A Brief STATE of the INLAND OR Home Trade, OF ENGLAND; And of the OPPRESSIONS it suffers, and the DANGERS which threaten it from the INVASION of HAWKERS, PEDLARS, and CLANDESTINE TRADERS of all Sorts.
Humbly Represented to the Present PARLIAMENT.
LONDON: Printed for THO. WARNER, at the
Black-Boy
in
Pater-noster-Row.
1730.
INTRODUCTION.
T HE King in his Most Gracious Speech at the Opening the present Sessions of Parliament, has been pleas'd to express himself with such an Inimitable Goodness and Royal Tenderness in Behalf of all his People, and in Regard to the Good and Prosperity of their Trade in particular, that we cannot take our Rise from a better, and more promising Foundation in the Important Case now before us.
In one Part His Majesty tells us,
That in the Peace now concluded with
Spain,
it was his First Care to consult the Interest of his own Subjects, preferable to any other Consideration.
In another,
How careful he was that his own Subjects might reap the earliest Fruits of the Peace.
That
saving the Expence of his Subjects is a sensible Pleasure to him.
That
he looks with Compassion on the Hardships of the Artificers and Manufacturers.
That
the Interest of his Subjects has been the Rule of all his Actions, and Object of his Wishes.
In short, The Whole Speech is full of the most Affectionate and Tender Expressions, such as truly and perfectly describe a Prince fill'd with Thoughts of Goodness and Beneficence TO, and a true Father OF his People; and whose whole Study and Delight it is, and will always be to make them HAPPY and EASY.,
The Uses I bring all these Observations to, and the Reasons of beginning our Work in this Manner are these:
1. We may with infinite Satisfaction promise our selves, that any reasonable dutiful Application TO, and any Proposal truly Calculated for the Good of our Country, and for the Advantage of its Commerce, if laid BEFORE his Majesty in a proper Place and Manner, will always meet with a Royal Smile, and be bless'd with his Favour and Concurrence.
2. We may with the like Satisfaction hope, That this open Declaration of his Majesty's Desire to propagate the Interest of his People, and to encourage their Trade, will inspire the Honourable House of Commons, with the same Sentiments, and move them to exert themselves on all Occasions for delivering the Trading Part of his Majesty's Subjects from the Grievances and Oppressions they labour under.
In this View these Sheets are presented to the Publick, being the humble Complaint of the chief Trading Part of the whole Kingdom, against a Sort of People, who (however unhappily allow'd by the Publick, for the present) are in the Nature of their Business, and especially by the Manner of their carrying it on, become an heavy Oppression; Ruinous and Destructive to the Prosperity of Trade in general, and Injurious to every fair Trader in particular
All which they find themselves encourag'd as above, to lay before his Majesty in Parliament, where alone it can be redress'd.
A BRIEF STATE OF THE Inland or Home Trade,
&c.
CHAP. I. Of the Excellent Order and Method of carrying on our Home Trade in
England,
from the first Principles or Materials of our Manufactures, to the finishing of them.
P RODUCTION and CONSUMPTION are the Beginning and End of all Trade.
The Materials produc'd, whether they are the Production of Nature or Art, are the SUBJECT of Trade.
The passing of those Productions thro' the several working Hands, necessary for their Improvement, or to their several Markets for Sale, is not improperly called the CIRCULATION of Trade.
The admirable Order of this Circulation of Trade is a most agreeable Speculation.
It is an Inquiry not unworthy the most Exalted Genius, not below the most Superior Dignity.
The Causes of it are found in the Nature of the Thing, and the Consequences of it, in the Wealth and Prosperity of the Whole Kingdom.
How the meanest Trifles accumulate a Value, as they pass from Hand to Hand: How they become Important, Rich, Useful, and Beautiful, by the Addition of Time, Labour, and the Improvement of Art; and how the meanest Labourer or Mechanick contributes by unwearied Application, to finish (in a mere Road of instructed Workmanship) those Beauties in Nature, which even he himself does not at all understand.
As in a Piece of the finest Clock-Work, we find each Man working on his distinct Part to the greatest Perfection; yet the Beauties are not seen till the whole Frame is form'd by another Agent; which Agent also can no more perform the separate Parts, than the separate Workmen can the Whole.
But the Beauty of this Oeconomy in Trade is not all; for Speculation is not our Business here: But this Circulation is the essential vital Part of the Prosperity of our Commerce, and especially of our Home Trade in this Nation; and as such it becomes the just Concern of every Lover of his Country.
Every Head and Hand ought to be employ'd to Preserve, Support, Enlarge, and Encrease it, as the main Thing on which the Health of Trade depends; and in the Decay, Shortning or Contracting of which, our Trade must necessarily Languish, Droop, and Die; and this brings us down directly, and without any Circumlocutions or Explanations, to the Case before us.
This Beautiful Scheme of Trade as descrihed in all its Circulating Meanders, of which we shall speak in their Place, has of a long Time suffered a Decay; it has felt strange Shocks and Convulsions, and met with great Obstructions among us, and that of many Kinds, and from many several Causes.
Particularly it has been attack'd by open Enemies, who have even endanger'd the Whole Oeconomy, and do still threaten something fatal to us, if timely Help and Assistance be not obtained, and the Evils removed by some powerful Succour of Laws and Government; and this is,
in short,
the Sum and Substance of the Case before us.
The Circulation of Trade, (to go back to what has been laid down above,) takes in all the several Progressions, which our Produce or Manufactures make in their ordinary Course, from the first Principles of Trade, to the Retailer who hands them on to the Consumer.
Almost every thing that is Sold, whether it be the Product of Nature or Art, passes thro' a great Variety of Hands, and some Variety of Operations also, before it becomes (what we call) fit for Sale.
Even our very Provisions, which may be said to make the least Stop, and pass thro' the fewest Hands, yet are trac'd thro' several, before they come to the Consumer: For Example,
1. Our
Flesh-Meat;
the Cattle are first Bred, then Fed, then Driven to one Fair or Market, then to another, then Sold to the Butcher, and then to the Eater. In every one of those Circulating Removes, the Breeder, Feeder, Drover, Butcher, with their Cattle, Horses, Servants, and Families, are severally maintain'd by, and get a small Share of Profits from the Creature Sold; and which is at last charg'd upon, and return'd from the Price of the Meat when kill'd, and Bought by the Consumer.
2. The
Corn,
as suppose the Wheat; here is first, the Farmer, who raises the Crop, (not to mention the Landed-Man,) the Plough, the Seed, the Harvesting, and the carrying it to Market, is the Business of the Farmer; but under him it passes all the Operations of the Horses, the Servants, the Carriages, and several other things included in that Part call'd Husbandry; and for the Support of which several other Tradesmen are concern'd; such as the Smith, the Wheelwright, the Collar and Harness-maker, the Tanner, and many others; all whose Families find their Subsistance out of the mere Husbandry, (so it is very properly called) of the Corn. But when all that is over, it passes another whole Class of Operators, before it comes to the end of its Circulating Race. 1. It is carry'd to the Mill to be Ground; under that Head comes in the Mill-wright, several Tradesmen furnishing the Timber, the Iron-work, and Brass-work for the Mill; the Millstones out of
Derbyshire,
or from
France.
The Carriage of those heavy Articles and all the Etcetera's depending thereon.
Then the Dressing, the Grinding for Fine or Coarse; then it passes one Sale at least to the Baker, then 'tis bak'd into Bread its last Operation, and passes many depending Hands upon that Account.
2. The Second Branch of Corn is the
Barley;
this is first Sold to the Malster; then Malted, then Sold again (perhaps more than once) then Brew'd, pays Excise, and is doubly Gauged in the Malt and in the Liquor; then sold to the Victualler and Innholder, and then to the Consumer; in all which Motions necessary to their Sale, the several Tradesmen thro' whose Hands they pass, with their Servants, Horses, and Families, and many others depending upon them, especially in the Brewing and Malting, gain a Maintenance out of the increasing Value, and live by the Profits of their Trade; and the like of other Sorts of Provisions, some of which come from the Growth to the Mouth with a shorter, some with a larger Circulation.
But setting these Kinds aside, which
(as we say)
come thus under a shorter Operation, because the Species differ exceedingly, when we come to speak of the Productions of Art, that is to say, the Manufactures: Here we find an innumerable Multitude of Families concerned in and maintained by them, the several Kinds of their Manual Operation are numberless, and the Operators are much more so; the Produce of Nature is indeed the
Materia Fabricata
of all Manufactures, but the Improvements of Art give a new Face to the very Species, so that you know it no more either by its Form, or by its Name.
The Transmutation is performed by an infinite Number of People; the Wooll which bears every where the same Denomination at first, retains its Name but a very little while, and its Form less; after its first passing the
Co
or the
Comb
it comes to the Spinner, and is then no more call'd Wooll but Yarn; from thence to the Weaver, and there it assumes as many Shapes as Names, and is called Cloth, Stuff, Serge, Drugget, Bay, Say, and a numberless Catalogue of Denominations, as the Fancy of the several Clothiers and Manufacturers please to Coin for it.
