A brief State of the Question Between the Printed and Painted CALLICOES, AND THE Woollen and Silk MANUFACTURE, As far as it Relates to the Wearing and Using of Printed and Painted CALLICOES in
Great-Britain.
LONDON:
Printed for W. BOREHAM, at the
Angel
in
Pater-noster-Row.
1719.
INTRODUCTION.
W HEN Men mistake in one Thing, 'tis very usual to have the World think they mistake in every Thing; and 'tis an easy thing to find a Stone to throw at a Dog.
Had the poor
Weavers,
who I am now to speak of, brought their Complaints against the exorbitant Wearing of
Callicoes
in a regular and justifiable Manner, and before the proper Judges of those Things; as their Conduct could not have been reproach'd, so the Grievance, which now suffers by their mistake, would, perhaps, have met with more Friends.
But wise and impartial Men will learn to distinguish between the Justice of a Cause, and the Mistakes of the Managers of it; between the Reason of the Complaint, and the disor derly manner of Complaining: And this is all we shall have occasion to say of the poor mistaken tumultuous
Weavers,
leaving them to the Clemency and Compassion of the Government, whom they have offended, but recommending the Grievance under which they groan, to the serious Consideration of those in whose Power it is to redress it.
That the
Weavers
suffer under the general Calamity of Trade; that they, and even the whole Manufacturing part of the Nation, are oppress'd by the exorbitant growth of clandestine Trade, and the unreasonable pouring in of
East-India
Wrought Goods upon us. This will admit of no Debate, at least, none that can be supported by Reason: What little can be said for it is so easily confuted and expos'd, and has so often been fully answer'd, that little will be wanting now: But according to my Title, to state the Case clearly and impartially between Woollen and Silk Goods made at Home, and the Callicoes and Wrought Silks printed here, or clandestinely imported from Abroad.
In order to enter upon this Affair with all possible Clearness and Plainness, and, if we can, to strike at the Root of the Mischiefs we complain of, I shall first lay down some general Propositions as Fundamentals in this Question of Trade, obliging my self to give such Evidence for the proof of them, as shall take away all possible Pretences to deny the Fact; and this I do at first, that we may have no stum bling at the Threshold, no cavelling at the Terms, or shuffling off the Question from one thing to another; but that as I may talk to Men of Business, I may talk likewise to their Understanding and Conviction. My Propositions are,
1. That the Woollen and Silk Manufactures of this Kingdom being the Staple of our Trade, and the most considerable and assential part of our Wealth, the Fund for our Exportation, the Support of our Navigation, and the only Means we have for the Employing and Sunsisting our Poor; it is therefore the common Interest of the whole Kingdom to discourage every other Manufacture, whether foreign or assum'd, so far as those Manufactures are ruinous to, and inconsistent with the Prosperity of the said
British
Manufactures of Wool and Silk.
2. That the Wearing and Using Printed or Painted Callicoes, as they are now almost universally worn and used in
Great-Britain,
is ruinous to, and inconsistent with the Prosperity of our
English
Manufactures, as well those of Wool as those of Silk.
3. That the total prohibiting the Wearing and using of Printed and Painted Callicoes in
Great-Britain,
is not ruinous to, or inconsistent with the Prosperity of the
East India
Trade; or,
to put it into an Affirmative that may be more capable of Evidence,
the
East-India
Trade may and would remain in a very thriving and flourishing Condition, and be carry'd on to the Profit and Advantage of the Adventurers, tho all the Subjects of
Great-Britain
and of
Ireland
were effectually limitted from, and prohibited the wearing and using of Printed and Painted Callicoes.
4. That the Printed and Painted Callicoes now worn and used in
Great-Britain,
come under four Denominaitons,
ALL pernicious and destructive
to our Trade, (
viz.
) such as being inported by the
Dutch,
are either printed in the
Indies
or in
Holland,
and clandestinely run on Shoar here, in spite of former Prohibitions:
OR
such as being imported here by our own
East-India
Company, and prohibited to be worn because printed in
India,
are pretended to be exported, but are privately run on Shoar again and sold:
OR
such as being printed here, are entered and ship'd for Exportatian, in order to dram back the Duties on the Stamps but are re landed and sold here; and lastly, such as are Printed here, and legally worn and used, and under the
Colour of which ALL
the other Frauds are practis d and conceal'd.
5. That this clandestine Importation and Relanding of Printed and Painted Callicoes, is no way to be prevented, neither is it in the reach of the Wit and Power of Man to put a stop to it by any other Means but by effectually preventing and prohibiting the wearing, and use of them.
I have some other essential Propositions in Trade, which will come in course to be laid down for the carrying on this Argument, as we proceed in the Consideration of these; but I shall reserve them
in petto
till I see whether the Age is weak enough to struggle with things so selfevident as these, and till I see what it is can be offer'd,
if any thing shall be mustred up,
against these five.
A brief State of the Question Between the PRINTED and PAINTED CALLICOES, AND THE Woollen and Silk Manufacture,
&c.
