Fleeces weighed, and to charge them therewith; which Charge must remain upon them till they sell their Wool, and give Notice thereof to the Office, when the next Buyer must be charged, and so toties quoties, till it comes into the Hands of him that works it up; and all this may be done by the Officers of the Excise, in such a manner, as may cost the Nation little.
And to prevent Frauds, let no parcel of Wool above such a Weight as the Parliament shall think fit, be carried from place to place, but in the day time, nor without a Letpass, or Cocket, setting forth from whence it came, and whither it is going; and the same Method must also be extended to Ireland, till it is either used there, or shipt thither; and if the Wool of both Kingdoms by these or any other Methods could be secured from being carried abroad, our Manufactures would find a surer Vent in foreign Markets, and yield better Prices: And the Wool of France would lye on their Hands, and become almost useless; the Credit of the Nation would be raised, and our Factories abroad courted as much as formerly they have been, because the Manufactures we ship out are such, as no Nation can be without, nor can they then be well supplied elsewhere; they are not things only for Pleasure, but for Use, and both the Rich and the Poor stand in need of them; whilst the Profit of this pernicious Practice of Shipping out the Wool, is sunk in the Pockets of private Men, who former Laws accounted Felons, and cannot be thought to deserve any favour from the Nation.
Besides ’tis well known, that the exporting our Wool hath by the ill Consequences thereof abated its Price at Home: This hath been observed by Calculations made by considerate Men; and the Reason is, because those Countries whither it is shipt; being thereby enabled to work up much larger Quantities of their own, the Sale of our Manufactures are grown slack abroad, and we have been forced to sell them cheaper, which beat down the Prices both of Wool and Labour; whereas if we had kept our Wool at Home, this had been prevented; and it must be allowed, that it was not our Interest to fall our Manufacturers, if we had been the only Sellers; for according as they yield in Price, so is the Wealth of the Nation advanced, which our Forefathers well knew, when they made Laws to prohibit the Exportation of Wool, which cannot be too much strengthned, or strongly put in Execution.
By managing Treaties of Peace to the Advantage of Trade.10. By taking Care, that in all Treaties of Peace, and other Negotiations with foreign Princes, due Regard be had to our Trade and Manufactures; that our Merchants be well treated by the Governments where they reside; that all things be made easy to them, and both their Liberties and Properties secured; that our Manufactures be not prohibited, or burthened with unreasonable Taxes, which is the same in Effect; that speedy Justice be done in recovering Debts contracted amongst the Natives, and punishing Abuses put on our Factories by them: These are Pressures our Trade hath formerly groaned under, whereby the Merchants abroad, and Manufacturers at home, have been much discouraged, and the English Nation hath been forced to truckle under the French in some foreign Parts, only because that King sooner resented Injuries done to his trading Subjects, and took more Care to demand Reparation than some former Reigns have done; but Thanks be to God, we have both Power and Opportunity to do the same; and there is no Cause to doubt His Majesty’s Royal Inclinations, to make use of both for the Good of his Merchants, when things are duly represented to him.
Navigation.And thus I have run through the several Parts of our Inland Trade, and shewed, that the Profit thereof arises chiefly from our Product and Manufactures: Before I proceed to our Foreign Trade, I shall speak something of Navigation, which is the Medium between both: This is carried on by Ships and Sailors, the former are the Sea-Waggons, whereby we transport and carry Commodities from one Market to another, and the latter are the Waggoners who drive and manage them: These are a Sort of jolly Fellows, who are generally bold in their Undertakings, and go thro’ any Kind of Labour in their own way, with a great deal of Chearfulness, are undaunted by Storms and Tempests, the Sea being as it were their Element, and are allowed by all to be the best Navigators in the World; they are our Wealth in Peace, and our Defence in War, and ought to be more encouraged than they are in both, but especially in the latter, which might be done, if better Methods were used to engage them in the Service, and better Treatment when they are there: Now I should think, if no Man was forced into the King’s Ships till he had been three Years at Sea,Manning our Ships of War. nor to stay there above that Time without his free Consent, and then to be permitted to take a Merchant’s Employment so much longer, and so toties quoties, ’twould encourage them to come willingly into the Service, which they look upon now to be a Slavery, whereto they are bound for their Lives: This, and the Manner of pressing them, hinders very much the making of Sailors, Landmen not caring to put their Hands to the Oar, least the next Day they should be halled away to the Fleet, tho’ they understand nothing of the Sea: By this Means our Men of War would be mann’d with able Seamen, and not with such who only stand in the Way, and are useless, when they are most wanted; nor do I take Embargoes to be any Helps towards it, for many Sailors do then lie hid, who would appear to serve in Merchant Ships, and might be easily met with at the return of their Voyages: By these Means in a short Time three would be a double Set of Mariners, enough both for the Service of the Fleet and of Trade, the last of which would every Year breed more.
This would also prevent great Mischiefs, which arise from pressing Sailors out of Merchant Ships whilst on their Voyages, many of them being thereby lost at Sea, and others have been detained in the West-Indies, to the Discouragement of Trade; and it would also prevent another Mischief, too much practiced abroad, where Captains of Men of War press Sailors from one Merchant Ship, only to make Advantage by selling them to another.
Foreign Trade.I come now to the Trade we drive with Foreign Countries.
How this Kingdom may be said to be enriched by our Foreign Trade.Here ’tis necessary to enquire, how each encourages our Product and Manufactures, how our Navigation, what Commodities we receive in Return, and how the Ballance of our Trade stands with either, that so we may be the better able to know, which of them we ought to encourage, and which to discourage; I shall therefore lay down such general Rules, as I presume will be allowed by all Unbiassed Persons; as,