vious our Commerce must be on the Decline; and having lefs Employment for the Poor, while our Gains annually diminish, the Burthen of fupporting them muft annually increase. The natural Confequence of which, in a few Years, will be a national Poverty, which muft involve us all in Anarchy, or Tyranny. So that, from being the Envy of our Neighbours we shall become both their Pity and their Scorn. God grant that we don't become their Prey!

B

A

employ'd,

rds, our

Nation divided into Factions, exhausted with Taxes, incumber'd with Poor, and declining in their Commerce, may be infulted fome Time with Impunity... Miniftry may be fo circumftanced as not to be able to exert themfelves as they A ought, or perhaps wifh'd, in fo nice and delicate a Crifis: As Trade fails, the publick Funds fail with it, and 'tis pofiible the Lofs of any Branch might give a Shock to all the reft, and be attended with fatal Confequences. But the grand Machine of Industry, Commerce, and Navigation, Wooll kept at home, our again rectify'd; or, in other our Exports increating a factures rendered necefany kind, What Power would care and infuit us any longer? The A what Monarch would be of more ance to us, than ours to hira Branch of Trade could we not far for a while, in Compliment to our or to redress an Injury? How ealy it be for us afterwards (however ave in the Interval) to turn it into its Channel! Or how could we be at a Funds, when the very Gains upon cur for Ways and Means to fupport the public Trade would make them overflow?

But tho' our Goods are interdicted, our Wooll is not; every foreign Port is open to receive it: At Abbeville in Normandy there are incredible Magazines of it; ar Amfterdam there is a publick Marke: for it; the Danish Ship lately ftranded on the Coaft of Ireland, proves it is no Stranger at Copenhagen; and a Letter in the Daily Poft informs us, of a regular Contract to fupply the Merchants of Stockholm with C the fame precious Commodity. Nor could the Captains lately ftation'd on the Irish Coaft, to prevent the Running of Wooll, have acquir'd each of them Ten or Fifteen Thoufand Pounds, in a few Years, if Perfons had not been found who thought it worth their while to bribe the Dragon very largely, while they carry'd off the D

and

Fleece. If we continue to let our Wooll
efcape into other Hands, as their Poor can
live harder, they can work cheaper;
they that can under-fell us already, will,
in the End, have the whole Market to
themselves. No Proposition in Euclid is
plainer.

anu

Man

jure

rice of

...rtWhat

I fhall fubjoin a Poftfcript from the Pamphlet call'd The Golden Fleece, which, I hope, you will publifh. Yours, &c.

Our Manufacturers, by their Labour, E However important, therefore, the improve the happy Product of our Land, prefent Convention with the Court of Ma. to fix Times the Value it had in Wooll; Cloth, will give full Employment, for one for one Pack of Wooll, made into BroadWeek, to 5% Perfons, viz.

drid may appear in the Eyes of our auguit Legislature, to prevent the Running of our Wooll, is, in every Respect, more worthy of their Attention; That refers only to a Part of our Trade, this to the Whole: That, immediately at leaft, concerns only the Loffes of fome few Individuals, This the Welfare, nay Safety of the whole Nation

F

I can't help concluding, therefore, that when the Petition is addrefs'd to the Houfe, they will enter immediately into the most serious Deliberations to gratify the univerfal Withes, Prayers, and Ex-G pectations of the Three Kingdoms; and that they will never give over their Refearches, till they have ftruck up fome happy Expedient, that will, at once, effectually put a Stop to a crying Evil, and open a certain Road to the Revival of our Commerce, the Maintenance of our Poor, H the Increase of our National Wealth, and the rend'ring us once more formidable to all Europe. Yes, all this is contain❜d in this one happy and important Event. -- A

O

O

One Pack of Wooll made into Stockings for the Spanish, Portugal, or any ocher Trade, will give full Employment, for one Week, to 150 Perfons, viz. Perfons. per Week. 1.

IO S. 4 10

9 Combers, at
Dying, Cleaning, &c.

76 Spinners

8 Doublers and Throwers 56 Stocking-Weav. at 12 s.

150 In a Week will earn

Tot. 366 In a Week will earn, on 3 Packs of Wooll

.. 2 8

A

Here he inferts the Declaration, p. 71; which has, fince that Page was put to the Prefs, been laid before the House."