T HAT the IMPORTATION of Wrought Silks and Printed Callicoes from the
East-Indies,
and allowing the use of them here when imported, has all along been found prejudicial to the Home Consumption of our Woollen and Silk Manufactures in
Great-Britan,
needs no other Proof than the late Acts of Parliament, which were obtain'd in Consequence of the general Application of the
Manufacturers,
as well Masters as Workmen, through the whole Kingdom, to prohibit and limit their Consumption.
In doing this, the Parliament, whose Wisdom and Justice was very conspicuous in that very Case, entred into the true Merits of the Cause, search'd it to the bottom, and weigh'd the Allegations on every side. The Members were neither clamour'd into it by the
Weavers,
byafs'd to it by Parties, or hurry'd into it by the multitude of Petitions from the Counties and Corporations they represented; but the Weight of the Cause supported it self; the Nature of the Thing pleaded it, and their own wellweigh'd Reason importun'd them to it: The thing was self-evident; the Humor of the People,
as too often is the Fate of Nations,
seem'd, at that time, possess'd against their Interest, and being hurry'd down the Stream of their Fancy, they ran headlong into the greatest Neglect and Contempt of the Growth and Manufactures of their own Country and People, and embrac'd, with a Violence in their Temper not to be resisted, the Silks and Callicoes of
India,
in a manner even ridiculous to themselves, as well as fatal to their Interest.
The Extravagance of that Time cannot be so entirely forgot, as that we should not reflect how the Ladies converted their Carpets and Quilts into Gowns and Petticoats, and made the broad and uncouth Bordures of the former serve instead of the rich Laces and Embroideries they were used to wear, and dress more like the Merry-Andrews of
Bartholomew
Fair, than like the Ladies and Wives of a Trading People.
The Consequence was, what any one might thave foreseen would be, (
viz.
) the Ruin of our Manufactures, the stagnating of our Trade, the stop of Employment, and the starving our Poor: The Cry was universal, not the
Spittle-Fields
Weavers only, selt it; the Calamity was general, and the Complaint came from every Corner of the Nation.
As all Mischiefs in their Exorbitance tend naturally to their own Cure, so it was hear; seeing the thing was fatal in it self to our Trade, it was our Felicity that it run on to such Extremes as allarm'd the whole Kingdom; for this awaken'd the Parliament to its Redress; Such we cannot but hope will be the Case again; for like Causes generally produce like Effects.
The Proceedings of the Legislature might pass with us all, for Reason, in a Case of much more Consequence than this; but we have yet more powerful Auxiliaries to bring in Aid of the Case before us; I'll insist upon two only, 1
st,
The Pattern of our Neighbours; 2
dly,
The Success of our own Prohibitions. I begin with the last.
What the Parliament did in the Cafe I just now mentioned, was abundantly justify'd in the Success: What can be more encouraging to apply the same way, seeing the Cafe is the same?
No sooner was the Flux of foreign Manufactures stopp'd and the
East-India
Goods prohibited, but the Trade reviv'd; the Face of Things chang'd; Business and Plenty succeeded to want of Employment, and want of Bread; the Numbers of Poor flocking to the Manufactures for Employment, and the Encrease of the Consumption of our Manufactures reviv'd the whole Nation. Nothing could be a stronger and more convincing Evidence of what had been alledg'd, (
viz.
) that the so general wearing and using
East. India
printed Callicoes, &c. had been the Ruin of our Trade, had put a stop to the Employment of the Weavers, and, in a word, had
starv'd our Poor.
I shall come to this again in its Place.
I come, in the next place, to the Example of our Neighbours, and particularly the
French,
a Nation but too wife in the most proper Methods for erecting and encouraging Manufactures; of which there are such Testimonies given in the Administration of Monsieur
Colbert,
who was justly call'd,
The Father of the
French
Manufactures,
as we have felt the Consequences of in Trade for many Years past.
The
French East-India
Company was Establish'd by the enterprising
Genius
of the said Monsieur
Colbert
in the Year 1664, and the Edict pass'd the
th of
August
1686, settling all their Privileges for 50 Years; and they begun with great Advantages, tho' they had not Success, occasioned by their own Mismanagement: However, the King of
France,
finding the using and wearing of
India
wrought Silks, Cottons, and Callicoes painted and printed, whether in
India
or at Home, began to encroach upon the Manufactures of his Subjects, as well Silk as Wool; and fore-seeing that it would be the Ruin of both, for which he thought himself oblig'd to preserve the utmost Concern, as being the Fundamental of the Riches of his Kingdom, he effectually prohibited the Wearing and Use of them, whether printed at Home or Abroad, among his Subjects, by an Edict in the Year 1686, and under very severe Penalties: And the late King of
France,
being mov'd by his Council of Trade, from time to time, by several subsequent Edicts, confirm'd those Prohibitions, adding farther Penalties, more severe than before, for enforcing the Execution: By all which it appears, of what Consequence this Matter was thought to be for the preserving the Manufactures of his own Dominions.
