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Title: A Stiptick for a Bleeding Nation

Author: Unknown

Release date: October 4, 2010 [eBook #33946]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Ernest Schaal and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STIPTICK FOR A BLEEDING NATION ***

A

STIPTICK

FOR A

Bleeding Nation.

OR,

A Safe and Speedy Way
to Restore Publick Credit, and
Pay the National Debts.



LONDON:

Printed for J. Roberts, near the
Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1721.


[Pg 1]

A

STIPTICK

FOR A

Bleeding Nation.

OR,

A Safe and Speedy Way to Restore
Publick Credit, and Pay the National
Debts.

D

O but a little consider, and you will soon find, Pride and Luxury, Corruption and Bribery, are the greatest Causes of our present Calamities; and if you do not discourage the Two first, and punish the Two last Evils, [Pg 2] we shall speedily come to Destruction, and God will blast all our Endeavours.

The lively Instance of late, proves to us the Ruin those Evils carry with them: And is there not one good Man, that dares to stem the Tide that is come in upon us, and save us from being drown'd?

Is there not one Man that has Honesty, Interest or Ability, to put in Practice what is so necessary to preserve their Country?

Let us shake off then those plaguy Sores that corrupt our Vitals; and if we intend to be a Happy and Flourishing People, we must promote Piety, which admits of no Corruption; Honesty, that listens to no Temptation; Sincerity, which never deceives his Neighbour; Sobriety is the Way to Honour, and Industry brings Riches, which Frugality preserves: He therefore that desires to be truly Great, must possess these Virtues, and prefer Publick to Private Interest.

What is the Reason that all Inferior Places of Profit and Trust are bought and sold, and true Merit wants its Reward? Is it not because the Devil, when bought, will be sold?

Are not our Exports of Bullion so great, that, as fast as it arrives, it goes away? Which the Publick Entries every Week demonstrate. And were it not for the daily Supplies from Portugal, we should have [Pg 3] nothing but our own Specie to answer all Demands.

It is obvious, that One Single Corporation has put us into this Confusion: And will the Government again trust to that, or any other? I should not desire a Friend of mind to be the Adviser.

Can all the Corporations in London, put together, be so well depended upon, as the Exchequer; which is supported by the Government, who are able and willing to make good all their own Contracts, but are not answerable for the Losses of any Corporation; all being oblig'd to sit down and be content with their own?

Can any Corporation desire more, than that the Government compel their own Members, and their Estates, to make good to answer for their Mismanagement?

Separate then the Standers-by from the Gamesters, and let the Unconcern'd declare their Opinion, Whether, in all Corporations, the Directors have not an unknown Advantage over all the other Members? Is it so in the Exchequer?

Tell me then, why a Hundred Pound in a Corporation, is more valuable than a Hundred in the Exchequer? Is it not because you can part with your Property with much more Ease by way of Transfer in London? Which is not practis'd at the Exchequer: [Pg 4] Besides, the Transferring is near at Hand.

The Directors of any Corporation, if not truly honest, may impose at all Times upon the rest of the Proprietors, by making a Dividend above the intrinsick Value of the Nett Produce of Profit; and the Legislature would do well to provide against such Practices for the future.

If due Encouragement was given for the Importation of Iron, Hemp, Pitch and Tar, from our own Plantations, the Export of a great deal of our Bullion would be sav'd, our Colonies encourag'd, and we should be then able to supply the Dutch, French, Spaniard, Italian and Portugueze with Iron, and bring in Two Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. Balance of Trade.

If the South-Sea Company would trade to our own Islands, viz. the Bahama, and to Carolina; that Trade alone would bring them in Five Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. and with a small Expence, if well manag'd.


[Pg 5]

A

PROPOSAL

To Restore Publick Credit, and Pay
the Nation's Debts.

I. That the South-Sea Company be put in Statu quo; and if the Estates of the late Directors, their Aiders and Abettors will not do it, the Government to make up what is wanting.

II. That the Subscriptions at Three Hundred, Four Hundred, Eight Hundred, and a Thousand, be all paid into the Exchequer at Two Hundred, and there to have a Credit for One Hundred; for which the Government is to pay Ten per Cent. until the One Hundred shall be paid off: And that those who have not paid full Two Hundred, do make up that Sum within the Time limited by the late Directors.