His Catholic Majefty engages to refer fome Points in Difpute to Decifion of Plenipotentiaries (not Commiffaries; we have had enough of them already) - This will certainly produce one good Effect, it will prove a very advantageous Employment to two of the Friends of a certain Great Man; for his Enemies, nor withstanding their Oppofition, must allow, that his Friends are all fuch pretty Fellows, that, let the Nation fink or fwim, they ought B to be maintained in Splendor.

dc

And here I cannot forbear taking Notice of the great Honour his Catholic Majefty hath done this Nation in the Perfon of Mr Keene; by ftiling him DoN BENJAMIN, I conceive he hath made him a Gentleman; for which we are very much obliged to him.

Betides this Favour, his Catholic Majefty alfo engages to pay our Merchants a Sum of Money, in Part of what his Subjects have plunder'd from them: He hath engaged to do it, and his Bond is as good as his Word; I dare fay our Merchants are as well fatished with one as the other.- If OD Payment of it should be deferred a little, I hope the Merchants will not take it ill, because it is poflible his Catholic Majesty may be out of Cath, and if he cannot conniently fpare the Sum promifed till the South-Sca Company pays him fixty-eight thoufand Pounds, which he demands of them as a Debt, it will induce the Com pany to be very prompt in their Payment; for, whether they owe him any thing or not, I hope they won't difpute it upon this Occafion : A Refufal may be attended with very bad Confequences; for his Catholic Majefty is a Man of Honour, and wears a Sword.

By the aforefaid Computation it must follow, that as often as 50,0co Packs of Wooll are clandeftinely carried to France, E Flanders. Holland, Sweden, or Pruffia, fo often will Great Britain lofe 1,800,000 l.

And fo often will the Number of Perfo's yearly deprived of Employment be

117,353.

Bendes, it is a receiv'd Opinion, that
302,000 Packs of Wooll are fhip'd yearly
to foreign Nations, from the feveral F
Coults of Great Britain and Ireland; thro'
Neglect and Connivance. But if we fup-
pole it were but half that Quantity, it
must follow by the faid Computation, that
Great Britain will lofe yearly 5,400,000l.
And alfo the Number of Manufacturers.
yearly deprived of Employment, will be G
352,059.*

Common Sense, Feb. 17. N° 107.
Of the Convention, and previous Proteft.

I am informed they difpute the Debt, which fhews a bad Mind, and a very evil Difpofition in the Company; for they know that, unless they comply, the Merchants may never be pay'd, and what is worfe, it may difconcert our Minister: And I hope that nobody will think it reafonable, for fuch a Trifle, to make that Great Man uneasy.

If fixty thousand Pounds is to be paid him for our falling upon his Fleet in the Year 1718, the Affair of the Merchants will not be retarded on that Account because the Nation will, no Doubt, most chearfully fubmit to any Tax for that Purpofe.

We obliged curselves by Treaties to guarantee the Neutrality of Italy. The Spanish Fleet was destroy'd in Confe

quence

for? Nay we might have taken fo much from them that, for aught I know, all the ready Money in the Kingdom could not have made Good.

What can be urg'd against pacific Mea fures, but that the Merchants have fuffered a little by Captures; but those who A make fuch Complaints, thould confider, that the Conftitution of Trade is like the Conftitution of the Body of Man,if the Blood beats too high, Evacuations are neceffary. The Profits on Trade have risen to fuch Extravagance of late Years, that these little Draw-Backs were like opening a Vein, which makes the Blood circulate with more Freedom; and our forbearing to make Reprisals was the wifeft Measure could be taken; for had we committed Hoftilities as well as the

quence of this Guarantee. -But I must
obferve, that tho' we were not Principals
in this Quarrel, we pay'd for it as Princi-
pals; tor, by a fubfequent Treaty made
with Spain in 1721, we obliged ourselves
to restore all the Spanish Ships in our Pof-
feffion, and to pay for fuch of them as
had been fuld; which was performed on
our Part, we pay'd, I fay, for those which
were fold, and made an Offer of those
which remain’d.
We have made
many Treaties with Spain fince (how ma-
ny it is not eafy to remember) and we alfo
appointed a competent Number of Com
miffaries, in Confequence of thofe Trea- B
ties, who all had Initructions to insist upon
it, that we had fulfilled our Engagements.
If the Nation fhould be obliged to
pay 60,000 l. now for thofe Ships which
rotted at Port-Makon, because the Spani-
ards would not receive them as was a-
greed, it will be for a valuable Confide-
ration; and what Confideration is so va-
luable as Peace?