While it is in the Hands of the Weaver and continues rough and undrest, it retains the Shape of the Yarn both in the Woof and the Warp, which are visible in the Stuff, let the Kind be what it will: But when it has past the Fuller's Art, and been hurried into a violent Motion in the
Thicking-Mill,
it comes out with another Face; and being then dress'd under the Sheets and the Press, we see no more the Thread, but a fine and beautiful Face, set forth to all possible Advantage by the Cloath-workers Art.
It is not possible to give the Detail in the narrow Compass of this Work, of all the several Sorts of Workmen, their Engines, Mills, Looms, and other Tackle, with the several Operations, through which our Woollen Manufactures pass, before they come to Market, or before,
as the Tradesmen call it,
they are fit for Sale. All which Workmen, as well as the Makers of all the Engines, Looms, Mills,
&c.
with their Families and Dependants, are maintain'd, fed, cloath'd, (nay, enrich'd) by the said Manufactures, and out of the advanc'd Value which they bear with them when they go to Market: The Variety is such, That some undertake to tell us, there is not a Broad-Cloth that goes to
Blackwell-Hall,
but that 10,000 People have something to do, by the Means of it, and all get something out of it before it comes there.
It is the same with the Silk Manufacture in its Degree, with this Difference only, that there are a numberless Multitude of People concerned in the Silk, before it comes to us: Several Trades are maintained by those particular Articles of Commerce, which are necessarily run thro' before the Workmen can come at the first Principles of this Manufacture,
I mean the Raw or Thrown-Silk;
it does not immediately come thither from the Worm that spins or makes it, but passes many a Climate, travels many a Desart, employs many a Hand, loads many a Camel, and Freights many a Ship before it arrives here; and where at last it comes in return for other Manufactures, or in Exchange for our Money.
Again, even the Money as it is a Foreign Specie, is it self also a Merchandize; is a Return for other Trade, and passes thro' many Thousands of Hands, in the Mine, in the Coin, in the Navigation, and all the other
Apparatus
of its Arrival in
England,
before it reaches thus far, and before it can purchase and pay for the Species which begins the Silk Manufacture.
It is the like in all our
hard Ware
Manufactures; whether in Iron, Tin, Copper, Lead, Gold, Silver, or what other Specie they may be; some of the Metal is found in our own Mountains, some in those of
Spain, Africa, Sweden, Denmark, India
and
America.
To bring this all to the same Point; With what admirable Skill and Dexterity, do the proper Artists apply to the differing Shares or Tasks allotted to them, by the Nature of their several Employments, in forming all the beautiful Things which are produced from those differing Principles? Thro' how many Hands does every Species pass? What a Variety of Figures do they Form? In how many Shapes do they appear? From the Brass Cannon of 50 to 60 hundred Weight, to half an Inch of Brass Wire, called
a Pin,
all equally useful in their Place and Proportions?
On the other Hand, how does even the least Pin contribute its nameless Proportion to the Maintenance, Profit, and Support of every Hand, and every Family concerned in those Operations, from the Copper Mine in
Africa,
to the Retailer's-Shop in the Country Village, however remote? And this brings us down to the Circulation of the Manufactures, in that we call the buying and selling Part, as well Wholesale as Retale; which I refer to a Chapter by it self.
CHAP. II. Of the Circulation of the Inland Trade, after the finishing the several Manufactures in remote and different Places.
THE Country is ordinarily the Seat of the Manufactures, there they assume their first Being, as a marketable Species.
It is true the City has of late Years encroacht a little, and we find a very great Stroke of the Manufacturing Trade carried on here, especially in
Spittle-fields
and Parts adjacent:
But of that by it self.
Let us now suppose every Manufacture form'd in its proper Place, every Trade running in its right Channel.
The fine
Spanish
Cloths and Druggets, are made in
Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Barkshire,
&c.
The Serges, Duroys, Perpets, and Long-Ells, in
Devonshire
and
Somersetshire.
The Stuffs of many Sorts, Camblets,
&c.
at
Norwich.
The Tammies and Callamancoes, at
Coventry.
The Stockings knit in Frames, at
Leicester
and
Nottingham.
The Narrow-Cloth, Kersies, and Shalloons, in
Yorkshire;
and so of all the other Kinds of Goods called Woollen Manufactures in their several particular Parts.
Let us suppose these, I say, all finished and made ready for Sale, in the several Places or Counties as above, or any where else, and resting in the Hands of the
Master-Maker,
or Manufacturer, ordinarily called a Clothier.
That he may put them off, and they may be sold to the proper Persons, who are to use or wear them, it is necessary to have them sent to Market: This Market Occasions several very Extraordinary Removes, which when particularly mentioned will naturally describe the Circulation spoken of above.
Nature and the Course of Business has made
London
the Chief or Principal Market, for all these things call'd Manufactures, not those above specify'd only, but all the rest: And it is easy to show, 1. That there must be such a Chief or Principal Market. And 2. That it is also necessary that
London
should be the Place.
1. It is necessary there should be such a Chief Market, because as the Manufactures and Tradesmen in the Country have much to sell; that is to say, more than lesser and meaner Towns can take off, so they have by themselves, and their Correspondents in the Country much to buy; that is to say, more than any less Capital Port and Market, or a Place of less General Correspondence could supply, nothing less than
London
could answer the Ends of a Wholesale Trade.
2. This proves also that
London
must be the Place: The Merchants of
London
carrying on a general Correspondence with all the World, are able to vend the Quantity of Manufactures, which the Clothiers send up, be it never so great and this they do by the Bulk of their Exportation; They are also able to supply the Carriers with Back-Carriage, from the Bulk of their Importations, and thus they spread and circulate the Growth of Foreign Countries in return for our own.
This no single Town, City, or Sea-Port in
England
can do,
London
and
Bristol
excepted; nor can
Bristol
do it so universally as
London;
for this Reason the Manufacturers every where in the Country, will send their Goods to
London,
because here their Carriers can have a Back-Carriage; without which they cannot travel. Here they (the Clothiers) and the Shopkeepers their Neighbours, can buy all the several Kinds of Foreign Importations from what Part of the World soever they come, which can no where else be done, at least not at first Hand.
And which goes yet farther, such is the Wealth, and so great the Stocks of the
London
Dealers; That here the Makers can have Money for their Manufactures, and here they and the Shopkeepers also, can have Credit, and that to a Degree, which no other Place can give; they can always sell for Money, and generally buy without; take Credit, and give none; nor is it boasting in Behalf of the Citizens and Wholesale Men of
London,
to say, That the Shopkeepers in the Country (generally speaking) trade upon their Stocks.
These are some of the Reasons which secure the gross of the Trade to
London,
and will do so tho' the Grievances and Discouragements which we are now to complain of, tend to lessen and impair it; here the main Stream will run as to the Center, as the Rivers to the Ocean, and as the Blood to the Heart; and it is certainly for the Health of the whole Body of Trade, that it should be so, and the Proof of that is as evident as the other.
By this sending up the finished Manufactures in bulk to the City of
London,
and the Country Shopkeepers buying their Goods from thence in Return, the following Advantages follow to the general Body of the People of
England, (viz.)
1. All that innumerable Number of Carriages, Horses, and Servants, with all the necessary Appendices of Land Carriage which such a Trade calls for are maintain'd. It is not the Business of this Work to make Calculations of Numbers, but it is our Business to give the Reader a clear View of the Benefit and Gain of the several Branches of our circulating Trade; that he may have a like clear View of the injurious Consequence of those New Methods of Trade which would destroy it.
2. As the Carriage is prodigious great, as well by Land as Water (for it is the first we are now speaking of) so the Number of Inns and Publick-houses are incredible, which are now to be seen, not only in the Towns and Cities, but every where on the Roads, where those Carriers and Travellers pass: All these are chiefly maintain'd by those Carriages, and by the Men and Horses which travel continually for the carrying on the general Correspondence too and from
London:
Their Number is really prodigious.
3. The Increase of Trade among those Inns,
&c.
and by their Means the Consumption of Fodder, Hay, Corn,
&c.
with Provisions of all Sorts is unaccountably great, and the Benefit of it to the landed Interest, is a Speculation worth the Notice of all Gentlemen of Estates throughout
England.
They feel most sensibly the Benefit of this Circulation; they are easily made sensible what the Benefit to Trade is, that
London
is able to furnish a back Carriage by Shopkeepers Goods (as they are called) such as Grocery, Oyl, Wine, Fruit, and in a Word, all Goods of Foreign Importation; without this, how would the
Sheffield
and
Birmingham
Carriers bring up their wrought Iron, Things of a heavy Carriage? How would the
Warwickshire
People bring up their Cheese? The
Yorkshire
Men their coarse Cloths? The Manufacturers of
Exeter, Taunton, Norwich, Wilts, Gloucester,
and
Worcester
their fine Goods? They must all come the dearer to Market.
No more (on the other Hand) could the Citizens of
London
supply the Country Chapmen with Foreign Goods, without a double Charge for Carriage, which would make the Price so much the dearer to the Buyer; so that this Circulation is an Alternative to Trade, the Country is a Help to the City, and the City is a Help to the Country; as a
French
Proverb expresses it,
One Hand washes t'other Hand, and both Hands wash the Face.
Unhappy Creatures must they be, whose Station in Life, by the Fate of their own ill Policy is placed in the midst of this Stream, to intercept the Course of the Trade in its natural Channels, and where it circulates so aptly for the Good of the Whole, and who would cut short the Means of its doing good to the whole Community.