The Government of
France
proceeding still upon the same Maxims, of a just Policy in Trade, continue as Tenacious of their former Care for their own Manufactures as ever: And this appears by the Provision made by subsequent Edicts to continue the same Prohibitions, in the strictest manner, of all such
East-India
Goods as are hurtful to their Manufactures, of which the following is a flaming Instance: (
viz.
) We all know, that the present Government has united their old
East-India
Company to their new
West-India
Company; and what great Advances of Credit that Union has made in
France
; yet, so far is the present Government from neglecting their own Manufactures, by forgetting to prohibit the Use of the Callicoes,
&c.
which the said Company may import; and so far are they from imagining that the said Company should not flourish and thrive, notwithstanding the Prohibition of those Goods, tho' so considerable a Branch of their Importation, that those Prohibitions are all expresly renew'd, repeated and confirm'd, by the Edict of Reunion, as appears by the IXth and Xth Articles of the Grant to the said new Establish'd Company, as follows:
Artic.
IX. 'We permit the said Company to import from the Countries within their Grant, all sorts of Stuffs of pure Silk, and of Silk and Cotton mix'd with Gold and Silver, Bark of Trees, and Callicoes dy'd, painted and strip'd. We require, that the said Merchandizes prohibited in this Kingdom may not be sold, but on express Conditions of being exported to foreign Parts, and that for this End they may be laid up in the Ware-Houses of our Farmer-Generals, under two Keys, of which the Farmer-General, or his Deputies, shall keep one, and the Directors of the Company, or their Substitutes, the other; and that all other necessary Precautions be taken to hinder the Sale of the said Merchandize for Domestick Consumption.'
Artic.
X. 'The said Company may also import, from the Countries within their Grant, all forts of White Callicoes, Raw Silks, Coffee, Drugs, Spices, Metals, and other Things, except those prohibited by the preceeding Article, paying the Duties which are actually paid by the
India
Company, according to the Edicts, Declarations, Arrets and Regulations, of the Kings our Predecessors.'
Here we see the very Thing done in
France
which we want here; and for the very same Reasons for which we stand so much in need of it here; which Reasons we cannot doubt will subsist with the same Force here as there; the Foundations of Foreign Import, & Home Manufactures, being the same, and especially, because he cannot doubt, but that a
British
Parliament will appear inspir'd with all the just Principles of Care and Concern for the Good of our People, and the Prosperity of our Trade, as the Councils of the late King of
France
could be for his Subjects.
But I cannot forbear taking Notice here, how much stronger the Argument is on our Side for the doing this now, than it ever was before, even for this particular Reason, (
viz.
) Because the
French
have, upon their new Establishment, continued their Prohibitions. I explain my self thus:
The
French
have not only re-establish'd the
Trade
of
India,
but they have put it into Hands which are not like to neglect it, run in Debt in the
Indies
; or sell the Liberty of Trade to others; but they who are now entrusted with the Privilege, know very well how to make use of it, and want no Stock to carry it on: And as they are capable both in Knowledge of the Business, and Stock for the managing of it, so they appear resolute to proceed immediately upon it, and we are told, they have already taken up four large Ships for the carrying on the Trade, and that they talk of taking up several more. The
Flemmings
under the Inperial Commission or Charter, are not only doing the same, but are actually embark'd in the
East-India
Trade, have several Ships now Abroad and one great Ship just arriv'd from
India
at
Ostend,
being the second that they have received since their entring upon that Trade: And we are likewise told, that the Government of the
Austrian Netherlands
has already resolv'd on the prohibiting the Consumption of Printed & Painted Callicoes among them; and that they will be publickly prohibited there as they are in
France.
Let any impartial Person then judge, whether we have not just Reason to be allarm'd at these Measures, while we lie open to a smuggling Trade so generally carried on thro' this whole Kingdom, and so impossible now to be prevented: Whither must the vast Quantities of Callicoes which thess two new
East-India
Companies will import, I say, Whither must they go? Whither but to
England,
and
Scotland,
and
Ireland,
where the People are so fond of them, and where it is so easy to get them on Shore.
Our
East-India
Company has already shew'd themselves apprehensive of Success of the new Establish'd Imperial Company in
Flanders,
nor can they be justly unconcern'd at the setting up a Company in
France,
upon so potent a Stock as that of 50 Millions: But what then have we not to fear for our Woollen and Silk Manufactures, which are so oppress'd already with clandestine Importations of Silks and Callicoes from Abroad, as well as Printing them at Home, and when the
French
will not fail to bring in Quantities equal to the Opportunities which they have to
ind them?
We may appeal for this, to any one that is acquainted on those Shores of
England
which lie nearest to
France
; are not
French
Brandies,
French
Wines, and
French
Silks to be had almost in as great Plenty in our Port-Towns on that side of the Country, as in some Parts of
France
it self, and will it not be the same thing with
India
Goods? Can
Rumney Marsh
want
French
Callicoes, where all
French
Goods are,
as it were,
as familiar to them as in
France?
