Essays on trade and navigation in five parts / by Sir Francis Brewster, Kt.

Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wooll.

THIS is the great Staple of the Kingdom, and in truth, of the World; which by Di∣vine Providence is so put into our hands, as that without a turn in Nature, we cannot totally loose it; yet all that is possible for an unthinking Peo∣ple, (as we are call'd abroad,) we have done to the prejudice of those Commodities, by which means we have transferr'd great part of our Woollen Manufactoryes to other Countreys, to Germany, and Venice our Coarse Draperies, to Holland and France our fine and New Draperies; and that which is remarkable, is, that we laid the foundation for loosing them, the same way by which we first got them; that is, by persecuting Men for their Religion. Abel's acceptable Sacrifice seems still to follow the Fleece: No Society of Men in the Kingdom are so generally affected with the strictest Injunctions of our Religion, as our Peo∣ple bred up in the Woollen Manufactories; and these Men first fell under the Rod after the Re∣stauration; an excellent Reform to drive Men out of the Kingdom for having too much Reli∣gion, but not question such as had none at all.

This driving our Clothiers into Germany and Holland, put them and their Friends upon Inven∣tions to send our Wooll after them; and in that their Friends that stay'd behind were, and still are assisting them, though to the prejudice of the Trades they are in themselves; there being no∣thing

that draws compassion more from one Man to another, than seeing Men of honest and unblameable Conversation us'd worse than Thieves and Robbers for serving God according to their Conscience. This severity banish'd many thousands out of England soon after the Restauration of Charles the Second: One Tilham carried in the Year 1665, Three Thousand into the Prince Palatine of the Rhyne, and divers others did the same into other parts; insomuch, that Account was taken of Twenty Thousand Sacks of Wooll carried into one Port of France in less than Two Years from England, and more went from Ireland; and besides, the Quantities that went for Holland is Incredible: All this is evidently fallen upon the Nation by the fury of those that would make a Trade of Religion, and banish those that had Re∣ligion with their Trades: But blessed be God we have now a King of a more comprehensive Per∣swasion, and our Church better supply'd with Men of Learning and Charity, which the Infallible Authour tells us, is above all the Arts, Sciences, and Acts of Devotion whatsoever.

Such Numbers of Men being gone out of the Kingdom for want of that Liberty they may now injoy, it is a wonder they do not return; and a greater, that they are not sent for, and Invited back: We do not consider what the loss of a Man is in a Kingdom not half Peopled: We want nothing so much as Bodies of Men; and it is said, we have above Thirty Thousand in Foreign Countreys, and they are not of the raff, but so∣ber, Industrious People; such as these should not be lost.

But from the hands to Work Wooll, I come to the Wooll it self; how useful, and in some cases of such absolute use in their Manufactories, that they can make none of their best without our Wooll: This is no Secret, nor the Severe Laws that are made to prevent Escapes of Wooll, but none have proved effectual; some of them being too easie, and others severe to loss of Life to them all. I have seen a Proposal of a Gentleman that hath been a great Dealer in that Commodity to Foreign Parts, which he affirms would be Infalli∣ble to prevent Exports of Wooll to Foreign Parts, From England, it seems probable enough; but he is positive, and reserves part of the Secret; which he saith, when told, will make every one that hears it as positive as himself. I would have per∣swaded him to offer it to the House, but he ex∣pects a great Gratification, and that he thinks at this time will not be given; though I am of ano∣ther mind, and believe he deserves more than he can either ask or expect, if his Project takes. It is indeed to be lamented, that solid Proposals for the Trade and Manufactory of the Nation should not meet with so much Incouragement as a Lottery; but to the contrary should be sup∣pressed: And I know a great Minister, who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll, and that it was a burthen to the Nation; It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute, which I the rather do, that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration.

The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him, for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France; it was brought him in Writing, and demonstrated, That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years; and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal.

The Minister made little return to that, but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates; that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did; That there was three Years Wooll then in England, and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England, the Gentleman laid down these Po∣sitions.

First, That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories.

Secondly, That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts, put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before, and that abated our Trade abroad.

Thirdly, That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home; This I re∣member put the Minister into a ••aughter; and laying the two first aside, he desir'd him to make out the last Position, That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price: That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that

which was left, was a Mistery he could not un∣derstand, but seem'd to him, the only way to make it rise: But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion, that every Pound of En∣glish Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll; and that as much as they Manufactur'd, so much was Abated in our Exports; for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll, as they could not make without it; and conse∣quently by that means, one pound of our Wooll with theirs, made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it, if we had kept it at home: From which he Inferred, That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts, there would be as much Manu∣factoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets, as we could make, if we had wrought all our own Wooll; and so much being made Abroad, we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left: This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England; and he being brought for Proof of what he said, That which was Matter of Fact I thought un∣deniable, though it would not be allowed so by the Minister: The thing was this, The Year after the Restauration, there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King, with a Non ob∣stante to any Statute, for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland; upon which, some Merchants in Lon∣don buying the Grant, sent over to Ireland, and bought most of the Wooll, and sent it to Fo∣reign Parts; this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll

both there and in England; but in so short a time as Five Moneths, it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England, came then to England, yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England; and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence, their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they ship∣ped it for Foreign Parts. This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d, to be litterally true; and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over, that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland. And he farther added, that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland, makes Wooll in both King∣doms fall in Price, according to the Quantities that are sent out. This part of the Dispute be∣ing over, the next Question was, Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England, and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks, and consequently keep down the Rents of Land. This was an∣swered in the Negative to all the three, that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll, nor hinder the Increase of Sheep, or Abate the Rents of Land: That the Irish Wooll coming into Eng∣land helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it. That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England, and most proper for Bayes and Serges: That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall, but it

was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief; and for the reasons before given, he concluded, that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts, all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad; for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad, as is made in England; so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms, the Flocks of both might be trebled, and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent. This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Na∣ture and Improvement of the Wooll of these King∣doms, and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation, that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate; for that he robs but a small Number, but he that sends out Wooll, destroys Thousands, weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea; and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion, That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back, there cannot be enough done to secure it; but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation, nei∣ther to punish or reward Impunity in the first, makes us abound in Criminals; and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey; I mean, in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise: Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation, than we do at Noon-day. I

have often thought that it was possible for a Mo∣narch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tri∣butaries to him in Trade, by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Na∣vigation of these Kingdoms; without being ob∣lig'd to any help, but what ariseth from his own Dominions, of which Wooll is the Chief.