The wretched
Pedlar
would at once blow up this happy Order of Things; he cuts off the Carriage too and from the Center of Trade, and pretends to carry things a nearer Way, tho' quite out of their own Road: And indeed 'tis but a Pretence, for he does all the Mischief to Trade, that its worst Enemy can do, and fails in all the Pretences of Good, as we shall make appear in its Place.
CHAP. III. Of the Manner of carrying on the Retale Trade, by the Assistance of the City of
London,
in all the most distant Parts of this Kingdom.
BY this admirable Oeconomy of Trade, Business is extended into the remotest Parts of the Kingdom; Shops are opened in every Parish, nay, in every Village and Hamlet. These smaller Shops diffuse and spread not the Manufactures of the remotest Part of the Country only, but the Product and imported Growth of Foreign Countries and Kingdoms, into every Corner of the Island; where they are all sold by Retale, to the particular Families and Inhabitants of their Neighbourhood.
By this Means the Tea of
China,
the Coffee of
Arabia,
the Chocolate of
America,
the Spices of the
Molucca's,
the Sugars of the
Caribees,
and the Fruit of the
Mediterranean
Islands, are all to be found in the remotest Corners of
England, Scotland, Wales,
and
Ireland:
By this Method also, all the several Manufactures of
England,
tho' made in the most different and the remotest Counties, are to be bought in every Place, all being supplied from the great Center of the Nations Commerce, the City of
London.
The reason of mentioning this, shall appear presently; let us look a little first into the Consequences of it.
Those little Retaling Shops are the Life of all our Trade; by those the Bulk of the Business is carried on to the last Consumer, and here all the Wholesale Trade, as well of Home Manufactures as Foreign Importations is terminated and finished.
The People that keep these Shops are suplied at the like Tradesmens Shops, in the larger Towns or Cities, according as Situation directs; the Keepers of those Shops being supposed to have larger Stocks, and so are able to give these lesser Dealers some Credit: Again, the Shop-keepers in those greater Towns are furnished by the Wholesale Men, (who are such as we call Country Dealers in
London,
who likewise give Credit to those Chapmen in the principal Towns in the Country.
These Wholesale Men in
London
are indeed the support of the whole Trade, they give Credit to the Country Tradesmen (Chapmen) and even to the Merchants themselves; so that both Home Trade and Foreign Trade is in a great Measure carried on upon their Stocks.
To these Men, or to the Factors and Warehouse Men, of whom these Dealers buy, all the Manufactures of
England,
in whatsoever Part of the Country they are made, are sent up to
London
for Sale, and from
London
circulated again as above, into all the remotest Parts among the Shop-keepers; and by them in Retale Trade to the Wearers and Consumers.
It is on these Retalers, that all the People of
England
depend for the Supply of common Necessaries, whether for Food, Cloths, Houshold-Stuff, Ornament, or whatever else they think fit to lay their Money out in; even the Clothier himself cannot Cloth himself, or the Farmer feed himself or Family without them.
The Farmer may have Corn sufficient, and Cattle sufficient for the Supply of his Family: But when he comes to kill them for Food, he sends to the Shopkeeper for Salt, or the Beef will spoil before he can use it; he must send to the Shop for Fruit, for Spice, for Sugar, to supply his Wife in her Kitchen; he must send to another Shop for Pewter and Brass for his Kitchen-Utensils, to the Smith for Spits and Jack, Iron-Pots, and the like of other things; and all this, tho' the Iron, Tin, Copper, and the Salt are the Growth of his own Country, for they do not grow at his own Door, and the Mines are not in his Farm; nor are the Manufacturers of Hard-Ware, the Smiths of
Sheffield
and
Birmingham
at his Door; the Casters of Iron, Tin or Lead, do not live in his Town, so he must send to the Shopkeepers for all those Things, as he wants them. The Shopkeeper for the same Reason, must have them from
London;
for if he would send to
Sheffield
or to
Birmingham
for them, he could find no Carriers to bring them; and if they did, he had nothing to load them back with, so that the Goods would cost him double Carriage: Of this also we shall have Occasion to speak again.
Come we next to the Clothiers, they are most Importent Men in their Way; speaking of them in general Terms, we say they are able to cloth the whole World. But it must be taken with a due Latitude, for them and their Neighbours; for there is not a Clothier in
England
that can Cloath himself; nay, he cannot make himself a Coat, take him in what Country you will; he can indeed make the Out-side, and he can call for a Taylor, who is every where at hand to make it up.
But even the Taylor himself must send to the Shop for Silk and Thread to sew it together; and for even Needles and a Thimble, or he will make but poor Work; he must send to another Shop for Sheers and Sissars to cut out with, and the like.
Then for the Clothier himself when he has made the Cloth, he must buy Shalloon, or perhaps some other Manufacture made 150 Miles off for a Lining; he must have Buttons out of
Cheshire
about
Macclesfield;
Dimity to line the Wastcoat out of
Manchester;
Linnen to line the Breeches, out of
Ireland;
and a Hundred little nameless things; some out of one County, some out of another, before the Clothier can be clothed; his Hat comes from one Place, Stockings from another, Gloves from a Third; and so on, all those he sends to the Shop-keeper for, and the Shop-keeper to the
London
Wholesale Man, and he to the several Counties, where those several things are, the proper Business of the Place; and thus we see the City must of Necessity be the Center of the Trade; for the
London
Dealer has every Sort of Goods brought up by the proper Carriers, and he enables those Carriers to bring them up cheap; because he or the Dealers in other Goods which the Shop-keepers in that Country call for, can load them back and so get the Carrier a double Freight.
We might enquire here into the probable Number of these Shopkeepers in the several Countries all over this Island, thereby farther to illustrate this Argument, and judge of the Importance of this Circulation of Trade.
But the Thing is impracticable, it is out of the reach of all Calculation, it is enough to say they are in their Particulars innumerable, and may only be talk'd off by Thousands and Hundreds of Thousands; for taking them with their real Dependencies, they include almost the whole Body of our People.
This will serve to stop the Mouths of all those who having no other
Plea
to bring in Favour of the
Hawkers
and
private Traders,
those Enemies to all fair Trade, would move us to Pity and Compassion for them on Account of their great Numbers: Whereas they do not reflect how infinitely more numerous the Families of the Shopkeepers, Manufacturers, and Wholesale Dealers are, who they injure, and may be said to starve and reduce; and how numerous the Poor are who depend on those fair Traders for Employment and Subsistence, and who all cry to them for their Bread. Here Compassion ought to work, these we should turn our Eyes to, and not to the other who eat them up and devour them, and who either for their Numbers of significance are not to be named with them.
But we shall see the Importance of them very distinctly, by looking into the Mischiefs which we already feel by the Breaches made in this excellent Oeconomy, and the Ruin which threatens us if it be not speedily prevented, and this is the Subject of the next Chapter.
CHAP. IV. That all this Home Trade is interrupted and distress'd by the Invasion of
Hawkers, Pedlars,
and other
Clandestine Traders
; the Circulation stopt, and the
Retaling Shopkeepers,
who are the Life of the Whole Trade intercepted and supplanted.
AVARICE mask'd with a Pretence of Frugality, is the most fatal Snare of a Tradesman; it leads him not into Mischiefs only which are Personal, and which wound himself, but it pushes him upon Measures ruinous to Trade in general, and so he becomes an Enemy to his Country, and envies the Prosperity of all about him.
He sees Trade run on in a happy Round of Buying and Selling, Importing and Exporting, Carrying up and Carrying down, and that all the Way as it passes, tho' thro' a Multitude of Hands, it leaves something of Gain every where behind it, and yet lessens not the Value of what it carries on; and looking on this Beautiful Order of the Trade
with an
evil Eye,
he projects to cut off the Progress of Things from their Natural Course; shorten the length of the Circulation, which is indeed the Life of the Whole, and thinking to put all the Gain of Five or Six Stages of the Trade, into his own Pocket, he contrives or at least pretends to carry the Goods a shorter Way to the last Consumer; so bringing Things to an immediate Period, making himself the Carrier, Factor, Wholesale-Dealer, Chapman, and Retailer all in one Hand, putting the Gain of all those Trades into the single Purse of a Pedlar; and this is the Man we are now to speak of.
His Original as above is founded in Avarice and Envy, and the Measures he pursues, tells us, that it is his Trade to be a Supplanter; He acts like a Man that maliciously turns the Stream of a Mill-River to his own private Use, perhaps trisling and mean; valuing not the starving twenty Mills which lie on the same Stream and must get their Bread, and the Subsistence of their Families, by the fair Produce of their Labour.
In this he acts like a Thief and Destroyer, not only to the Trade in general, an Invader and Pirate to the fair Trader in particular, but at the same Time is a Cheat to the Buyers and Consumers of the Goods he sells; and in the whole to himself; for he defeats his own Expectations, and generally dies a Beggar, all which we doubt not to make appear to the meanest Understanding in the Process of these Sheets.