Can those People that know how to carry off whole Freights of Wool, the most bulky of all Merchandize, be ignorant to take on Shoar
French
Callicoes,
French
Wrought Silks,
French East-India
Goods of all Kinds? It cannot be doubted, but when the
French
come to have a Quantity of Callicoes always by them, and no consumption for them at Home, they will find Ways and Means to croud them in upon us, with much more Ease than they do now their Wines and Brandies. What the Consequence of this will be to our Woollen and Silk Manufactures, is very plain: They must be destroy'd nothing can prevent it.
These Things serve to let us see, that the present Debate is not the Concern of a few People in
Spittle-Fields
only, tho' their Poverty and Distress happens to be nearest our View at this time, as their Complaints have been loudest: But, in a word, the whole Body is effected, the whole Interest of our Woollen and Silk Manufactures throughout the Kingdom is concern'd in it; I mean, as to those Goods which concern our Wearing Apparel and Furniture, which is the Bulk of our Manufactures; nay, the
East-India
Company themselves are concern'd in it; and, I believe, it might be very easy to prove, by a just Calculation, that if these Companies now set up in
France
and
Flanders,
prosper and thrive, as it is more than probable they will, the
East-India
Company of
Great-Britain
will suffer more by their Importing their Callicoes here, and thereby sharing the Trade with them, or rather taking it from them, then they will, by the general putting a stop upon the Consumption, and thereby checking the Foreigners in their beginning; so that upon the whole of the two, the Prohibition seems to me to be no Evil at all, but, rather an Advantage to them.
It was, without question, an unaccountable Mistake in those who sollicited the first Prohibition of
India
printed Callicoes, that they contented themselves with prohibiting the Use of Callicoes printed Abroad, but did not insist upon prohibiting the Wearing and Use of those printed at Home, as Things in themselves equally ruinous to our Manufactures; they had not then left the Door open to the Printing and Painting them in
England,
a Trade then scarce known; under colour of which, all sorts of Callicoes, wheresoever printed, have been worn here, and Foreigners thereby encouraged to pour them in upon us by the Arts of clandestine Trade, and our People impose upon us by re-landing their own; in which, by the way, the known and wilful Perjury that attends it, is one of the least Things in our Consideration.
But now the Work is to be done over again, with this Difficulty in the Difference, (
viz.
) that now we have the Pretences of the
Callicoe Printers
to struggle with, their calling the Callicoes a Manufacture, because Painted and Printed here; tho' these are in themselves meer Trifles, like that of the Numbers of Families employ'd in Printing,
&c.
I say, Trifles, when compar'd with the Manufactures themselves which we plead for, and the Numbers of Families and People maintain'd by, and employ'd in them; of which I believe I am not arrogant, when I say, it is ridiculous to talk of any Proportion.
The Work has also another Difficulty in its way, or rather a pretended Difficulty; that is to say, I foresee that some People intend to call this a Difficulty, I mean, the Fund form'd upon the Stamps on Callicoes, appropriated, perhaps, to such or such Uses, or as Security for such and such Loans: But as all those Funds are, to our great Satisfaction, made redeemable by Parliament, we have no more to do but to convince our Representatives of the Necessity of redeeming them, and leave the House, which is the in exhaustible Fund of Funds, to their own Methods for finding an equivalent Security to the Satisfaction of the Lenders; and yet, even in this Point, when the House shall legitimate such an Attempt, something may be said farther.
Difficulties therefore are no Discouragement, where absolute Neccessity is the Motive: The Thing carries an apparent Necessity in it; it must be remedied, or our Trade must be Ruin'd, our Manufactures be at an End, and our poor not sent a Begging only, but indeed be Starv'd. And here, were it any thing to the Purpose, I could spend some time in Exclamation, at the preposterous unthinking Humour of our People, who, upon all Occasions, run directly counter to their Interest, as a Trading Nation, in so visible and so evident a manner as this of wearing Printed Callicoes; or, at least, wearing them so as to make it an universal Mode. We often see Clothiers, Drugget-Makers, Sergemakers, Stuff-makers
&c.
dress themselves and their Families in the Cloth, or Druggets, or Serges, or Stuffs they make; and tho' they may not be so very like their Neighbours, they will give this ready Answer, (
viz.
) '
Tis my own Trade; 'tis my own Manufacture.
And the Answer is allow'd to be very rersonable; Why should it not be a National Answer, as well as a Family Answer? Why should not an
English
Man, or an
English
Lady, reject foreign and destructive
Gewgaws,
and chusing to wear the Woollen and Silk of our own Product and Manufacture, give this for a Reason for it,
Tis our own Trade; 'tis our own Manufacture.
