THE Affair of the East-India-Trade being Matter of long Debate in England, and there being as many Opi­nions as there are differing Interests: I hope it will not be unacceptable to un­byassed Persons, to give some little Light into that Trade, with respect to a Na­tional Profit and Loss; I shall take no more notice of particular Dealers, than is necessary to help us to give a true Esti­mate of the Profit or Loss as it effects the whole; and I will endeavour to do this, as one unconcern'd in any particular In­terest, and as desirous of the good of the [Page 4]Nation. And that we may the more distinctly understand, wherein the Be­nefit and Advantage of that Trade con­sists, I will take notice of the Commo­dities we Export and Import; our Ex­port consisting chiefly in Bulloin, which is brought to us as the Effects of our own Product and Manufactures, and Foreign Commodities Imported and Exported again; and other parts of our Export to India, consist of Cloth, Pur­petuanys, &c. Annually, as near as I can guess, to the value of Twenty five, or Thirty Thousand Pounds; and about five Thousand Pounds in several sorts of Haberdashery Wares; the Working and the Materials of these Commodi­ties being our own, this Trade must be thus far an Advantage to England in general; besides, there is by this Trade, an Employment for about Twenty five or Thirty Ships, which may employ two Thousand Sea-men, and the In­struments and Tackle for sayling these Ships, employ many Persons of diffe­rent Trades.

The Goods Imported from India as the Effects of our Bulloin, and Com­modities are various, some of them use­ful for our own Consumption, others helpful to us in War, some advantagi­ous for Exportation, others destructive to our own Product and Manufactures, and a hindrance to our Merchandizing with our own Commodities, and so per­nicious or advantagious according to the Uses they serve too: The Goods that are Imported from India, that are not of hindrance to our own Product or Manufactures, cannot do us direct­ly any dammage, tho' consum'd a­mongst us, unless they hinder our Mer­chandizing Trade with our Neighbours, in our own Commodities, where our Profit is greater: There is also import­ed from India, many unwrought Mate­rials for Art and Manufactures, which yield an Employment to our People, and in that respect, is an Advantage to the Nation.

But that we may more distinctly un­derstand this Matter, we will consider the Profit that comes to each Interest, concerned so far as either can be ac­counted [Page 6]a National Profit, that Part wherein the Merchant only is concern­ed, let us enquire what his Prosit may be in his Importation and Exportation; we will suppose the whole of our Ex­port should be Bulloin, and in Com­modities to the value of Five Hundred Thousand Pound per Annum, it then will follow, That whatever he fells, his Re­turns for more than Principal and Char­ges is the Merchant's Profit; and the Merchants being Inhabitants of England, the Nation must be so much the Richer, unless these Effects be used to Lux­ury, or some other way hinder other Advantagious Employments; but what this Profit of the whole Imports a­mount to, is very hard to assert, unless we take our Guess from the Increase or Diminution of the Stocks that have been employed in that Trade; and it being mostly carried on in Companies, the Managers of such Companies can easily tell what they save or lose; and the Persons concern'd in those Trades, must know by their Dividends, and the Va­lue of their principal Stock; what Yearly Interest and Advantage they [Page 7]make: and a Man would think by their greediness to catch at, and unwil­lingness to part with any part of this Trade, it should be very profitable to the Traders that are concerned therein, and yet at the same time; to hear the same Men complain, That they are great Losers, and that their Stocks, for many Years, have lessen'd, and not so much as Common Interest divided a­mong the Subscribers, which with their Asserting both in Print and otherwise, as it may serve their Interest, That the India Trade double the Principal every Return; and that they make Two of One in Three Years; that is from the time of their Export, to the time they receive their Money for the Sale off their Returns; these appear Contra­dictions, and are unaccountable; but Persons of such Reputation asserting it, we will suppose it to be true, and then the state of that Trade stands thus, with Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pound Stock doubled once in Three Years, they save, I suppose they mean towards their Charges, Five Hundred [Page 8]Thousand Pound per Annum, which they tell us, is all Profit to the Nation.

The next part of this Trade to be consider'd is, that which is Exported a­gain to other Countries, by our own Merchants; and even here we must di­stinguish between that part of this Ex­portation that is opposite to, and hinder the Exporting our own Materials and Manufactures, and what is Foreign to our own Commodities; but that we may give this Trade all Advantage that it can pretend to, we will surpose our Mer­chants Export per Annum, to the Va­lue of Two hundred thousand Pound in India Commodities, and advance Ten per Cent. above the Cost at the pub­lick Sale, this will add Twenty Thou­sand Pound Profit to the Nation, over and above what the Importer gains at the Inch of Candle; and this I conceive to be the whole National Profit this Trade can have any Pretence to, if so much may be allowed to it.