At an unhappy Juncture of Time, when FUNDS for raising Money to the Government were wretchedly wanting, and at a Time when the Fair Traders stood in need of all possible Encouragement, to enable them to pay the great Taxes which they then began to feel the Weight of; at that very Time, and we may say, in
an Evil Hour,
a Project to licence these Pernitious People was proposed, and for a trifling Payment, compar'd to the fatal Effects of it to Trade, was closed with, and the said Licences granted. We call it a trifling Payment, because it seems to be so, not only by Comparison as above, but by the small Sums it brings in to the Publick.
Ever since that Time they have been like Moths in Trade, and have eaten into the very Vitals of our Commerce, in a fatal and most injurious Manner; encroaching upon the
Fair Traders,
almost in every Branch of Business, where the Goods they sell are light and portable; spreading themselves into all Parts of the Country as well as City; insinuating into the Opinion of the Ignorant, by notorious Falshoods and Suggestions; particularly that they have their Goods from the Makers, buy them at the best hand, have the best of every thing in its Kind, and to sum up all, that they sell every thing at a cheaper Rate, than they (the Buyer) can be supply'd at by the Shops; all which in every Particular we take upon us to prove are downright Falshoods, calculated on Purpose to deceive and and impose upon the ignorant Buyer: And in a Word, That their whole Trade is a stated and premeditated Fraud, that it is so in the very Nature and Method of it, as well as in the Design.
If then in the Process of this Work we show, as we doubt not to do, that they neither buy at the best Hand, are furnished with the best Goods, nor are able to sell the best cheap; we hope there will be no Difficulty to convince the Honourable Persons, to whom we address these Sheets, that they are a People pernitious in themselves, and that they ought to be supprest.
It may look like making room for an Objection here, to say that these Men do not buy, and cannot sell cheaper than the fair trading Shopkeepers; for then it may be said, what hurt can they do to Trade?
The Answer is very plain and direct,
(viz.)
1. That they pretend too, and loudly affirm the contrary, and so abuse the ignorant Buyers; they intercept the Trade, they turn the Stream from the Mill,
as was observed above,
they invert the due Order and Course of Business; for instead of the Customers going to the Shop, they carry the Shop to the Customers; instead of the Country Inhabitants frequenting the Markets, which are the proper Places of Trade, they make the Markets walk about to the Inhabitants, calling upon them at their Doors; where if the People get nothing else, they are gratified by saving them the Trouble of going out of Doors to the Shops, or to the Market Towns; (which in some Cases is to them a thing of Consequence, as Distance and Situation of Places may be) and if it were no more than this, the Shopkeeper is supplanted and cut out of the Trade, and all the Chapmen and Dealers between him and the
London
Wholesale Men, are likewise cut out of their Business in their Proportion.
We might enlarge here upon the fatal Consequences of thus cutting off the Country Shopkeepers from their Business, intercepting Trade, and obstructing its regular Course, the Necessity of which for the publick Prosperity, we have so largely insisted upon above, how by that Means so many Thousands of Families are supplanted in their Trades, open their Shops in vain, and are left destitute; But we leave that to its proper Place.
It is needful first to take these People in their own Way, and lay open a little the Fraud which they use in their ordinary Course of Business: How the People in the Countries (ay and in the City too) are impos'd upon by them; and when we have detected them in their known Cheats, we shall have the clearer View of the fatal Consequences of those Cheats in Trade.
FAIR DEALING is the Honour of Trade, and the Credit of the Tradesman; a Shopkeeper may perhaps run out sometimes in Words, for the setting out his Goods, (and the Buyer in running him down, and not believing Truth in the most solemn Manner exprest, is really the principal Cause of all those Excursions of Words, which the Shopkeeper is as it were under a Necessity of making) But these People can speak no other Dialect; Truth is out of their way; their Business will not bear it; their Trade is a Fraud in it self, and must be supported by Falshood, and if they should at any Time deviate into Sincerity, they would be kick'd out of Doors; they can Trade no longer than they can L—e, for the very Beginning and End of their Business is to deceive. Let us look a little into the Particulars,
1. That they buy their Goods at the best Hand. This even in it self is false, and known to be so; for we see them every Day in the Shops and Warehouses of the Wholesale Dealers, in all Places where the Country Chapmen deal, and where they buy indeed what the others leave, which leads of Course to the next Pretence,
(viz.)
2. That they buy the best Goods, which is as false as the other; for it is well known that they buy the worst and meanest Goods of the several Kinds they deal in, and particularly that which the Country Chapmen refuse; nor indeed will the Wholesale Dealers; where they are Men of Honesty, and have the Sense of their own Interest, as well as of Justice in Trade, sell to such People as those the best of their Goods, which are lay'd in to supply their constant Chapmen, who buy large Quantities, and Merit to be used well; nor does the Pedlars bringing his ready Money weigh in this Case; for the Country Chapman who as above, deals largely and constantly, and pays well, Merits to be used as well, and indeed better than a Hawking Clandestine Trader, who brings his Money because he has no Credit; and pays down, because he cannot buy without it, who runs about from Warehouse to Warehouse to pick out any thing for the sake of Cheapness, and is fixt no where: The Warehouse Men will never show these their best Goods. They know also, 1. They are not for their Turn. And, 2. They will not give a Price for them, and in this Manner the Pedlars stock themselves with Goods.
Let us View them next upon their Circuits in the Country, for selling them off: It is true they travel as we call it cheap, that they feed their Horse upon the
Waste
and themselves upon the
Spoil,
that they lodge at the meanest Houses and in the meanest Places, where they live like themselves, that is, wretchedly and at little or no Expence, and this indeed is one just Article against their being suffered in Trade for at the same time, that they supplant the establish'd settled Shopkeepers, who as above are the Supports of the whole Body, maintain both Church and State, the Civil and Religious Government, feed the Poor, and cloth the Rich: These People do nothing in Civil Government, pay for nothing, bear no Offices, raise no Taxes, and which is still more, pay no Rent, for they have no Houses nor legal Settlement: They pay neither Scot or Lot, Church or Poor, but in short, are compleat Vagrants; and ought, their late unhappy Advantage excepted, to be treated as such.
Yet notwithstanding, take them with all these Advantages, it is not true in Fact, that they can carry their Goods cheaper in Bulk than the Shopkeeper can have them carried, and the Reason is very plain, because the Carriers by having constant Business backward, shall deliver Goods one kind with another, at a cheaper Rate, than even the Pedlar himself can carry them; and if we allow for Carriage by Water, whether by Sea or River Navigation, much cheaper.
The same Argument is against him in his Selling for less Profit than the Shopkeeper, which is also a Mistake; because the Shopkeeper out does him in Quantity, which makes up the Profit in the whole to him, tho' in the Particulars he may not gain so much: It is a Maxim in Trade, that light Gain makes a heavy Purse, and the Meaning is, that a small Profit on a large Return makes the Tradesman Rich; now 'tis a Mistake to say the Pedlar or private Trader can live on less Profit than the Shopkeeper, because where the one Returns one Hundred Pound, the other Returns a Thousand, perhaps much more, and can by Consequence lay up more by an Advance of two or three
per Cent.
on his Goods, than the other can by an Advance of ten
per Cent.
This makes the mischievous Consequence of the Pedlar more and more evident; for if by intercepting the Shopkeeper's Trade, as above, he prevents the said Shopkeeper making so large a Return; he by the same Rule prevents his selling his Goods at all to Profit, and so the poor Retailer is ruined of Course.
But to return, it is plain from hence, that the private Trader cannot sell cheaper than the fair Shopkeeper, no nor so cheap; his return being small and the others large. It is the same thing between the Retale Chapman and the Wholesale Dealer, of whom he buys; The latter selling in Bulk, and by large Parcels, can afford to sell at a low Rate; that is to say, for a small Profit, suppose by Commission from the Maker, or otherwise, in which Case he is content with 2 and a half, or perhaps 2
per Cent.
Provision for Sales; whereas the Shopkeeper retailing the same Goods by small Quantities, requires a large Gain, yet even his small Quantity may be called large, compared to the smaller Returns of the Hawker, and for that Reason the Hawker or Clandestine Trader cannot under sell the Shopkeeper; besides the Advantage on the Shopkeepers side of selling the best Goods as above.
If then, he neither buys the best Goods nor sells best cheap, as is plain above, what can be said for a set of Men, who supplant the fair Seller, and do the Buyer no good? They must be taken as they really are, for Pyrates in Trade, Thieves to their Country; for tho' they may not be said to rob and break open Houses, (tho' they stand pretty fair for a Charge of that Kind too sometimes,) yet they rob their Country in a most egregious Manner, supplanting the Tradesmen, and confounding the Course of Trade, by which the whole Country is maintained; and in this they are Enemies to the publick Prosperity, they starve the Poor, impoverish the dilligent industrious Tradesmen, and by Consequence the Manufacturers also who depend upon the Trade, as it is carried on in its due Course, and would be brought to starve and sink in the sinking of the Shopkeepers, and that in a most deplorable Manner.
CHAP. V. That these Hawkers and Clandestine Traders are the great support of the Smugglers, and are the Tools of those Enemies to all the fair Trade, by whom so fatal a Correspondence is carried on.