Let us go to the
Indians
and the
Chineses
for Instruction, as
Solamon
sends the Sluggard to the Ant: Are they prevaild with to lay by their own Manufactures for any of Ours? No; 'tis evident, we are so far from being able to place any of our Manufactures among them, that they despise the Proposal; and refuse to sell those Goods, which we have
so little need of,
but for that ready Money, which we have
so little need to part with.
But this is a large Field; I refer it to the Time when the Battle shall be more closely join'd; then we may find time to talk more feelingly of the Folly of carrying Money to the
Indies,
to buy that, which we ought rather to give Money to be without.
But I return to the
Indians,
who, as uncapable as they may be to judge of their National Interests, are yet wiser in this part, by the Strength of meer Nature, than we are, who pretend to so much Knowledge; for they wear their own Manufactures; not can we bring them to alter the manner of their Cloathing, any more than the Matter of it.
Some have alledg'd for a Reason of this, the Climate in the
Indies
being suited to the Manufactures they make; and that nothing can be so light, so clean, so pleasant in such hot Countries, as the Callicoes and Silks of their own making: But we might very well answer this, by giving the Patterns of our fine Stuffs; some of which, as well as the manner of wearing them in hot Countries, are much Cooler, and much more suited to the Heat of the warmest Climate, than the uncouth Fassions, great Sleeves and pleated Gowns of the
Indians
who even load themselves, rather than dress themselves with their Callicoes and other Manufactures of their own Make. Any Traveller might be left to judge of this, who has seen the
Spaniards
at
Peru,
at
Lima,
at
Panama Carthagena,
and such-like hot Places, where they dress much cooler and lighter in
British
and
French
Stuffs and Cloth, nay, even in
English
Black Bayes, than the
Indians
on the Coast of
Malabar
and
Coromandel,
or in the Bay of
Bengale,
do in their Silks and Callicoes; but Nature dictates to these Nations to cultivate their own Produce, to consume their own Manufacture, and encourage their own Commerce: And Nature would dictate the same thing to us, if we did not obstinately put out Nature's Eyes, and act against Nature, in the pursuit of the most untractable part of our Faculties, I mean, Humour and Fancy.
Certainly, if we were free from this Trade-Frenzy, and were to act by the Dictates of Common Sense, we should reflect, that the Woollen Manufacture is the Staple of our ginal Fountain of our Wealth, and, as I said in my
Introduction,
it is
the most essential part of the Riches of the Rich, and the principal Means we have for the employing our Poor.
Many things might be said to prove, and some to illustrate whatever is contain'd in these Generals, concerning our Woollen-Manufacture; but I am loath to suppose my self talking to any People so ignorant as not to know it, or so partial as not to acknowledge it. If I can meet with any
Englishman
so weak as to dispute it, I undertake, at Demand, to expose them, and prove my Proposition, both at once.
The Premises then being granted, my Inference is as just, namely,
that it is the common Interest of the whole Kingdom to discourage every other Manufacture, so far as those Manufactures, ruinous
to,
and inconsistent
with
the Prosperity of
our Own.
The late King of
France,
who so well understood the Interest of his Subjects in Trade, is a standing Authority for this very thing: All the Edicts publish'd in
France
on this Subject, such as in the Year 1686, and in 1689, and in 1697, prohibiting the Printing and Painting of Callicoes in
France,
and the selling Callicoes Printed or Painted in
India
when Imported into
France,
are fortified with this Reason, as sufficient to justify their Government in the said Prohibition. (viz.)
that they were prejudicial to the Manufactures of Wooll and Silk, already establisbed in
France.
And there are two things in those Edicts of the King of
France
which are very remarkable, and which I reserve for farther Explanation, if I find occasion to speak in this Cause hereaster; I say, two things are very remarkable in the King of
France
's Prohibitions and Limitation of his
East-India
Company's Trade, which stand as Precedents for our Practice; the same Reasons being much more strong and forcible at this time in our Circumstances, than they could then be in
France.
First,
That in the Edict or Arret, prohibiting or forbidding the Painting & Printing of Callicoes in
France,
is also included a strict Prohibition of the Painting and Printing any kind of Linen Cloath of Hemp or Flax, tho' such Linen was the Growth and Manufacture of his own Kingdom.
Secondly,
That in his Limitation of the importations of the
East-India
Company, there is this Clause; That whereas the Company were allow'd to import some certain Wrought Silks, named in the Edict, to the value of 150000 Livers a Year, so,
first,
they were oblig'd to bring in no more; and,
secondly,
they were oblig'd, in consideration of that Liberty only, I say, they were obliged to export to the
Indies
the value of 500000 Livers a Year in Goods of the Growth and Manufactures of
France.
And even this Condition did not continue long; for the Council of Trade there, considering that the consumption of the Manufactures, was by no means an Equivalent for the Injury those Silks,
&c.
tho' but to the value of 150000 Livers a Year, did to the Manufactures of
France,
that Grant was also revok'd and the Goods entirely prohibited, under the most rigorous Penalties, as they continue to be this Day.
