ON
TRADE, &c.
Of Trade in general.IN Order to discover, whether a Nation gets or loses by its Trade, ’tis necessary first to enquire into the Principles whereon it is built; for Trade hath its Principles, as other Sciences have, and as difficult to be understood; but when they are, ’tis easy to discover whether a Nation gets or loses by its Management, and without this, we are not capable of making any true Judgment, it being possible for the Public to grow Poor, whilst private Persons encrease their Fortunes.
The Design of this little Treatise, is to dissect and lay open the Trade of this Kingdom, as it is now driven, that so those Branches that shall appear to be Profitable may be Encouraged, and those that are Otherwise may be Amended.
The Profits of this Kingdom arise from its Product and Manufactures at Home, and from the Growths of those several Plantations it hath settled Abroad, and from the Fish taken on the Coasts, all which being raised by the Industry of the People, are both its true Riches, and the Tools whereby it Trades to other Nations, the Products coming from the Earth, and the Manufacturing of them being an Addition to their Value by the Labour of the People; now where we barter these Things abroad for such as are only fit to be eat and drank, or are wasted among ourselves, though one Man may get by the Luxury of another, yet the Wealth of the Kingdom doth not encrease; but it is otherwise where we change them for Bullion, or for Commodities fit to be manufactured again.
Its Original.The first Original of Trade both Domestic and Foreign was Barter, when one private Person, having an Overplus of such Things as his Neighbour wanted, furnished him therewith for their Value in such whereof the other had plenty, but he stood in need of the same, when one Nation abounding in those Products which another wanted, supply’d it therewith, and received for them Things equally necessary in their stead; and by how much the Products of any Nation exceeds its Wants, by so much it grew richer, the Remainder being sold for Bullion, or some Staple Commodity, allowed by all to have an intrinsic Value.
And as People encreased, so did Commerce, which caused many to go off from Husbandry to Manufactures, and other Ways of Living, for Convenience whereof they began Communities: This was the Original of Towns, which being found necessary for Trade, their Inhabitants encreased by Expectation of Profit; this introduced Foreign Trade or Trafic with neighbouring Nations; and this a Desire to settle rather on some navigable Rivers, than in remote Inland Places, whereby they might be more easily supply’d from the Country with Commodities fit to export, and disperse thither those they had imported from abroad.
The Trade of this Kingdom.I shall now take the Trade of this Kingdom, as it is divided into Domestic and Foreign, and consider each, and how they are advantagious to the Nation, and may be made more so.
Inland Trade.The Domestic or Inland Trade consists either in Husbandry, Manufactures, or Buying and Selling; Buying and Selling.the last of which, whereby one Man lives by the Profit he makes by another, brings no Advantage to the Public; Peoples Occasions requiring Commodities to be retail’d to them in such small Quantities as would fit their Necessities, they were willing to allow a Profit to him who bought them in greater; and as this Sort of Traffic came more in use, so the first Buyers not only sold their Commodities to the Consumers in the Places where they dwelt, but also to others, who being seated in the Country at a distance, made an Advantage by supplying the Inhabitants there: This begat the Ingrossing Commodities, and thence arose Skill and Cunning to foresee their Rise and Falls, according to their Consumption and prospect of Supply. Hence came the Viciating our Manufactures, every one endeavouring to underbuy, that he might undersell his Neighbour; which Way of Living being found in Time to have less Labour and more Profit than Husbandry and Manufactures, was the Reason so many fell into it.
From these Bargains Differencies arising, encouraged another Sort of People, whose Business it was, either by their Wisdoms to persuade, or by their Knowledge in the Laws to compel, the unjust Persons to do Right to their Fellow-Traders (an Honourable Employment at the first, and is still so in those who keep to the strict Rules of its Institution.) Hence arose Attorneys, Sollicitors, and other Officers, which were found necessary to attend on those Suits, and other Services of the Law.