CLandestine Traders are the Agents and Support of Cladestine Trade; were there no receivers, there would be no Thieves: The first Part of the Hawkers Business is a Pyracy upon the Home Trade: So in this last and basest Part they are Pyrates, upon the Laws of Trade in General, and of their Country in Particular; as in the first they merit to be supprest and, prevented, so in the second they merit to be punished; in the first they deserve Resentment, but in the second they deserve the Gallows: For indeed the carrying on a Smuggling Trade (and especially as those Men do it avowedly) is not a Breach of the Law only, but a Contempt and Defiance of that very common Justice, which is the only Reason of Law: And doubtless, it is as real a Felony in the Essence of the Crime, as robbing a House is in the Letter of it; and therefore running Goods used to be called, and that with great Propriety,
Stealing
the Customs.
But we have not room here to enlarge upon the Nature of the
Sin of Smuggling,
or of the fatal Consequences of it to Trade; which would take up a Volume by it self; our present Work is to prove these People guilty of it, only we crave leave to lay it before our Superiors as what is well worth their Consideration,
(viz.)
That they will never be able entirely to suppress the Smugglers, till they can first suppress these Clandestine Traders.
As the Retailer is the Life of all Trade, so the Pedlar is the Essence of all Clandestine Trade; as the Receiver is the Support of all Thieving, so the Hawker is the Life of all Smuggling; he hands on the Goods to the Consumer; as he comes at them in the Dark, so he disperses them in the Dark; into innumerable Hands, and into small Parcels where it is not possible to the Officers to discover or detect them; for when uncustomed Goods are divided into innumerable Parts, like the Blood in the capillary Vessels, it is impossible to come at them in the Form of a legal Prosecution.
It may be said that this is not a direct Charge upon the Hawker,
&c.
and that the Fact of Smuggling cannot be proved upon them: But we say it is a direct Charge for all that: For we do not say they are really the Smugglers or Runners of the Goods themselves; but that they are Venders and Sellers of uncustom'd run Goods, and in that Capacity they are the Supporters and Encouragers of that wicked Trade. This they are not asham'd to acknowledge, and even to use it as an Argument, why their Customers should believe them, that the Goods they sell are cheap, namely,
That they get them immediately from on Board a Ship,
or that they had them from
such and such Seamen or Officers
who get them on Shore
so
and
so;
that is to say, they are run and have paid no Duty.
Now tho' even in this they may be sometimes, and are often times like a certain famous Gentleman, who was known to boast of more Sins than ever he could commit, and that they pretend the Goods are Run
when they are not;
that so the Buyers as above, may believe them cheap
when they are not;
yet it must be said, that if in any thing they are able to undersell, and offer their Goods cheaper than the fair Traders, it must be in this; where they are Goods smuggled and clandestinely got on Shore without paying the Custom, which is too often the Case.
Thieves they say, sell good Pennyworths; they must do so else no Body would buy, what they buy in the Dark they must sell in the Dark; and we will not dispute this Part with them, since they boast of the Crime they ought to blush for, let them take their Lot with the
Devonshire
Man that called himself the Miller when he was not. See
the History of
Edward VI.
This we are sure of, that there is not one Article in this Part but what argues strongly against them, and adds to the reasonableness of the Tradesmens Petition; indeed there needs nothing more to be said to this Part, as they are the Promoters of that vile smuggling Trade, which in spight of Laws, and in spight of all the Application of the Government to put those Laws in Execution, yet continues to be carried on among us in a most unaccountable Manner, they ought to be fenc'd against as Enemies to their Country Destroyers of its Commerce, and in a Word, of all fair and honest Dealing.
It may be, another little Exception in the Way also, that this Charge does not reach to all the Hawkers and Pedlars, and all the clandestine Traders in the Kingdom; that is to say, not this particular Part of the Charge.
This does not make the Complaint of the Tradesman less just, nor do we alledge any such thing; but we may without a Slander say, since a great Number offend in this Part, and all are destructive in some Parts; and we may say we believe it is rather want of Opportunity than Will, if they are not concerned in this also; as some Ladies are said to be Virtuous because they have not been tempted.
Many of the Hawkers have their Circuits out of the way, in the Inland Counties, remote from the Sea Coast, where this black Business of smuggling is only to be carried on, and they do not, because they cannot meddle with it: But setting them a Side, as it would be hard to charge them with the Crime who cannot commit it; so I would be as loth to affirm that any of them have declined it, whose Station has been in the way of it; and we have good Reason to say from their common Dialect in their Trade, that they value themselves upon it, whether they may believ'd against themselves or no, is a Question by it self.
But it is sufficient to the Purpose in Hand, if they are generally guilty in the Places where it is practicable: We do not Charge any body with running Goods on Shore, where there is no Shore or stealing Custom, where no Custom is paid: The Inland Counties that have no Sea Ports cannot be concerned in that Part of the Crime: But even those Inland Counties may be, and are the Markets where the smuggled Goods are sold, and where the Agents of those Thieves of Trade, dispose of them, and this Part is performed by the People we speak of: Here they harangue their Customers with the long Journies which they make, the Pains they are at, and the Hazards they run, to get those Goods at the Sea Side, and out of the Ships that bring them over, (tho' in Fact,) they never came there but have that Part done to their Hands: By these fine Stories they delude the ignorant People, and persuade them to believe the Goods Foreign, when they are not, and cheap when they are dear.
We might observe from this particular Part of their Management; how fond they are to be thought worse Knaves than they are, and to make the Buyers believe those Goods are run, which really are not; at the same time being very rarely without others that are; nor would it be an unprofitable thing to argue upon, in representing these People to the Parliament, since it would be well worth the Consideration of that Honourable House, Whether a set of People should be any longer continued in Trade, whose greatest Advantage it is to have their Customers believe them to be Knaves and Thieves, and who are chiefly traded with upon that Foot; a Set of Men who if they were really just and honest, could not live by their Business, and if their Customers did not think them Rogues, (that is Smugglers) would have no Business at all. Some People since the Application that has been made for the suppressing these Pedlars, have been apt to ask a gross Question,
(viz.)
what harm do they do to Trade, or where is the Hurt of permitting them?
Such a Question can hardly be ask'd for want of Ignorance, that's certain; but since 'tis necessary the ignorant Inquirer should be informed also, we think this very Chapter will go a great way to do it; namely, that they are the great Receivers and Dispersers of prohibited Goods, the Propagators of contraband Trade; and the Encouragers of those profest Enemies of fair Trading, the Smugglers; and in a Word, in doing that they break the Laws, and invade the Property of Fair Dealing and clean Tradesmen, who they injure in the highest Degree.
Nor would it be unworthy the Consideration of the Honourable House of Commons; whether it will be practicable, (however severe the Laws against Smuggling may be) to put a Stop to that wicked Trade, while those People are permitted, who thus support and encourage it.
One clandestine Trade always upholds another; the Smugglers (to give them their due) run Risk enough as the Laws now lye against them, and the Difficulties they are under to dispose of their prohibited Goods, are very great; and if they had not these private Traders to take them off, and no doubt but they sell Pennyworths to engage them to do so, and to dispose them by Retale, they would never be able to go on; but if these private Venders of uncustom'd Goods be but once taken off, (who are their last Resort) they, the Smugglers would be utterly at a Loss, and not able to put off the Goods when they had them, of which we shall say more in its Place.
This is in it self a full Answer to the gross Question mentioned above, of what harm they do to Trade, and why they should not be permitted.
The Mischief they do in other Cases, as in supplanting the Shopkeepers cutting off their Trade, and serving their Customers at their own Doors, and so shortning the Circulation of Business in the several Counties; where they travel, lessening the Carriage, and in many other Articles have been fully spoken off already.
It should be observ'd here, tho' we have but just room to name it, That as the Smuggling Trade has of late surprisingly encreased, and been carried up to a prodigious heighth, which appears plainly by the severe Acts of Parliament lately made against them; so the Numbers of these private and clandestine Traders, of whom we shall say more in the next Chapter, have also encreased; which manifestly shews (and for that End we mention it here,) the Correspondence that has been kept up between them, and their plain Dependence upon one another.
CHAP. VI. Of the various Species of Pedlars who are concerned in this clandestine unlawful and destructive Trade; and how they are distinguish'd by their manner of Trading; but all joyn in this Part,
(viz.)
The fatal Blow they give to the settled Trade of this Kingdom, and to the fair Traders mentioned before.
THE Complaint in General lies indeed against the licenc'd Hawker or Pedlar, and in order to have those Licences taken away; and it seems by that Part, as if these were the only People against whom the Charge lies; But we are to observe that there are of late a great Number of other People crept into the same Business; who also may be called
Hawkers
and
Pedlars
as well as any of the rest; and who merit as much to be supprest; these have no Licences, and yet taking the Hazard of the Penalty, run up and down in all the great Towns and Cities in
Britain,
but especially in
London,
to private Houses with their Goods: Here they get into the Favour of the Ladies, and especially of their Maids Servants; pretending that having Goods immediately from on board a Ship, or from particular Interests with other Persons, that have them so, they are able to sell cheaper than the Shops.
These are a set of People, who as we have observed before, value themselves upon being guilty of more Sins than they can commit; and pretend to have run and uncustomed Goods to sell when they have not, as well as when they have.