III. That a Proper Place in London be appointed to keep a Book, wherein each Person may be made Debtor and Creditor; [Pg 6] and a Duplicate of such Book to remain in the Exchequer. And that there may be a Book, wherein every Person may transfer their Property.

IV. The Debt of Seven Millions, Five Hundred Thousand Pounds, being forgiven the South-Sea Company, and they put in Statu quo by the Government; the Nation will stand Debtor and Creditor as followeth: Viz.

Nation Debtor.
To South-Sea Company,11,746,384
To Money-Subscribers, 20,004,000
To Redeemable Debts,13,886,486
To Unredeemable Debts,12,070,343
To Interest, __________
Nation Creditor.
By a Moiety of the Money-Subscribers,10,002,000
By Ditto Redeemable Debts,6,993,247
By Ditto Unredeemable Debts,6,035,178
__________
23,030,425

[Pg 7]The Government is only to pay Ten per Cent. for the Sum of Twenty Three Millions, Thirty Thousand, Four Hundred Twenty Five Pounds. The South-Sea Company being in Statu quo, are to receive an Interest as the Act directed before the last Settlement.

The other Moiety will enable the Government to make good the Deficiency (if any) to the South-Sea Company, to forgive them the Seven Millions, Five Hundred Thousand Pounds, pay the Interest due from the Government and clear a great Part of the Principal Debt.

The Scheme, as before-mention'd, will restore our Credit, and pay Part of our Debt; but if we intend to pay the Remainder, we must endeavour to be at a Par with our Neighbours in Trade: And if they outdo us in Policy therein, and we do not strive to follow their Methods, we must expect in the End to be the Losers, and never to have a Balance.

We ought to consult those Methods that will increase our Exports, and lessen the Importation of such Goods as takes away our Bullion, and prevent our Coin from being exported, in the best Manner we can.


Now, Sir, you having consider'd the Proposal, and what has been previously maintain'd give me Leave to ask you a few Questions: Viz.

[Pg 8]1. Whether the Corporation of the South-Sea Company, if they could be sure that the Government would forgive them the Debt of Seven Millions, Five Hundred Thousand Pounds, and put them in Statu quo, (that is, in the Condition they were in when Stock was at One Hundred Twenty Five) would not they readily embrace the Offer?

2. Whether either the South-Sea Company, the Bank of England, or the East-India Company, desire the Ingraftment propos'd by Parliament?

3. Whether a more equal Distribution of Loss can be made, to please all Parties, especially the major Part; or who will be the greatest Loser by the Proposal herein mention'd?

One great Calamity is the Loss of Paper Credit, on which our Trade chiefly depended: We find already a great Decay, which will soon be more apparent. We have indeed at present too little Cash, and too little Credit, to support Trade; and if we do not take other Methods than what has been yet practis'd, it will be entirely lost.

It is the Prudence of a Government, to establish Credit on the most solid Foundation; [Pg 9] and what can be so solid as a Parliamentary Security? Will the Government be trusted with any future Loans, if their Debts are settled upon a precarious Bottom? And are Corporation-Pillars a good Foundation?

The Method already propos'd, is seemingly calculated for the Service of Stock-Jobbing, and a Parcel of I know not who, (Sharpers,) to reap the Benefit of it: And if so, the Nation will be utterly ruin'd. For God's Sake, then, let us not run any more Hazards, but prudently take such Measures as are most safe and advantageous.

If the Government will forgive the South-Sea Company the Debt of Seven Millions, Five Hundred Thousand Pounds, and put them in Statu quo; they ought to sit down contented, and be easy and thankful.

If the present Scheme gives the Subscribers but Twenty Five Pounds Capital Stock for a Hundred, and the Government will give such Subscribers Fifty Pounds for a Hundred, I hope they will have no Reason to complain.

For should the Subscriptions be ty'd down to Four Hundred, Thousands of Families will be ruin'd.

[Pg 10] If we consider the Debt we owe to Foreigners, and how they, on the Advance of Stocks, drain us of our Money; we shall find it very dangerous to suffer Stocks to be sold above the intrinsick Value.

If Common Interest be reduc'd to Four per Cent. as was intended; what Proprietor can say he shall be a Loser? Setting aside the Subscriptions and Stock, bought and sold at extravagant Prices; which is impossible to redress, without making a far greater Number of Sufferers.