These two Clauses are of such moment in the Case before us, and dictate so clearly not only what we have to seek, and what to complain of, with respect to our Maunfactures, and to our
East-India
Company, but also the Reasons of it, that I cannot but think it very much for the Publick Service to publish the sevral Edicts, in which these Clauses, and the Reason and Causes given for them are contain'd, accordingly they are plac'd in the Close of this Work.
Thus I have touch'd at the Heads of this Matter, and have pass'd them over without other Enlargments then such as the present Occasion makes necessary. This Essay,
for it is no more,
is but a Specimen of the Controversy, every one of these Heads having necessary Explanations attending them, and long debated Points of Commerce to speak to, in order to set the whole Affair in a clear Light; all which it may be to the purpose to enlarge upon hereaster.
CONCLUSION.
In the mean time, I cannot dismiss this Affair, without turning a little to the Trading part of Mankind, and especially the Dealers in the Woollen Manufactures in this Nation: 'Tis not a little strange to observe, how unconcern'd we sit, and seem to enjoy our selves in a perfect composure of Mind, and a most inimitable Tranquility; when our general Commerce, by which we all subsist, langushes, and, as it were, expires in our sight. At Home, foreign Manufactures encroach upon us; Abroad, they are preparing new Projects to attack us; and as they seem united to Undo us, so, I must say, we seem unanimous in the Resolution of being Undone.
How can we sit still and see the Bread thus taken out of our labouring Peoples Mouths, even by those very Men who ought to be equally concern'd with us to prevent it? The Wearing and Use of Callicoes, is evidently the Ruin of our Manufactures: If we can distinguish between the Manufactures and the Manufacturers; if the Empolyment can be lost, and the Workmen not suffer; if the Trade can die, and the Tradesmen live; then I have no Foundation for my Discourse, no Reason for this Expostulation.
Nay, if this was a particular Article of Trade only, if a few Families were to be ruin'd of this or that particular Employment only, and the main of our People not be effected with it; we might be silent, and the Opposers might say, we made more Noise of it than there was occasion for.
But since the Evil is general, and the Mischiefs which attend it are so spreading, that the whole Nation is more or less effected, from the Gentleman of the greatest Quality and Estate, to the meanest Wool-cumber, and that we are inevitably to feel the Consequences of it: How can we, I say, sit unconcern'd, and see out Families impoverish'd, and the Foundation laid for the Ruin of our Posterity, and yet take no Notice of it? It is certainly our Concern, in a more particular manner, to APPEAR, not in Arms, not in Mobs and Tumults, that neither is a lawful Way of Appearing, nor would it give the least Aid in the Matter. Trade is the Daughter of Peace, and draws its principal Nourishment from the publick Tranquillity: No Men in their Senses can propose raising Tumults and Riots for the promoting Trade, neither is it the way to engage the Government, the Parliament, or the Ministry, to redress our Grievances in Trade. Such violent Ways only arm Power against us, and engage Governors to be our Enemies. My Arguments all run another Way, and if I mistake not, have ten times more Force in them with wise Governments, than all the Clamours of a Rabble can suppose to have.
I move you first to see the Mischief: To that end, I set it in a clear Light, prove the Fact, shew you the slow degrees by which the Poison works, how insensibly it grows upon you, and yet how sensibly some parts of Trade feel it already, and how certainly all other parts will be effected by it.
I move you then to put your Hands to all Legal Preventions; I aim at no other: I move you to joyn in all just Representations, both of the Mischief and the Remedy, to those in whose Power it is to relieve you I mean, your Parliament-Men; your Representatives; who, as they are most of them chosen by the several Trading Corporations of
England,
may be more particularly call'd the Representatives of the Trading-Part of the Nation.
These are the profest Physicians of all our Trading Maladies; I may say, 'tis their Business to heal you, and I am sure it is in their Power; represent it to them in Parliament, and represent it to them out of Parliament; let them come up to Parliament fairly appris'd of the Case; fully convine'd of the Justice of your Complaints, and the absolute Necessity there is of relieving you: Let them see it; make them Witnesses, in the Countries where they live, of the Decay of the Manufactures; of the Abatement made upon the Poor in their Wages; of the Numbers of Poor that desert, and run from one Work to another for want of Employment. Shew them the Rolls of your Parishes, which, I am satisfy'd, will discover how many Families, more than ever, are listed among your Pensioners; for whom Parish Provision is necessarily made, for want of their getting Bread by the Works they were wont to be employ'd in; shew them the languishing Circumstances of the People, as
the Effect
; and then lay before them the languishing Circumstances of the Trade, as the Cause; then they will come up to Parliament convinc'd of your Distresses, fully prepar'd to receive your Petitions, and fill'd with Compassionate Thoughts for your Redress.