These have their Arts however to delude and impose upon the Buyers, and particularly by selling some Goods to loss, rather than not suit the Fancy of the Lady they are dealing with; that so the Person may boast of the Pennyworth, and recommend the private Trader; in which case they forget not, and seldom fail to make up their Loss with Advantage at the next Occasion.
By thus insinuating themselves into the Opinion of the Buyers, they have infinite Advantages to deceive and impose upon them; nor need we argue here upon the Power of the Imagination, which acts so much in their Favour, or how easy it is to abuse the Judgment by possessing the Fancy; it is too well known in many like Cases, that where the Buyer is previously possess'd with a Belief, that the Person
can
sell cheaper than others, 'tis next to impossible to persuade them that he
does not,
and harder still to persuade them that they are cheated and abused.
This Charge particularly relates to such private Traders as go from House to House, but would not be called Hawkers or Pedlars, nor do they take any Licences, so that they defraud the Publick both ways: These apparently carry no Goods, for what they have to sell being in small Bulk they easily conceal it; or if not, they have Servants to carry for them at some Distance, so as to be called on any Occasion.
That they are really Hawkers in the Sense of the Act, is out of Question, and they ought by the Act to take Licences; that they really do sell uncustom'd and prohibited Goods is equally certain, and that they frequently abuse those they sell to, by pretending their Goods are such, is as certain; and they have been frequently detected, and made to confess the Fraud.
For Example,
These People frequently sell Silk Handkerchiefs, and call them
India;
Muslins, and call them
run
from on board the
India
Ships; when in truth the first are bought in
Spittlefields,
and the latter at the ordinary Drapers Shops; and upon their being challeng'd, they have made no scruple to confess it, as is said above.
On the other Hand they likewise sell
India
Silks, Chints, painted Callicoes, and other Things; such as are not only prohibited, being sold, but even the Use and Wearing also.
By the first part of this Business they are Cheats in Trade, abuse and impose upon the Buyer by Falshoods and foul Practices of several Sorts, and on that Account ought to be supprest, as Enemies of the Home Trade in General; and by the latter Part they are Smugglers, and Parties to the Smugglers, dealing in, felling, and dispersing prohibited and uncustom'd Goods; and are punishable by the several Laws they act against; and in this last Case, with Submission to our Superiors, we humbly suggest that they merit to be supprest, tho' the Injury which they do to the fair Traders, and to the general Commerce of the whole Kingdom, was not to be taken notice of. The Reason I give for that, is, because it is the Wisdom of just Governments, to endeavour to prevent the Subjects Offending, rather than to desire to punish when Offences are committed.
It is worth Consideration also, whether some Laws more strictly forbidding this clandestine Commerce, than any yet in being, and more easily put in Execution, are not absolutely necessary; and if it be only with this View; namely, for the preventing the selling and dispersing prohibited and uncustom'd Goods; seeing as is said above, it is utterly impracticable to prevent the Smuggling Trade, if the receiving, selling, and dispersing the Goods when they are Run, cannot be also prevented; and this we believe to be utterly impossible, but by putting a stop to the Hawkers, Pedlars, and private Traders as above.
Besides these private and clandestine Traders there are another sort of Pedlars who carry on the Trade, but evade the Force of the Act, and these are such as Trade under the Protection of the several Provisoes in the Act, reserv'd; and stand it out, if they are called upon, insisting that they are not Hawkers or Pedlars within the Sense of the Law, and that therefore they are not obliged to take out Licences.
This and the backwardness of the Justices of Peace, to put the Laws in Execution against them, encourages such to carry on their Trade, as it were in Defiance of the Act for Licensing Hawkers,
&c.
These are such as travelling about the Country, pretend to be the Makers and Manufacturers of the Goods they sell, or the Agents or Servants of such Makers and Manufacturers, and as such, they pretend they are allow'd not only by the Act of Parliament for Licences, but by several other Acts of Parliament, (formerly made against Hawkers and Pedlars) to Trade, and Travel, as they do from Town to Town.
Now as the Pretence is in it self a Fraud, and the Practice is in it self as pernicious to Trade, as any other of the Hawkers and Pedlars Business, except the last mentioned of Smuggling and encouraging the Smugglers Trade, so it is needful to give a Brief Account of that Liberty which they pretend to, how far it extends and how far not, as also how it is abused by the Practises of those who pretend to it.
It is true that in an Act 3 & 4
Annae Reginae,
entitul'd an
Act for continuing Duties upon Low Wines, and upon Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Spices,
&c.
and upon Howkers, Pedlars, and Petty Chapmen,
there is the following Proviso. Pa. 125. of the said Act.
'Provided nevertheless, That whereas several Doubts have arisen touching Traders in the Woollen or Linnen Manufactures, who Trade by Wholesale, and set many Thousands of Poor to Work, and yet for Want of the Convenience of Water-Carriage, are obliged to send their Goods, when Manufactured, by Horses and otherwise, to the Publick Markets, Fairs and other Places: Be it Enacted and Declared by the Authority aforesaid, that all Persons Trading in the Woollen or Linnen Manufactures of this Kingdom, and Selling the same by Wholesale, shall not be deemed or taken to be Hawkers, Pedlars, and Petty-Chapmen within this or any other Act, but that such Person or Persons, and those that shall be immediately imployed under them to sell (by Wholesale only,) may carry abroad, Expose, and Sell the said Manufactures; Any thing in this Act, or any other Act or Acts, to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.
By this Proviso, abundance of travelling People go about, pretending to be the Makers and Manufacturers of the Goods they Sell, or Agents and Servants of such; but even in that Case they do not observe that the Law allows, even such to sell by Wholesale only, so that it is really nothing to the Purpose, nor will it protect the People we speak of.
There is likewise an Act made 4
Georgii
I. passed in Favour of the Bone-lace Makers in the following Terms.
'And whereas several of the Makers and Traders in
English
Bone-lace, who Trade by Wholesale, and employ many Thousands of Poor People in the said Manufacture of Bone-lace, have been lately informed against, Prosecuted, and Molested in the carrying on their Trades, under pretence that they ought to take and have Licences, according to the Directions and Provisoes of the Act before mentioned, or of some other Acts touching Hawkers and Pedlars; be it Enacted and Declared by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That no Person, being a Maker or Wholesale Trader in
English
Bone-lace, and Selling the same by Wholesale, shall be adjudged, deemed, or taken to be a Hawker, Pedlar, or Petty-Chapman, within the Intent and Meaning of the said Acts, or of any or either of them; and that all and every such Person or Persons, his, her, or their Children, Apprentices, Servants, or Agents (Selling by Wholesale only) shall and may go from House to House, and from Shop to Shop, to any of their Customers (who Sell again by Wholesale or Retale) without being subject or liable to any the Penalties or Forfeitures contained in any of the said Acts touching Hawkers, Pedlars, and Petty-Chapmen; Any thing in the said Acts contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.
Under the Protection of this Clause, abundance of unlawful Trade is carried on, and other Goods besides Bone-lace, are sold in a private and a retale Manner, all which are equally ruinous to Trade, whereas it is to be observed, that even the Liberty given to these Bone-lace Men is, even for their own Manufacture to sell by Wholesale only.
Again in the Act of the 9th & 10th
William
III. for Licensing Hawkers,
&c.
there is an Exemption of several Traders.
'And on this Clause the Justices of the Peace's Clerks and Hawkers have form'd a formal Protection, which was only at first in Writing occasionally, but now in respect of the Multiplicity of them, and for giving it the greater Countenance, they have Printed it on Parchment, with the Queen's Arms on the Top, (as annexed) by which Means the Commissioners conceive several Traders that ought to pay the Duty are permitted to go free.
Sir
Edward Northey
Attorney General, being consulted upon this Practice of the Justices Clerks, gave it under his Hand, that it was an illegal Practice; his Opinion is as follows:
'I conceive the Justices do ill to make such Certificates, for that it is impossible for them to be certain, that the Persons for whom they so Certify, shall not Sell other Goods than what he or his Master makes; and the making such Certificates may contribute to defraud the Crown of the Duty to be paid by Hawkers,
&c.
However, I think the Certificate ought not to be of any avail to the Person producing the same, but he is to prove (if insisted on) before the Justice, before whom he shall be brought, that he is the Maker, or Servant of the Maker of the Goods he Sells, or ought to be convicted for Selling without a Licence, contrary to the Act; and I think it will be fit to advise the Justices not to make any more such Certificates for the future, and to exhibit an Information against them, if they shall make any such.
Edward Northey.
Another sort of Pedlars, are such as travel from Town to Town.
'There are a sort of People that travel from Town to Town, and pretend to be Wholesale-Men, and take up some Rooms in some Inn or other of the said Towns, where they generally Sell by whole Pieces; and these People commonly send about Town to let them know, that such Traders are come to Town, and that they may be furnished with such Commodities as they Sell.
There are many other Shifts and Turns made use of by the real Pedlars to evade the Act, even for so small a Thing as the Licence only: But we have not room here to give a List of them all, it is enough to say, that even in those Cases where any Liberties are allow'd by the Law, they are always Transgressors of that Law, and carry that Liberty farther than it was intended, or farther than is allow'd by the true Intent and Meaning of the Law. So industrious are these People to preserve a Liberty for carrying on a Business universally destructive to the Publick, and so injurious to the fair Traders.