I can by no means bring in to this Account any Profit that the Whole-sale or Retai-Dealer at Home, receive by their trading in these Commodities, be­cause [Page] [Page] [Page 9]in the Nation, what one saves a­nother loses, and the Commodities are neither more or less valuable, or the Na­tion Richer or Poorer, tho' those Com­modities should be sold and bought a Thousand times over.

Neither can I allow any National Profit by the Home-Consumptions of these Commodities, more than accrue to the Importer at his First Sale, the Price whereof generally agreeing with the Price of our own Manufactures, to which they are opposite, so that the Consu­mer may furnish himself with our own Commodities, fully as cheap as in these, and have as great a variety for his Choice, and as serviceable: If any will assert that these Manufactures promote the Exportation of our own, which I wholly deny, or that our Manufactures cannot supply our Occasions and De­mands, which I never yet met with a­ny that would assert, and the great want of Employment of our People, e­vidence the contrary; so that the Pro­fit that comes to this Nation, upon a Sup­position what these Gentlemen Assert is True, stands-thus,

We will next consider what Loss comes to the Nation by this Trade to India, and I will do it under these Heads; as it hinders our Exportation, and as it prevents the Emylopment of our own People, and as it hinders the Improvement of our own Manufactures, and the Consumption of our own Wool.

As to our Exportation, it has been a great hindrance of our Exports to Hol­land, and our West-India Colonies, that we have enjoyed to the one for more than one Hundred Years, and to the o­ther [Page 11]for a long time; it is known to many Merchants and others, that we have had a very considerable Trade to these Places in Commodities made of Wool, and Silk and Wool, for Wo­mens Ware and Use; and that no European Merchants or Manufactures could ever get this Trade from us, these being natural to England; we have out-sold and under-sold all our Neighbours; but since the Improvement and Increase of the Importation of Cotten and Silk, and Cotten and Herba Commodities from India, which Increase our Mer­chants almost alone have caused.

We have wholly lost our Trades to these Places, for our Manufactures that are proper for Women's Consumption, that are fine, and above the value of Twelve Pence per Yard; our West-In­dies that us'd formerly, and still might be cloathed with our own Manufa­ctures, for the Female Sex will now touch none, unless such as are very Cheap, at eight Pence, ten Pence, or twelve Pence per Yard; and to that De­gree is this Trade lost, that of all those several Species of fine Goods that use to [Page 12]be made in, and Exported out of Eng­land; upon the best Inquiry I can make, there is not now one Hundred Looms at Work, in the whole Nation, upon Stuffs for Women, to the value of Eighteen Pence per Yard, made of Wool or Silk and Wooll and Grogram Yarn, and those that be occasion'd by an Ac­cident of the present Mourning, where­as formerly this Nation us'd to abound with different kinds of these Manufa­ctures, from twelve Pence per Yard, to five or six Shillings; and that this Dam­mage may be the surer fastened upon us, a Draw-back is allowed to our own Collonies, that they may be Cloathed Cheaper than the Inhabiants of Eng­land with India Manufactures; and that our own Commodities may be shut out, tho' the Inhabitants of those Collonies are obliged to use only what they have from us, which must be a great loss to this Nation, both in the Materials and Workmanship, which both to Holland and to these Plantations, cannot amount to less than Two hundred Thou­sand Pound per An. and this Loss must come by the India Trade, no Manufa­ctures [Page 13]standing in opposition to these of our own, but India.

We will now consider our Turky and Italian Trades; and tho' I acknowledge the present Traders to these Places, are more competent Judges of what Dam­mage come to them in their Exports; yet I cannot but take notice they are much less then formerly, the Rea­sons may be various; I shall only hint what is obvious from the East-India-Trade: This Account I have had of Matter of Fact, from known Persons, with respect to their Aleppo Trade; that before our Cloth was carried di­rectly by Sea to Persia, great Numbers of Carravans use to come through a long Tract of Land many hundreds of Miles with Silk and other Commodities to A­leppo, and buy our Cloth of our Factors that resided there; and in their Return in the great Towns and Villages as they pas­sed, us'd to sell our Cloth to the Inha­bitants of those Countries, in very large quantities; and that since the India Mer­chants have supplyed the Persians, these Carravans have ceased to come; and though we may have kept part of our [Page 14] Persia Trade, we have lost the Trade of those large Countries through which these Carriers have formerly passed, which have not only been, if true, a loss to our Export of Cloth, but a fur­ther Loss to this Nation, by keeping our Poor unemploy'd in the Silk that us'd to be brought in exchange for this Cloth; and here I think it con­venient to mention, how profitable to this Nation our Turky Traders have been, who us'd not only to Export our Product, but this Product Employed great numbers of People; and the Re­turns of these Commodities being Ma­terials Unmanufactured, afford an Em­ployment in England for more than one hundred thousand People; and the great difference between these and the India Merchant, who bring his Returns fully Manufactured: As to our Italian Mer­chants, it is apparent, their little Trade for their Returns have hinder'd their Exports, and I think it highly reason­able to conclude the loss of the Use and Consumption of our Turky and Itali­an Effects in the many Manufactures.