Will the Proposal of Tying down the Subscribers at Four Hundred, give a greater Interest than Ten per Cent. for the Capital? And what will the Capital be, when paid off? Will that be more than Twenty Five Pounds for a Hundred? Does not this Proposal give Fifty Pounds for One Hundred, with a double Advantage to all; and at the same Time pays a great Part of our Debt, and settles our Credit on a solid Foundation?

A Nation cannot flourish without Virtue; nor Virtue without good Conscience. Sudden Ways of growing rich, must be ruinous to the Publick: There are of late those who have too suddenly got vast Estates, and others as soon stripp'd of great Fortunes.

[Pg 11] Industry is therefore the true natural Way to Wealth, as Idleness is to Poverty. Riches cannot be honestly got without Industry, therefore it ought to be encourag'd, and all idle Persons made to work; and such as will not work, ought to be serv'd as they are in Holland, that is, exercis'd with the Pump.

Has not the easy Way of getting Money prevented the South-Sea Company from Carrying on their Trade, and the Fishery, that Noble and Profitable Branch; which if they would heartily set their Shoulders to, they might increase their Stock a Hundred per Cent. and not set it above its intrinsick Value? And our Poor being very numerous, all of 'em may be provided for that way.

Our Trade has decay'd ever since we have promoted Stock-Jobbing, that easy Way of getting Money: Our Manufactories have diminish'd; which have increas'd our Poor, and lessen'd our Imports and Exports; and the King, in Time, will lose his Customs.

I shall offer some few Heads, necessary to promote Trade, and to put us in a Way speedily to pay our Debts, and prevent Stock-Jobbing, or else Trade can never flourish.

[Pg 12] We must Recoin our Money, and make the Agio so large, as will prevent its being exported; and thereby hinder the East-India Company from purchasing Bullion in Holland: For if they are suffer'd to buy Bullion there, we had better by the Half give them free Liberty to export our Coin, unless the Exchange is Eight per Cent. in our Favour, (which is now so much to the contrary) we shall at all Times be Losers. By which it appears, how great Losers we are at present, by not making our Coin of a Value, as it may be exported without Damage to the Nation.

Our Government may have Bullion in Plenty, if they will be the Merchant for that Commodity, and give but a small Matter more for it than our Neighbours; which we may very well afford to do, if we settle a like Agio.


One great Help to Trade in the Nation, would be to have Sixpences (nay, even Shillings) coined with a much greater Allay than our present Coin; as also Groats, Three-pences, and Twopenny Pieces: The Government would receive such a Benefit thereby, as cannot be well here express'd. And I dare answer to find a Method, with fine Copper so intermix'd with Silver, that [Pg 13] it shall not be worth any Person's Time, Trouble and Hazard, to counterfeit it.

Our Silver being coined with so great an Allay as will prevent its being exported, will in a short Time cause a Currency of Cash: The Gentry will not hoard it; whereby Traders will be better paid, and our Manufactures encourag'd, and carry'd on to a greater Degree.

I remember when there was a great deal of Clipt and Counterfeit Money, and very Plenty of both, that every one that had either a Counterfeit Piece, or Money that was cut very small, always studied what to buy with it, that they might pass the one away, or part with the other.

The Difference to the East-India Company, in buying Bullion, or Pieces of Eight, in Holland, is Seven or Eight per Cent. more than what it stands them in when they can be supply'd with it at Home; and if they were prohibited the Exportation of Bullion from Foreign Countries, and suffer'd to export our own Coin, or such Ingots as shall have the Tower-Mark, our Government would have the Advantage which the Dutch now gain, and no Loss to the East-India Company. For it will be then equally the same to them, whether they export it from hence, or from Holland, to India.

[Pg 14] There is no other Way of preventing our Bullion and Silver being carry'd out of the Land, but by the Prohibition of the one, by paying a Difference to the Government; viz. such a Difference as comes pretty near to what is lost by Remittances; and suffering the other (viz. our Crowns and Half-Crown Pieces, coin'd with a proportionable Allay) to be exported. All which would help to pay off the Nation's Debts, and make us a Flourishing People.

Our Half-Crowns and Crowns being recoined to such a Standard, I say, would be of equal Advantage to the East-India Company, whether they exported Bullion or Pieces of Eight, from hence or from Holland: For by the Bank of Holland, or rather Amsterdam, all Exchanges are chiefly govern'd; and as the Hollanders are the nearest concern'd with us in Trade, so by them we are to regulate and proportion the Difference between our Bank-Money and our Current Cash.