Particularly it is to be observed here, that even before the Acts for Licensing these People were past, they were expresly forbidden, as well by several Acts of Parliament, as by the Privileges granted by Charter to several Cities, Towns and Corporations, to open their Packs, or expose their Goods to Sale in those Cities, Towns, or Corporations; except on Publick Fairs and Market Days, and in the open and publick Market Places respectively; yet, now under pretence of these Licences granted by Law, they have taken upon them to traffick, sell, and carry about their Goods, and open their Packs even in the City of
London,
and the Suburbs thereof; as if lawfully permitted to do so, and especially the private Traders mentioned above, do it continually without Regard, to either the Laws called Acts of Parliament, or the By-Laws of the said City, and so in divers other Corporations also.
So that it is evident the fair Traders are distress'd by them in all Places, as well City as Country; and this necessitates them to apply in this Manner, for some new Law in a more summary and direct Manner to convict and suppress them; and particularly to ascertain what kind of Traders (and how Trading) shall be adjudg'd Pedlars in the Sense of the Law; as for the Methods to limit and restrain these People, we will not pretend to lead; That Part is entirely to be left to, and adjusted in such a Manner as to the Honourable House of Parliament, shall appear Reasonable and Just.
CHAP. VII. Of the Necessity there is to suppress not the Licensed Hawkers only, but all the private Traders of whatsoever Denomination, and of the great Advantage it would be to the Publick to do so.
IT comes now of Course to observe, that tho' it is true, that the Licensing these People is a manifest Grievance to Trade, and by which they are encouraged to insult the Tradesmen, even in those Towns and Cities where they have no legal Right, no not by their Licences to Trade, yet the bare taking off or repealing the Acts of Parliament for granting such Licences, is not the only Subject of this humble Application.
It is true that the Licenc'd Hawkers have been the Original of all, or most Part of the Mischief suffered, and that those Licences have in a great Measure taken off the Edge of the People's just Aversion to them, believing that the Laws would not have allowed them, if they had been really injurious to Trade in General, or to the Shopkeepers in Particular.
But this is not all, from this Abatement of the People's disgust at the Pedlars and Hawkers, Throngs of private Traders have broke in, upon, even the Hawkers and Pedlars themselves; who would not be called by the Name, but do equal Mischief, in plying as it were at People's Doors, and that even in the greatest Cities, and best governed Corporations; carrying their Goods in small Parcels not to be discovered, and selling them to the Ladies even in their Bed-Chambers; as effectually and fatally circumventing and anticipating the fair Traders, as it is possible for any Pedlar or Hawker to do.
So that tho' it is true, that we complain of the Licensing and permitting the Hawkers and Pedlars as such, and under the several Denominations and Descriptions given of them above, and humbly hope for Relief against them, by the Repeal of the several Laws, granting those Licensing, yet we must insist also, that it is absolutely necessary to have some proper Clauses, granted in such new Law as shall be made, as may effectually suppress all those private clandestine Traders also, otherwise the rest will be of no Effect.
It is not the Men that we so earnestly move against, as they are Men, but as they are Injurious and Destructive by their foul Practice in Trade; 'tis the Hawking and Peddling in all its various Forms and Shapes, however disguised and concealed, whether with or without a Licence, and indeed of the two, those without a Licence seem to be the most mischievous in great Towns and Cities; those with the Licence are so in Country Towns and Villages, and especially at
lone Houses
as we call them, Houses standing single and scatter'd about the Country.
Those who Ply or Practice (call it as you will) in Cities and populous Towns, and especially in
London,
are supposed to be more in Number than those that are Licenc'd, and consequently may do most Mischief; besides they have the Chance to deal among the richer Sort of People, and with those who have most Money to lay out; so that they not only take more ready Money than the other, but as they can sooner supply themselves with Quantities of the like Goods, than they can who Travel farther off, so they make quicker Returns, and require less Stock.
Every one of these Articles are Injurious to the fair Trader, for all these Sums of ready Money if not thus intercepted would circulate in a regular Manner, in the ordinary Way of Trade, and give Life and Spirit to the Shopkeeper, of whatever Trades the Buyer was formerly used to deal with; and the Goods pass, thro' all the circulating Meanders of Trade, which are known so much to support the Body of our Tradesmen.
This is a Reason well worthy the Consideration of the Legislature, and which if duly Weigh'd would shew the Necessity of suppressing these People; namely, that by this they will restore Trade to its ancient State such as it was, when the Wealth and Oppulence of this Nation was first raised; for we must insist that the Greatness of our Country has been chiefly, if we may not say wholly raised by our Trade.
The Increase of our People, the raising the Value of Lands, the infinite Improvements, in Cultivation, in Navigation, in Arts, in Manufactures, and in a Word, in every valuable Thing, has been all (under Providence) owing to our Trade; and of all Trade, our Home Trade is the Life, the Soul, and the Support of all the rest.
This Home Trade is wounded, weaken'd, we may almost say, murther'd by these Pyrates, and by their Depredations; it languishes like Children without the Breast; the Stream as is said above, is turned away from the Mill; the Buyers or Customers are turned away from the Shops; the Money which was the Life of their Trade, runs into other Hands: If any Trade is left to the Shopkeeper it is the trusting Part, where the Money comes slow, and where Losses often falls heavy; so that the Shopkeeper has the Gleanings of the Trade, while the Pedlar and the Hawker have the Harvest; the Shopkeeper has the Milk, and the Pedlar the Cream.
With these Disadvantages in the Trade, the poor decaying Shopkeeper has a large Rent to pay, and Family to Support; he maintains not his own Children only, but all the poor Orphans and Widows in his Parish; nay, sometimes the Widows and Orphans of the very Pedlar or Hawker, who has thus fatally laboured to starve him: How often when they perish in their unjust Dealings, are their Wives and Orphans past home to the Parishes, for the injured opprest Tradesman to help maintain.
Were these People remov'd, Trade would soon return and revive; when once Trade came to flow in its right Channel, it would recover its former Magnitude and Glory, and the Shopkeepers would thrive again as they formerly did.
We have had abundance of Inquiries made into the Reason of the decay of our Trade, and the declining of our Tradesmen; why so many Commissions of Bankrupts are granted, why the Goals are (however frequently empty'd,) so soon fill'd again with demolish'd Tradesmen and broken Shopkeepers; we must say, we think they go round about in seeking for the Cause, who look any farther than to this unhappy miserable Invasion of Trade, by Vagrants and Thieves.
These are the People who ruin both the Buying and the Selling; the selling Pedlar robs the fair Trader of his ready Money Customers; and the Smuggling Pedlar robs him of his buying to Advantage: They buy of the Smugglers, who by robbing the Government of the Customs, bring in Goods from the Foreigner, and the Profit (at least great Part of it) goes away to Strangers; they have the Market, and we the Loss; for it is evident, much of the Smuggling Trade is managed by Foreigners: They bring the Brandy, the Salt, the Tea, the Coffee to our Coast, and into our Ports; we, (that is our Thieves) go on Board and buy, and tho' they may buy cheap compared to the Price, which the fair Trader pays, yet they pay dear compared to what the Foreigner can afford to sell for.
We might enlarge upon the Proof of this, by enquiring into the Trade for Brandy in small Casks, carried on for some Years past, by the
Jersey
and
Guernsey
Men; by the Isle of Man Merchants, and several others: But 'tis enough to name them, the rest is too well known, to need any Explanations.
Were these Hawkers, private and clandestine Traders, effectually suppress'd by Law, all these Evils would be at once remov'd, and (as is said above,) Trade would be restored to its antient Channel, and would of Course revive and enrich the whole Nation: On this Account it is, that we say, it is a thing of Value, sufficient to move the Consideration of the whole Legislature, and with that Confidence we presume thus to lay it before them.
CHAP. VIII. Of the Numbers of the People employ'd thus in clandestine Trade, and whether it be just, to throw so many Hands out of Business, and perhaps out of the Kingdom; since Numbers of Inhabitants are the Wealth and Strength of a Nation.
NUmbers of People are without Question, the Strength and Wealth of a Nation; we most readily grant the General.
But then it must be Numbers of legally settled Inhabitants, not Numbers of Vagrants and wandering People: Settled Inhabitants, are Industrious, Laborious, and lend their helping Hands to all the Exigences of the whole Body; whether Publick or Private. They pay their just Proportions in all Rates, Assessments and Taxes, as well to the Government, and to the Church, as to the Maintenance of the Poor, to the Repair of Highways, Bridges, publick Edifices, and whatever the Community calls for.
These are the Inhabitants whose Numbers are of Import in a Government; and if we had two Millions or three Millions of such more than we have, the Kingdom would be still so much the Richer and Stronger: These all live by honest Means, carry on lawful Employments, and support their Families by Industry and Application in their respective Callings; and if they have not Estates before Hand, oftentimes raise Estates by their own Genius and Inclination to Business.
This very Argument therefore is on our Side with all imaginable Advantage; for if these fair Traders are the People, in whose Numbers and Encrease, the publick Oppulence so really consists, (and such it is plain the Manufacturers, Artifficers, Shopkeepers and Retailers are, as well in the Cities as in the Countries) then it must certainly be the Wisdom of every Government to nourish and preserve them; and by all just Assistance of Laws and Magistrates to keep them from being supplanted and opprest by unfair and clandestine Traders: As for the Numbers on the other Side, how many soever they may be said to be, they are not to be nam'd in comparison to the Multitudes who are injured and oppress'd by them, as we shall observe presently; on the other Hand to the Question of what shall become of them, the Answer is short and direct.