I must consess, this seems to me to be the most proper Method, to spirit the approaching Assembly of Parliament with Sentiments of Pity for their County, and with a just Knowledge of the Reallity of, and Reason for the Complaints you make; and if I might be allow'd to suppose, that these Sheets shall any where come to the Hands of the particular Members in the Manufacturing Counties and Corporations for which they serve, I would, with all possible Humility, but also with the utmost Importunity, petition them to look a little into the State of the Manufactures in their respective Countries where they live.
It is without doubt, the just Concern, of our Representatives, to study the Interest and the Circumstances of the People who they represent. If these Gentlemen please but to look round them, they must of Necessity see that the Manufactures decline, that Trade languishes, and the Poor stretch our their Hands to them for Help. They must needs also see the Causes of it, even at their own Doors, while they cannot but see a wilfully-possess'd Nation, dress'd up in the Manufactures of Foreigners, and despising the Workmanship of their own People: Madly sending their Money to
India
and
China,
to feed and support Heathens and Savages; and neglecting, nay, I may say, Rejecting the Manufactures of their own Country, tho' they see the poor Families starving for want of Work.
I press the People in the Countries to lay open their Case before their Representatives and convince them of the melancholly Circumstances they are in, by the Decay of Trade, and the Stop of their Manufactures; and give them a clear View of the Nature of the Grievance, and whence it proceeds; and there is no room to doubt, but the Members would be affected with it, as well as other Men.
'Tis from the same Principle, that I move the Gentlemen themselves to enquire into the Case, and make themselves fully Masters of both the Fact and the Reason of it: After which, I would not suffer it to be nam'd as a Doubt, but that the natural Concern every Member of Parliament must have for the Prosperity of the People he represents, will move him effectually to apply himself in Parliament to the Remedy.
'Tis a great Mistake to suggest, that
Spittle-Fields
alone Complains, or has cause to Complain; tho', as I said before, the Manufacturers there feel the Burthen sooner; but all the Country, and almost all the Branches of the Woollen and Silk Manufactures feel it: And 'tis easy to shew, why the Town Workmen feel the stop of Trade sooner than the Country Workmen. The Case is this:
The Clothiers, and Drugget or Stuff-makers in the Country, who are the head Managers of the Woollen Manufactures, are generally Men of Substance and good Stocks; they have often whole Towns and Villages employ'd in their particular Works; and tho' they do feel a stop of the Trade at Markets, they do not so immediately put a stop to their works, but they must keep their Markets and make their Circuits, to take in the Yarn, and put out the Wool, or their Neighbours will break in upon them, their Spinners will seek Work in other Hands, and, perhaps, not be gotten again when they may want them.
Thus they go on a great while, tho' the Goods, when made, do not sell, 'till
Blackwell-Hall
lies piled up to the Roof with Goods, and the Wholesale-Men and Factors Ware-Houses are throng'd with them; nay, even then they go on, and are forc'd to draw upon the Factors and Wholesale Dealers for the Money, whether the Goods sell, or no: The Factors again are sometimes forced to sell them to Mony'd-Men under the Price, and perhaps to Loss; nay, and even sometimes to pawn or pledge them for Money, in hopes of a Market to come; and still with the Money answer'd by those Bills, the Clothier in the Country goes on, as long as he can get Credit for a Bag of Wool to Work, or a Penny of Money to pay his VVorkmen: And this causes the Country Poor not to feel the Check and Decays of their Trade so soon as the Town Workmen. But then we must take this with us, as we go, (
viz.
) that when the Trade droops so long together, and the Country Manufacturer or Clothier is forced to stop, 'tis more fatal to the Poor,
as above
; for then as they are long before they stop, so they are longer before they recover, and the Poor are, as it were, entirely destitute for a great while.
But in
Spittle-Fields
the Case alters; here the Manufacturers, I mean, the Masters, are near the Market: They do not put out the Wool to Spinning, but generally buy it in the Yarn: As soon is the Market stops, they stop; if they cannot sell their Work, they immediately knock off their Looms, and the Journeymen as immediately starve and want Work. Thus as Distempers near the Heart, or in the Vital Parts, are sooner and more sensibly felt, than in the less Noble Parts of the Body; so the Disease, of Trade, the Decay and Stop of Sale, is most sensibly and sooner felt here, than in the Country, and therefore Here the Complaint is first made, and loudest.
But this on the other hand, testifies to us, that if it be not provided for forwith, if some present Remedy be not apply'd to it, the spreading malignity will soon extend it self, and the most extream Part will then feel it: And what's the Consequence? but that then the Complaint will come up louder and be more uneasy to us.
All these things urge us, if possible, to apply some speedy, some immediate Remedy to the Evil. What that Remedy is, and what alone can cure us, I refer to the Season of it; the present Business is to lay down the Fundamental, (
viz.
) shew the Disease, awaken the Nation, open their Eyes to the Consequences of it, and guide them in their Applications to the proper Persons, who alone can take it in hand, and that is,
as above,
the Parliament.