Spaniards, it was then a War, and this was the very Thing we were endeavouring to avoid.C -Pax quæritur bello is a falfe Maxim, Pax queritur pace is a much better Motto, and by it we are come to the End of our Wishes.

When it was reported, that his Catholic Majefty had demanded Payment for his Fleet destroy'd in the Year 1718, the Difaffected gave out, that he would alfo expect to be paid for the Spanish Armada deitroy'd in the Reign of Queen Eliza-D beth: But the Malecontents are difap pointed, and there is no fuch Thing in the Convention. Now indeed they give out, it will certainly be demanded next Year; but I don't believe one Word of it.

The Truth is, the Malecontents are fo envious of the Glory, and Honour which our excellent Minifter is continually acquiring by his great Skill in Negotiation, that they will fay any thing. They

infinuate alfo, as if the whole Money to be paid our Merchants by the King of Spain was to come from another Quarter, confequently that what he is to receive for his Fleet, and from the Company, will be fo much clear Gain, by which he will be inabled to make up another Fleet; and if we should be obliged to deftroy that Fleet we know the worst; 'tis but paying for it twenty Years after.

E

The Malecontents, I fay, are almost at their Wits End; for this Convention G ftrikes them deaf, dumb, and blind. It does not only make Things cafy for the prefent, but fully juftifies the Wisdom of all the Meafures for feveral Years: For if the numerous Squadrons fent out, at different Times, had not been restrained by Orders from acting against the Spaniards, who knows but we might to-day have had not only their Fleet, but their Guarda Coftas, Flotas, Flotillas, Register: Ships, and the Devil and all to have paid

H

If the Malecontents object, that it is a very dear Peace; it may be anfwer'd, that all Things good in their Kind muft be dear Peace is certainly much better than War; ergo we ought to pay more for it.

Suppofe our Plenipoes fhould manage, in this Affair juft as thofe worthy Gentle men call'd Commiffaries did before them, that is to fay, they fhould take Care to prolong their own Commiffion, receive a great deal of public Money for themselves, and do nothing. If this fhould hap

pen, the Merchants will be the chief Sufferers; and what are Merchants? A Parcel of fturdy Beggars, a Body of People who are for checquing the exorbitant Power of a Minifter; and were once within an Inch of demolishing one; and if he hath been no lefs induftrious in his conftant Endeavours to demolish them, who can wonder at it? In fine, Things feem to be come to a Kind of Crifis be twixt him and the Merchants; and either he or Trade muft fall; but fure Nobody will balance which Party to take, when the Safety of fo virtuous, fo wite a Man, is put in Competition with fuch a Trifle as the Trade of a Nation.

Trade fubverts the Order of Things, and fets the induftrious Man above the Tools of a Court, which is a great Grievance. T What a Shame was it to fee formerly, in this Nation, not only Merchants, but Drapers, Grocers, Haberdafhers, Ironmongers, &c. purchase better Eftates, and give larger Fortunes to their Daughters, than Lords of the Trea

furya

the French and Dutch, who, no doubt, will fuffer it patiently for twenty Years after which, it his Catholic Majefty should think fit to accommodate Matters with them, he may give them Leave to pay the Lofles of their own Merchants them felves, by a Tax to be rais'd upon their A own People for that Purpose, and then oblige them to keep at two Leagues Di itance.

infomuch that it was a common Saying among the Sailors, that old Women would now go to Sea. They do object, indeed, that during this Peace (as 'tis call'd) with Spain, we have loft more brave Sailors and Admirals, than in all the late glorious War, and that we have likewife expended more Powder in faluting Spanish Ships and Forts, than in that War; but this is a molt impertinent Objection; for Poet fays, Death will come F when it will come. If Sailors, or even Admirals, have not Conftitutions to bear an infected Air, it was their Misfortune.

H

For a little while, this At had its defired Effect; thefe Notes were immediately returned to the Clothier, who carry'd them to Market for Wool, &c. and, by that Means, made them answer in Trade almost as well as Cafh itself. The Factors, thus ftript of the most valuable Part of their Bufinels, Dimmediately concerted fuch Measures as rendered the whole Act ineffectual, and put it into their Power to tyrannize over the Clothiers as much as ever.

F

G

H