The Bank of England is establish'd upon the Standard of our present Coin: Let it so remain, till the Government sees fit to alter, or pay them off; and let Bills of Exchange be paid in Banco, or, if they so [Pg 15] please, in Current Cash; the Difference or Agio to be allow'd in like manner as they do in Holland.

There has been a considerable Profit made, by Melting down and Exporting our own Coin; and there will always be those that will do it, tho' punish'd with Death, as in Portugal. And where there is a great Loss in Melting down, or Exporting the Current Coin, tho' there is no Penalty, the Money will be preserv'd; as in Holland.

Let the Merchant have a Profit in carrying Gold and Silver to the Mint to be coined, or there will little or none go there: But if the Merchant finds a Profit (tho' small) in the Coinage, there will be great Quantities coined.

That they who act with the greatest Prudence and Honour, and have most Money, will always have most Credit; this needs no Proof.

While our Money, which is the Blood of the Body Politick, is suffer'd to run out, and there is no Supply, all Projects for restoring Credit, and keeping up the Spirits of the People, will prove abortive. Trade, and the Noblest Undertakings for Employing the Poor, must be at a full Stop, if Money be wanting to carry them on.

[Pg 16] 'Tis certain, that until we have a greater Plenty of Money, Trade and all other Business must be assisted with Paper Credit; and if it does not receive Voluntary Credit, it will never be made by Force. And if our Affairs are rightly managed, our Estates are doubled, and secur'd; if not, the best Estates will soon be worth nothing.

That Paper Credit may have an immediate Currency, it is necessary for the Exchequer to issue out as many Notes as they shall be able to circulate, with a Tax of a Guinea on every Transfer; the one Half to be paid by the Buyer, and the other by the Seller.

That those Bills be to discharge the Debts due and owing by the Government: And that the said Bills be circulated in London.

Some make a mighty Noise, that if our Coin be raised, Foreigners will not take it. I answer, For that Reason we ought to raise it. If we are to pay Foreigners any Thing upon the Balance of an Accompt, we ought to pay them as near as we can in their own Coin.

That no Person (under severe Penalty) presume to raise the Price of any Thing, on Account of the Alteration of the Coin; [Pg 17] otherwise the Name is only alter'd, and not the Value of our Coin: There being as much Reason for the Parliament to put a Value thereon, as for a Goldsmith to do it on wrought Plate.

But the first Care to be taken, is, How the Nation may prevent any Advance in South-Sea Stock above what it was before; so that Foreigners concern'd may not receive a greater Principal than a Hundred Pound, and Five per Cent. as they did before this unhappy Ingraftment: For the Stock, by the said Ingraftment, will be of such a Magnitude, that a Hundred per Cent. Advance will, in all Probability, give the Strangers such a Capital, as will amount to more than the whole Cash of the Kingdom.

The Foreigners have taken an Alarm since our late unhappy Mismanagement; and are only waiting for some New Project, to sell out, and strip us entirely: So that if we will consider our own Preservation, we must rather depretiate our Stocks, than seek Means to augment them.

It is a receiv'd Maxim, Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto: This I take to be meant of the whole Body, not of some Parts of the People. And tho' Thousands may suffer, yet it is a receiv'd Rule, That the [Pg 18] Whole is first to be consider'd, when it comes in Competition with any Parts.

Therefore, in our present Case, the Whole is to be consider'd; and the Preservation of that, is to weigh down against all the Hardships that may happen to Particulars.

Now, if this Maxim stands good, it is the Obligation of every true Lover of his Country, to have that in View; and not, from a Regard to Particulars, run the Hazard of sacrificing the Whole. Their Misfortunes ought to have no Weight, nor any Contrivance to ease them, prevail, in Balance with our Country.

Our late Project, if it could have been held up, would have created such a Luxury, that that very Thing alone would have undone the Nation, and would have sunk us; tho' not with such a Rapidity, as the Way which we have now in some measure escap'd.


The Matter standing in this Light, the only View is the Benefit of our Country.

The Body Politick is very weak, and requires an honest and able Physician; and where to find him, is the only Thing in Question.

[Pg 19] Let us consider, whether this design'd Ingraftment of Nine Millions into the Bank, and Nine Millions into the East-India Company, will prove any real Benefit to the Nation as a Nation? No surely, that cannot be pretended; but only, that they making greater Dividends, may be of Service to Individuals; and yet that is much to be doubted.