Certainly if the Members of Parliament in the several Countries would but enquire a little into the Particulars, now they are at leisure, they would come up big with a Desire to set their helping hand to it; they would come up fill'd with Resentment at those who have been Instruments to ruin the flourishing Trade of their Country and nothing could influence them against the humble proposals that may be made to them for restoring the Trade and Prosperity of the Kingdom.
It is suggested, that all Applications of this King will meet with a powerfull Opposition, and that the Manufacturers, however numerous they are, will not find Friends enough to carry their Point against the Wearing and Using the Printed Callicoes.
For my part, I cannot be of this Opinion: It is true, I have not
told Noses,
as they call it, or cast up the Strength on either side, or examin'd who shall be the Friends, or who the Enemnies of the VVeavers Petitions; but this I venture to say, that as I have prov'd the Grievance is National, this, I think will follow, that none of the Nation's Friends can be Enemies to the Proposals for a Remedy. It is our Satisfaction that this is no Party Cause, unless any one should vilely insinuate, that there is a Party that would not have the Manufactures thrive, or would have the Poor starv'd and perish; and I cannot have such ill Notions of any Man as to think Party can carry them that length; Trade is a perfect Neuter in all our unhappy Strife: Spinning and Weaving are neither
Whig
or
Tory,
but the great Articles by which we live, by which the consumption of our Produce is carry'd on, and by which the Poor are subsisted, who without it, would, in a word, eat us up all.
If this Cause Meets with Enemies; if any one Man can be found in
Britan,
who would not have us leave off Painted Feathers, and stick to our own Manufactures; I say if one Man can be found so prepossess'd, it must be either a Man perfectly ignorant in Matters of Trade, and so not worth talking to; or it must be some Callicoe Printer, or his Employer and Dependant, who, finding his Account in the Mischief, acts upon the corrupt Principle of being willing to get Money tho' at the Expence of the Ruin of his Country; something like the wretched Sexton of
Cripplegate,
in the Year 1665, who, being employ'd at the
Pest-bouse
near
Old-street,
would have had the
Plague
continue, that his Fees might not abate, but that he might have People enough to Bury.
But let us not fright our selves with the imaginary Notion of Enemies, and a strong Opposition:
Nil Desperandum,
let us take but true Measures, setting the Fact in a clear light, and convincing our Representatives, in a peaceable but effectual manner, of the Weight of the Case, and how justly they are concern'd, as Representatives, to espouse the Trading Interest of their Country; I can never imagine, that any Cabals of Drapers,
East-India
-Men, Brokers, and Jobbers shall be able to byass the Members of a
British
Parliament against it, or to blind their Eyes in a Case so clear as this, that wearing a foreign Manufacture, and despising our own, is the most preposterous, tho' the most certain Method of straving us all, that can possibly be invented.
Here follows the two Clauses in two several Arrets of the
French
King's Council, mentioned in this Work.
In the Arret of 3.
December.
1697. (after other Clauses) as follows:
— His Majesty ordains, That the Arret and Regulations formerly made, prohibiting the Consumption and Wearing of Painted Callicoes aforesaid shall be executed according to theit full Tenor and Form, and according to the aforesaid Arret of the 14th of
May,
1689. and has prohibited, and does hereby prohibit all Persons, of what Quality or Condition soever, to Print, or Paint, or cause to be Printed, or Painted, any Silks, or all Callicoes whatsoever, and all Linen Cloth, or Cloth made of Flax or Hemp, new or old, or to sell or expose the same to Sale, on pain of Confiscation, and 3000 Livres Fine. And his Majesty likewise ordains, That the Moulds, or other Instruments, made use of for the Printing or Painting the said Linen, shall be broken and defaced: And to this Purpose, there shall be an exact Search made through all Places in the City of
Paris,
by the Lieutenant-General of the Polity; and in other Provinces by the Intendants and Commissaries, respectively, whom his Majesty hereby requires to put the said Arret in Execution.
The other Clause is from an Arret of
July
31. 1700. whereas, after other Clauses, it is expresly said THUS:
His Majesty has permitted, and does hereby permit the
East-India
Company, according to an Arret of Council of
Jan.
22. 1695. to bring from the
Indies
every Year, Painted Callicoes and Stuffs to the Value of 150000 Livres, on Condition the said Company shall export to the
Indies
every Year, as is likewise ordain'd by the said Arret, the Value of 500000 Livres every Year, in Goods of the Growth and Manufacture of
France
; which said Callicoes, nevertheless, shall be sent into foreign Parts, on account of the Company, and not sold to any of the Merchants of
France:
And if the Company brings any greater Quantity than is limited, as above, they shall be Confiscated and Burnt.
His Majesty also strictly forbidding all Persons of Quality, or Condition soever, to make any Garments or Houshold-Stuff of the said Painted Callicoes or Stuffs, and to all Taylors and Upholders, to have any thing made of the same in their keeping, on the pain of 3000 Livres Fine,
&c.
Errata.
Page 31. Line first, read
Original.
Page 47. 1. ult. for
King
read
Kind.
FINIS