1. Let them settle themselves, fix their Habitations, open Shops, and Trade fairly as others do: The Country is open, and the Trade is open, indeed the exclusive Privileges of some Places may here and there shut them out, but there is room enough for them to come into Business almost where they please; and were they inclined to do so, and become fair Tradesmen as others do, deal in a regular Manner, and carry on their Business as other Dealers do, we doubt not but such Clauses might be obtain'd in their Favour, as to take away all Excuses for Pedling and Smuggling from them: But it is not in their very Nature as Pedlars, as it is not in the Nature of Beggars to Work; so after a Man has once commenc'd Pedlar, he can no more fall into Trade in a fair and legal Way, than a Fish can live out of Water.
We know they pretend they are shut out of the great Trading Cities, Towns, and Corporations, by the respective Charters and all other settled Privileges of those Places: But we answer, that tho' for want of legal Introduction they may not be able to set up in Cities, Corporations,
&c.
yet there are many Places of very great Trade, where no Corporation Privileges would obstruct them, of which presently.
2. If any of them should be reduc'd, and as some alledge, be brought to the Parish to keep; that is to say, their Wives and Children, the Manufacturers, the Shopkeepers who confessedly make up the principal Numbers of those Corporations, and are the chief Supporters of the Parishes, will be much more willing to maintain them, than to be ruin'd by them.
But to return to the great Objection, about the Numbers of them; we insist that it is all a Delusion; Nor are the Numbers of those People, so great as to be nam'd in Competition with the Numbers of the People who suffer by them: They are numerous indeed, when we speak of the Injury they do, for a small Number may ruin a greater, and a few are sufficient to do Mischief to a whole Community; but we say, they are so few compared to the very great Numbers of the Tradesmen and Manufacturers who are oppress'd by them, that we are not affraid humbly to referr that Part to the just Consideration of the Parliament, who cannot be at a Loss for good Reasons to dismiss them from the Destructive Trade, which they now carry on, and to find some other way to provide for their Numbers, or to employ their Numbers, such as may render them useful to their Country, not Destroyers of it.
That they are Destroyers, as they are now station'd in Trade, is out of all Doubt: As Smuggling is to the fair Merchant, so Pedling is to the fair Shopkeeper; one cheats the Government of their Duties, and the other cheats the Shopkeeper of his due Profits in Business; the one turns the Channel of Trade from the Wholesale Man and from the Retailer to the Pedlar, the other turns the Merchants Trade from the Importer to the Smuggler. But this is sufficiently explained already, we mention it again here to inforce the present Argument, that their Trade and Practice being in its own Nature unjust and ruinous to the Community, the Numbers that may be concerned in it, ought to be so far from a Plea for their Continuance, that on the other Hand it is the strongest Plea imaginable for their being supprest.
The greater the Evil is, the more pressing is the Complaint; and the more moving in Favour of the Complainer, if their Number indeed was formidable; if we could be so weak as to suppose, that it would not be safe to attempt them, we should talk in another Dialect of them, and they might go on till the whole Inland-Trade of
England
was dwindled into Pedling and Hawking, as it is at this time in
Poland
and
Lithuania,
and other Countries on that Side of the World.
But the Case is just the Reverse in
England;
they are a great Number indeed considering them
qua. Pedlars,
and they do an incredible Mischief to our Trade; but they are a most contemptible few, when we view them in the Hands of Justice; and should the Parliament think fit to disarm them of their Licences, or legal Claim to this walking Employ, and add some needful Clauses, to put a stop to the clandestine unlicenc'd Rabble which now break in upon us, the fair Traders will never want any Aid, but that of the Civil Magistrate, and his Peace Officers to crush the whole Body of them; nor unless by any flagrant Crime, they merit farther Justice, will they that are refractory need any other Goal than the Cage; or other Punishment, than the Stocks or the Whipping-Post.
It is true the Mischief is much greater to Trade than otherwise it would be, because of the unhappy Temper of those who deal with, and encourage these private Traders; we mean
the Buyers;
who being sometimes gratified with the Advantage of buying a prohibited or clandestinely run Commodity, in which they think they have what they call a Pennyworth; not only admit them freely into their Houses, but recommend them from one to another; not regarding the publick Evil which they encourage, or the Damage they do to Trade in General.
It is wonderful to reflect, how this Humour in Trade first crept insensibly upon us, and still more wonderful to think, to what a fatal Degree it is increased within a few Years past: Till it has sapp'd the very Foundations of our Commerce, and brought a great Part of that flourishing Business which we used to call Wholesale Trade, and which made such a Figure in this Nation, and in the City of
London
especially, to dwindle almost wholly into Pedling and Pack-Markets; till our Shops are shut up in a frightful Manner and Number; and instead of the Consumer going to the proper Market to clothe and equip themselves, the Trade is become vaguing and ambulatory, and as we said above, the Shop follows the Customers, not the Customers the Shop.
But our Business is not to sit still bemoaning the Decay of our Trade, but to apply warmly and vigorously to the Remedy; and to implore the Aid of our happy Representatives, in whose Power it is, and prevail with them to find out for us, the proper and immediate Specifick for this chronical Disease.
It is our Happiness that in this Application, we can make it appear, that we do not speak our own Sentiments alone, or the Language of the Cityonly; tho' that great Body consisting of the principal Merchants and Wholesale Dealers in
England,
might be well supposed to understand the true Interest of Trade in General, as well as of their own Trade in Particular.
But the Complaint comes from all Parts of the Kingdom, even the most remote; and we have Letters from Places the most distant from one another, and who have no Correspondence with one another, yet all concurring in the same Complaint, and praying the Aid of the Citizens of
London
and
Westminster,
in pushing on their earnest Applications to the Parliament for Redress of this Grievance.
Some of our Letters express in a most feeling and affectionate Manner, the great Concern they are under in the Country, from the Apprehensions (may we not call them just Apprehensions), that their Trade will be entirely ruin'd and lost, by the pushing on this destructive Method of Selling by Hawkers and Pedlars.
Were the Numbers of People (not to mention the Weight and Value of them) as Tradesmen, Manufacturers, and Shopkeepers but to be suggested, who have already sent, and would upon the least Hint of the Occasion, send up their earnest Complaints in this Case; should we but suppose what a Porportion they bear to the whole Body, we should no more speak of the Numbers of the Pedlars and Hawkers, who would be distress'd by this Law: The Question would be as gross as it would be, to ask whether a Thousand People should suffer, or a Hundred Thousand, whether
in a Word,
twenty Thousand or a Million; the Numbers of the Shopkeepers, Manufacturers, and fair Traders, bearing, to that of the Pedlars as much difference in Proportion as that and much greater.
If then the Numbers of the Pedlars, or their Weight in the common Wealth, can bear no Proportion to the Numbers of the Shopkeepers and Manufacturers, who are thus injuried by their Means; what have we to consider on their Account? The only thing that remains, seems to be to recommend it to them to seek Employments for themselves, and to get their Bread by some other and more honest Way of Business, that may not expose them to the just Resentment of their Country, and cause them to be treated as Enemies.
Why may we not as well pity the brave Body of Soldiers and Seamen, which upon the Conclusion of a War are usually reduc'd, disbanded, and sent Home oftentimes without Money, or with but very little; and who are left to seek their Bread where 'they can get it. The Law does not spare them, if they Rob and Plunder, or commit any of the ordinary Excursions usual in the Armies and in the Field; and tho' they may be said to have deserv'd well of their Country, they are not supposed to be injured, neither are they injur'd that they are left destitute of Business, and have their Bread to seek.
How much less then are these People used ill, who are only disbanded from a really injurious, and in its Nature unlawful Trade, but are left at Liberty to turn honest Men, and apply themselves to other Business for their Subsistence.
Nor can they plead, that they are Cripples and disabled from Labour, or superannuated, and past using other Means; for they that are able to travel the Country, loaden, as they generally are, with heavy Packs and Parcels of Goods, carrying them from House to House, and from Town to Town, cannot be supposed to be weak Bodies and unfit for Labour; on the contrary, most of them are lusty, young, strong and able for Labour, and enur'd to Hardships; and as for those that have (and travel with) Horses, they are generally Men of some Substance, and may be supposed able to take Shops as we have said, settle in Towns, and become honest Tradesmen among their Neighbours.
If there are any poor among them who merit Regard, the Method for them is plain and easy,
viz.
They may be pass'd Home to the respective Parishes, to which they belong; where even the Shopkeepers themselves (tho' so much injur'd by them) will be willing to assist to their Maintenance in a legal Manner.
Thus either way the Oppression will be light, if it may be called an Oppression, the greatest Grievance to Trade that ever did or ever can befal it in this Nation, would be redrest, and the Pedlars becoming honest Shopkeepers, would be so far from being the Pest and Grievance of the Towns and Parishes, that they would set their Shoulders to the common Burthen, and be the Support of that Commerce which before they destroy'd.
All which is Most Humbly Sulmitted,
&c.