That they use to be wrought up in both London and Canterbury, have been a very great cause that our Exports to Turkey and Italy have been so low; and the great Loss that have come to the Na­tion by the want of Employment for so many Thousand People in London and Canterbury, is very difficult to compute; besides the Damage that this Nation su­stains, by so many of its Artists going to Ireland, New-England, and other Places; the Effects we do not yet find, and what­ever Loss comes to us these Ways, must be attributed to the Increase of India Ma­nufactures, that in such a degree, have unhinged all these Trades; and in all its Parts (cannot amount to less than one hundred Thousand Pound per Ann.) as it may have hindred the Export of Cloth, and Serges; and to as much as it hath hindred the Employment of our Poor, in working up the Returns of those Com­modities, it being common to pay more for the working of Silk and Grogram-Yearn than the Material cost.

The next thing to be consider'd is, what Loss there comes by the India. Trade, as it hinders the Employment of the Poor; [Page 16]and the Employment of People being more advantagious to any Nation than any other Trade; and Experience shew­ing, that all Nations in the World are Rich or Poor, according as their People are employed; I conceive what Loss comes this way to be irreparable, and no Equivalent to be found for it. Many as­sert this India Trade to be very Advan­tagious, as it makes Two of One in Three Years; but though this be great, yet not to be compared to the Profit that comes by the Labour of the People. Take one In­stance, our fine Manufactures of Wool, will, in one Month's time bring ten thousand Pound worth of Wool by La­bour and Art, to be worth one hundred thousand Pound, which is Ten of one in a Month, and so go on throughout the Year. And if the Trade to India hinder the Employment of our People to any de­gree, it must necessarily be so far a great Loss to England; now let any Man cast his Eye about the English Nation, especi­ally those Places whofe Manufactures are opposite to India; or let him reflect a little upon the total loss of many Species of Manufactures; that no Nation in Eu­rope, [Page 17]could ever yet hinder us in either, as to our Home-Consumptions, or Fo­reign Exports; and let us consider the direct opposition there is between their Stuffs made of Silk, and Silk and Cotten, or only Cotten, and our Manufactures of Silks and Silk, and Worsted and Woolen; and how these take up the same Places with ours, and let us inquire into the Po­verty, the want of Work, the Cries of the Poor for Employment and Bread in these Places; and certainly we must con­clude, these Commodities hinder great­ly the Employment of our People, and the Poor must be maintain'd with, or without Work, and no Man can at the Request of his Neighbours or Friends employ People in one Place, but he must lessen his Employment in another, it be­ing very hard to conclude how far the Loss by India Commodities reach under this Head, we will join it with the next; which is how this Trade hinders the Im­provement of our Manufactures.

Improvement is an Excellency which English-men generally have ascribed to them; and it was a great Perfection, that Wooll, I mean the long fine English [Page 18]Wool was brought to in several kinds of Commodities; ten, fifteen, twenty Shil­lings laid out in Labour and Art upon one Pound of English-Wool, and many Thousand Pieces of our Stuffs, that weigh'd not above six, eight or ten Pounds have been Exported to Holland, and Scotland, and the West-Indies, and Sold for six, eight, or ten Pounds per Piece; and what a great Employment did one hundred thousand Pound worth of Wool thus wrought, give to our People, and by consequence, these some of the most valuable Manufactures England had; but since the Importation of such Quantities of India Commodities, our Gentry of the Female Sex, and those that follow them at Home, and abroad in their Fashions.

