The Argument of the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench concerning the great case of monopolies, between the East-India Company, plantiff, and Thomas Sandys, defendant wherein their patent for trading to the East-Indies, exclusive of all others, is adjudged good.

The Publisher to the Reader.

TO commend this Argument I'll not undertake, because of the Author; but yet I may tell you what is told me, That it is worthy any Gentleman's perusal, for the Sub∣ject is of concern to the Publick in general, and to eve∣ry individual Man in the Kingdom either immediately or by Conse∣quence, since Trade is the Life of a Nation, and all Men are Traders either by themselves or others; the Consequences of it are Strength, Wealth, and Employment to all sorts of People whatsoever: And that, and nothing but that, can secure the Peace of the Country, it employ∣ing both Rich and Poor, and keeping all from Idleness, and so prevents Ill Men from disturbing the Government by Treasons, or the Subject by Felonies, both which are most frequent when Trade is dull, and Men are Idle; when the Exchange is thin, and Shops are empty.

'Twould be an endless Task to recount the Desolations and Ruins that have happened to States and Kingdoms by Sloth, Luxury, Idleness, and the neglect of Commerce, and the prodigious Benefits that have ac∣crued to several Countries by the contrary, and to our own in particu∣lar; and the vigilant Care and Zeal, which wise Kings, Princes, and other Sovereign Potentates, have always had and used for the Counte∣nance and Promotion of Traffick, within their respective Territories.

That Foreign Trade is of absolute necessity, and infinite advantage to England, is as apparent as that we are an Island peculiarly ada∣pted, and prepared for it by Nature her self; insomuch that Shipping, which at first was an Invention of the Deity, for the Use of Noah and his Family, seems a Blessing design'd, most particularly for us, to render us sociable with the Inhabitants of Foreign Countries, that we might borrow of their Necessities, and vent our own Superfluities to them instead ou't; and so maintain a Correspondence with all the habitable World.

That Foreign Commerce cannot be advantagiously maintained with∣out Societies instituted for that purpose, is sufficiently manifested to all considerate Men, from the Policies of other Laws abroad, which establish them, and from the Provisions of our own, which allow and protect them, and from the necessity of the thing it self, as appears by the vast Charge, (in Intelligence, Factors, Castles, Forts, Men, Arms, &c.)

and the wise Conduct requisite for the support of such a Commerce, which without the united Aid of a considerable number of understand∣ing Merchants, upon a considerable Stock; must necessarily be obnoxi∣ous to the growing Incroachments of neighbouring Countries, (which use the Policy of setled Companies) and to the other mischievous Ca∣sualties, that may daily happen through the Indiscretion and Rashness, and other weakness in Stock or Conduct of particular individual Persons, exercising such Traffick.

As for the East-India Company, they support the Crown by the in∣credible Customs, which are yearly paid by it; they bear a considerable Proportion of publick and necessary Subsidies; they enrich the Nation by their Importations; they Convert Infidels, or at least civilize them, and make them more humane by their Correspondencies; they employ vast numbers of Poor People; they negotiate vast Sums of private Persons Monies, which would otherwise lie dead or useless: They edu∣cate and breed vast numbers of Sea men for the Services of War; they build and employ Vessels of great Burden, useful to the Crown and Publick upon emergent Occasions: Their Naval Force is part of the Defence of the Kingdom; their Trading Fleet, is both the Glory and Riches of the Nation; they have improved and do main∣tain the Spirit of Commerce to that degree, as preserves the Balance of Trade between us and our Neighbours in its just Proportions; which Company, were it dissolved, their Trade and Strength would increase, and ours decay, and we should be reduced to our Primitive State of Self-subsistance, and our Merchants, (now the Pride of England, and the Envy of the World) must become Domestick Ped∣lers, for an home ignoble Traffick from Cities to Towns, and from Towns to Villes, & sic retrorsum: For these Reasons is the ensu∣ing Argument published.