I. HE that duly considers the Quantity and Quali­ty of our English Wooll will readily acqui­esce in the Opinion of our Ancestors, who term'd it The Flower of the King's Grown; The Dowry of the Kingdom; The Chief Revenue of the Kings; The Gold of our Ophir, and the Indies of England: It affects all Con­ditions and Callings of Men amongst us, from the highest Peer to the lowest Peasant.

[Page 2] II. The Quantity of our Wooll is so Comprehensive, that were it secured to Our Selves, industriously manag'd in its full Manufcture, and Exported by an English Mer­chandize and Navigation; it would give Imployment to so great a Number of People, that we should soon become the Glory of the whole World, and be able to ballance the Affairs of all Europe.

III. Its Quality is more excellent, God and Nature has herein seemingly conspired for a suitable Accommo­dation to all Ranks and Degrees of People, in the dif­ferent goodness of several Counties Wooll, which is ca­pable to be improved to any use, for the Benefit and Or­nament of the Body in a great Variety of Fancy, and true Merit, from the thickest Drabb to the thinnest Crape, branching it self into various Occupations, which pro­duce a wonderful Variety of manufactures, suitable to all Seasons of the Year at Home, and the more different Climates abroad.

IV. By this Excellent Commodity we are able to Out­do our Neighbours in all Merchandizes abroad. In what Esteem have our English Factories liv'd in at Hambro, Flanders, Holland and Dantzick in former times? And what Estates have been brought home to our English Na­tion? And how are we now declined? Near expiring at Hambro; quite extinct in Flanders, and very few En­glish Merchants in Holland or Dantzick that reap any Bene­fit by our Golden-Fleece; and no great number at Home; and I think, I may truly say, That the late Growth of France has been chiefly owing to the Advantages they have gained this Thirty Five Years last past by our English Wooll.

[Page 3] V. To illustrate this Matter, I will compute (with all possible exactness) the Loss to our nation by one Pack of our finest Kemb'd Wooll Exported into France (large quantities of which have been Kemb'd at Canterbury and other Places, and then carried into France and Holland) by which we may make an Estimate of our whole Loss in its due Proportion.

the Custom of Foreign Dy-Stuffs to the King, and the Freight, is a consi­derable Article of Value, tho difficult to fix at a certain Sum: And France hath had but little less Advantage in our courser Wooll; being inabled by one Pack of ours, to work up two of their own into Manufactures of a bet ter Quality.

[Page 4] VI. The Imployment to their People, and loss to ours (which is very considerable in so great a quantity of Wooll, an Account being taken of above Thirty Thou­sand Packs which were Landed in one Year at Three Ports in France) I take to be but half our Loss: For 'tis evi­dent, as the French increas'd in their Woollen-Manufact­ures at Home, they prevail'd in their Merchandizes and Factories Abroad, particularly in Spain, which hath been their most gainful Trade; and by this means got them­selves into a Fabrick of Spanish Cloth, which doth huge­ly interfere with out Interest at Foreign Markets. Altho Spanish Woolls are as free for their Money as ours; yet were they confin'd to the Linens of their own Nation, or any other product of France, to procure them, their Mer­chants in Spain would make to great Figure in their Sortments. The long Wooll of England and Ireland in its variety of Bays, Perpetuana's, Stockins Use, which is no way to be equal'd by any other part of the World (and so agreeable to the Spaniards, &c. and the West-In­dies) is certainly the master-Wheel of the Spanish Trade; and we are capable of securing this advantage to our own Subjects, which would hugely lessen the Interest of our chiefest Competitors in Trade. If the Strength of Eng­land may be said to be particular in any one thing (as Sampson in his Locks) I should readily assign it to the excellent Staple of our long-combing Wooll.

VII. And here I can't but mention one particular, by which in my Opinion, France hath had a great benefit [...] our Wooll, by our own Act and Deed. [...]t the coming-in of King Charles the Second, the [...]ds of Jersie, Guernsie, Alderney and Sark, were allow­ [...] [...]hree Thousand Three Hundred Todds of English [...]l, each Todd Thirty Two Pounds. In the be­ginning [Page 5]of the Reign of His Present Majesty King William, those Islands were allowed by Act of Parliament, Three Thousand thre hundred Todds more, and a Liberty gi­ven by the same Act to French, Dutch, Flanderkins, Ham­burgers, Germans, Danes, Swedes, &c. to Export our Woollen-Manufactures to their Native Countries up­on equal Terms with our English Subjects; and how these new Sett of Merchants fell in to the Exporting of our Wooll and Smuggling of Goods, is pretty well known— Felo de se—And it will be very difficult to prevent this practice, as our Affairs now stand, having scarce EnglisH merchants enough abroad to give Notice of the landing of our Wooll on that side. This Six Thousand Six Hun­dred Todds allowed to those Islands, doth chiefly con­sist of Combing-Wooll for Worsted-Hose, a valuable and useful Commodity at most Foreign Markets; and the amount of the Workmanship may be easily cast up by the aforesaid Calculation; provided there be no greater quan­tity Exported, which is very much doubted.

How Commondious these Islands are in their Scituation for France to reap the benefit of their labour, I need on­ly mention, the Inhabitants (consisting of many French) are able to live very Cheap, and work accordingly, at about half the price we pay in many Places in England. They enjoy the Benefit of the Draw-back of the Custom of our West-India Goods, and pay not the least Tax to England. What Stockins are brought into England, and exported a­gain, by the Carriage and Custom paid to the King, may be rendred Four or Five per Cent. cheaper by the French. The reason upon which this is grounded, I can't perceive.

To alledge that any part of the Creation is left insuffici­ent for its own Subsistence and Preservation, must be a re­flection upon Divine Providence; and that all parts of the [Page 6]World should be upon an equal Foot in obtaining this Subsistence, seems to be contrary to the Design of the great Creator. St. Paul valued himself in being a Free-born Roman. These Islands have Wooll of their own Growth, and doubtless must be very fair for Fishing, and by that means may be subservient to England, as we now serve them: Which practice will strengthen their Islands in Shipping and Seamen, for their Preservation; and what is got out of the Sea will be a clear Gain; the loss of our Fishing is very considerable, and much lamented. I know no such Instance of Generosity, to give away that which God and Nature has made our Birth-right, whilst multi­tudes of our Woollen Manufactures have wanted it at Home, who are under many heavy Taxes. We may learn better of our rich neighbours, who are said to burn part of their Spices in the Indies, that we may pay them the better Price, which we do at this time with a Witness.

VIII. As our Affairs now stand, it highly concerns us to secure our own Wooll, which being effectually done but one whole year, many established Fabricks abroad with our Wooll, must of necessity sink, and the manufa­cturers disperse, and many of our own brought home again, which many years would not recover. And we can pro­mise to our selves, at this juncture, no advantageous Settle­ment of Trade, but by an effectual Cure of this Evil; to the effecting of which, whatsoever Money is expended, will be brought in again to the King in his Customs, with a hundred-fold advantage to the Nation. To find out the Causes of Things, is said, to be a Work of Philosophy; to find out a fit Remedy, is of high Eminency; but to apply the Remedy, is a Matter of State and Policy.