Slighting our English Manufactures, the Dealers in them could not give a Price for, or incourage the making of them. The Ma­nufacturers have been forced to debase them, there being the greatest Incourage­ment to him, that could make the slight­est Goods; so that whereas we us'd to make 100000 l. worth of Wool by La­bour, to be worth one Million either at [Page 19]home or abroad. If we allow this Wool be now wrought up, it is in such slight, cheap Commodities as amount not to more than three or four hundred thousand Pound in value, which, as it is a great Loss to the Nation, so it is a true Rea­son why not more than one Third Part of those People are employed as might and would be, had we none or fewer of these Indian Manufactures; now I being fully satisfy'd that this is matter of Fact and true, I hope I may have leave to make a modest guess; I suppose that there us'd to be Annually two hundred thousand Pounds worth of our long Wool wrought up in those Commodities, now either lost or debased; and that the like quantity of this Wool is wrought up into Commodi­ties, which make but four of one; then upon this Head there must be 1200000 l. lost in Labour and Art per Ann. and this loss of Employment must come from In­dia Manufactures being consumed by the Chief of our Gentry at Home, and our Plantations abroad that follow our Fashi­ons, no other Manufactures standing in opposition to them; and besides the loss, this tends greatly to the Nation's disho­nour. [Page 20]The last Thing I shall mention, is to shew how this Trade hinder the Con­sumption of, and keeps down the Price of our Wool; as to the Consumption of Wool, if as before it hinders our Export to Turkey and Italy, to the value of one hundred thousand Pound per Ann. The Wool that those Commodities would take up, must be to the value of sixteen thou­sand l.; and if we shall allow our West-India Exports, and home Consumption to be but one hundred thousand Pound in value, yet this is a great loss; and I can­not reckon all the Wool that is Exported Annually by our India Traders, to amount to more than 6 or 7000 l. for which I have accounted in my Head for Profit; and as to the Price of this Wool, the In­dia Trade so far as it lessens the Consump­tion, it must bring down the Price; these things being matter of Fact, I leave it to better Judgments to consider of them; but if true, as I think and believe upon the best Inquiry and Observation I can make, Then the state of England's loss by India Manufactures, that are opposite to our own, stands thus;

And I hope no Man will wonder at this Account, when they consider the great part of the dammage lies in the ten­dency of this India Trade, to the deba­sing of our own Manufactures, and so hinders the Employment of our People in [Page 22]them, and bringing them out of Reputation wherever they come; for this Trade would have the same effect upon Cloth, should there be brought great quantities of Commodities from India, or any other Place in opposition to it, that should have the same esteem with the People; and here we may see that there comes more Loss to England than Profit by this Trade per An. 1156000 l.: And if these things be plain and evident, can this Trade, as managed, be accounted profitable, when part of it does much more hurt than the whole does good? And is it not natural to the Nobility and Gentry of England to in­fer, we see what part is fit to be incou­raged, and what a necessity there is to re­strain that which does so much damage?

And certainly every English-man con­cern'd in this Trade, will no longer de­si [...]e to carry on a Trade so much to the damage of his Country.

And the Whole-Sale and Retail Dealers in these Commodities should infer, since we can live as well, and save as much Mo­ney in buying and felling English as Indian Manufactures, why should we desire to hinder the Labour of our Neighbour, [Page 23]who, if he had Employment, would lay out part of his Gettings in our Shops?

And the Consumer should conclude it most elegable to wear such Garments as will most advance his own Estate, and support his poor Neighbour, and cause Mony to Circulate through every part of his Country, and thereby make the Inha­bitants Pleasant, Easy, Chearful, Useful, Industrious and Pious.

And the Owners of Land may consider the Natural Effects of this Trade, so far as it hinders the Labour of the Poor; the Employment of People being the only means to give a value to Land; then so far as any Trade hinders Employment, so far it must lessen the value of the Product and Rents of Land.

I hope the Gentlemen concerned in this Trade, did not apprehend what a Loss this part of it is to the Nation; and that they thought, that tho' it damaged the Manufactures a little, it was of Advan­tage to the whole, and were deceived by the false Colours that some put upon it; and by others representing only the light side of it; and may it not be expected, that others will either shew the mistake [Page 24]of this Account, or act like English-men, and not any longer hinder the Publick Good by such weak Pretences; that if the Co [...]modities come not from India, they will be brought from our European Neigh­bours, when they see the great Loss comes by such Manufactures as our Neigh­bours cannot pretend to Import upon us, but we have constantly Exported to them? Or that other Excuse, that we must con­sume those Goods, or the Dutch will have the Trade; whereas our Kings Domini­ons Consume at least three parts in four of what is brought to Europe of these Com­modities.