For as to the Bank, the Capital was too big before to render any great Advance: And had it not been for a new Practice, first begun by the South-Sea Company, of Lending Money on their Stock; had it not been, I say, for their imitating (tho' with Caution) that infamous Practice, their Dividends would have been reduc'd to Seven per Cent. or under.

And for the East-India Company, their Trade is so far extended, especially at this Juncture, when they are forc'd to over-trade themselves, in order to ruin the Ostenders, that it's look'd on already as a Grievance: And yet by adding Nine Millions, they must divide Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Profit more than before. And notwithstanding their Trade (as I said before) was then a Grievance; to what an Extension must it be driven now, to divide such a Profit; when hitherto [Pg 20] they never divided above One Hundred and Sixty Thousand Pounds a Year Profit?

But will it not be a Second Injustice to the Annuitants, after so great a Diminution of their Estates, to have Two Thirds of it ingrafted on a precarious Bottom? All Stocks having been suffer'd to divide above the Value of the Nett Produce of their Capital; a sure Way to distress Trade: Especially when Corporations are suffer'd to issue out Bonds, without Trading with the Money, but purely to advance their Stock.

The Two Ingraftments are brought in, in order to help the Proprietors, by Advantages of Dividends, to a greater Income than the Stock could make, if retain'd in the South-Sea; and so to raise the Nominal Price of Stock. Whether it will do the former, is a Doubt; but if so, the Stock had better been kept where it was; and if the latter, it will be only a New Bubble, to ruin us.

Neither the Bank, nor the East-India Company, seem fond of the Project of this Ingraftment; and nothing can be argued, but that Something must be done, at least to amuse People with vain Hopes: Whereas, the true Interest of our Country would have been, to have laid the Wound open to every one's View; to have shewn the [Pg 21] World, what Dividend could be made out of the Interest, and what they might expect. Then Foreigners would have sat still; for they could no where else make Five per Cent. of One Hundred Pounds; and their Money have remain'd here.

But if we come to make Dividends of Twelve per Cent. and by that means advance the Stock to Three Hundred; then those Strangers that had Four Millions Capital, and receiv'd Two Hundred Thousand Pounds per Ann. will have Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Pounds per Annum, and have a Demand of Twelve Millions on you; which will entirely finish what the late South-Sea Directors so gloriously began.

Is this a Time to endeavour at new Projects, when the Nation is at so low an Ebb; and when the World is ready, on the least Opportunity given, to put to the Finishing Stroke?

It is a certain Topick, That every Relief in the Case of the South-Sea Company, will be thought an Injustice to some, who cannot be reliev'd but at the Expence of others. That Way therefore must be taken, that is most Safe and Equal.


By what has been said, you will easily judge, how little the poor Sufferers are [Pg 22] like to expect from this New Project; and that if the Success attend it that some People hope, it must be the Ruin of the Nation.

You likewise see the Danger there is in Advancing of Stocks above their Original Capital; and how necessary it is to restrain Corporations from Dividing more than what their Original Stock will fairly produce; and that such Practices are destructive to the Commonwealth of this Nation.

Ought not then the Legislature to enter upon speedy Measures, and such as may prevent any Evil Consequence that may happen?


Our Main Business, therefore, is, how to find out Methods to extend our Trade; for Projects, and United Companies, are only contriv'd to enrich a few.

We have within our selves, and in America, an inexhaustible Fund to supply our selves, and perhaps Europe, with what we are now beholden to Foreigners for, and that at the Expence of our Silver and Gold; and yet either our Negligence, or private Views, make us sit still. But otherwise,

What prodigious Advantage would it be to the Nation, to have a Supply from our [Pg 23] own Colonies with those Naval Stores, which we have now from Denmark, Sueden and Muscovy; and to save the Expence of so much Money as those Trades cost us, and no longer to be at the Mercy of any Foreign Prince? And could we gain a Balance of Trade, we may hope to retrieve our selves from all the Difficulties we seem to labour under. But at present, we have not the Balance with any one Nation, except Portugal.

Now if this be the Case, it cannot be thought that an Over-Balance there, can answer the Balance that all Europe has against us.

But Luxury in the Use of Foreign Importations being discourag'd, we may reasonably expect to have a Flourishing Trade, which will bring Mines of Gold and Silver into our Coffers; all other Arts and Schemes having no Foundation, and nothing but Destruction.

That Foreigners take the Advantage of us, by the Rising and Falling of our Stocks; nor can the Evil be remedied, but by fixing them down at a certain Price that they shall be bought or sold; viz. Bank-Stock at One Hundred and Twenty Five per Cent. And for that Sum, the said Corporation may divide Common Interest, but never more.

[Pg 24] That the Surplus of Profit be, to make good the Value of One Hundred and Twenty Five Pounds, at the Time the said Bank shall be paid off by the Government.

India Stock at One Hundred and Twenty Five per Cent. And that Corporation never to divide more than Common Interest for that Sum: The Remainder of Profits accruing by that Trade be, for the better Maintenance of their Factories, and the Extending of their Trade in India.

South-Sea Stock at One Hundred and Twenty Five per Cent. (if the said Corporation be put in Statu quo) that the said Corporation may never divide more than Common Interest: The Remainder to carry on a Trade to such Parts and Places, as shall be thought most advisable, and to establish Colonies for the Good of the Kingdom in general. Or otherwise, Trade and Industry will be discourag'd, and Luxury and Idleness be our Ruin.


The Hollanders are more Political in Trade than we; and they being so near us, and we having with each other so great a Trade, and they so largely in our Stocks, that unless we have an Agio settled, as they have, (that is, that there be a Difference between the Current Cash and the [Pg 25] Bank-Money) we shall never preserve our Coin. Nor will Trade ever flourish, or Credit revive, unless a Liberty be given to all Bodies Corporate and Collective to Transfer as usual.


As the Eyes of all are upon the Parliament of Great Britain, greedily expecting a speedy Settlement of South-Sea Stock; how easy is it, and how securely may the House of Commons pass a Vote, That the Losses of the South-Sea Company shall be made good? For at present the Stock is precarious.

And the same may be said, in some Measure, both of the East-India Company, and the Bank: Which strengthens the Reasons against the Government's trusting any more to Corporation Credit.

That Trade cannot easily extend it self in this Kingdom, unless all Corporations are ty'd down from Dividing (I say) more than Common Interest. Persons will never go on to encourage Trade, so long as a Profit can be made by the frequent Rise and Fall of Stocks, the Bane of all Industry.

That unless, I say, a Liberty be given to all Bodies Corporate or Collective, to raise Money to carry on and extend the Trade of this Kingdom, can it be thought that [Pg 26] Trade will ever increase? And without Liberty be given to all Bodies Corporate and Collective, to have a Book, wherein every Person may transfer their Properties, such Bodies will be never able to raise Money to carry on a Trade, or extend it.


Before I conclude, I shall enlarge a little concerning the Poor of our Country; who will never be brought to Labour, so long as they are maintain'd by the Parish, and suffer'd to beg about the Country, or in the Streets.

If proper Places were provided, on Navigable Rivers, where Land is reasonable; with good Management, and by the Improvement of those Lands, the Expence of our Poor would not be so great by the one Tenth Part of what it is, and what we now pay towards their Relief. And by such a prudent Management, what an inestimable Benefit would it be to this Nation; not only by easing the Subject from that heavy Burthen or Tax to the Poor, but by the many other Advantages that thereby the Publick will receive, besides the many Hands that may be employ'd to Profit, more than what is necessary to be appointed for their own and their Maintenance?

[Pg 27] Such an Advantage would it be to the Nation, as would be better to us than the Mines of Peru and Mexico to the Spanish Monarchy. It would introduce Industry, reduce Idleness and Luxury; encourage and promote the Trade of the Kingdom, increase our Exports, and lessen our Imports; by providing of Hands useful in making all Sorts of Utensils, for Army and Navy, Soldiers and Sailors, that, when their Country have no Service for them, they may return to their Livelihood they were bred to, and by their honest Industry find a Maintenance.

F I N I S.


Transcriber's Notes:

Obsolete spellings of words (e.g., publick, intrinsick, nett, Portugueze, allay, accompt, depretiate, etc.) have been retained; long s has been transcribed as modern round s.

On page 7, "maintain d" was replaced with "maintain'd".

On page 8, "Ingraffment" was replaced with "Ingraftment", to make it consistent with other usage in the document.

On page 12, "Twopeny" was replaced with "Twopenny".

On page 26, "Bodies Corporat" was replaced with "Bodies Corporate".