THE
and
OF. THE
Eafl-India-T rade.
Stated, and humbly offer'd to the Confi-
deration of the Prefenc
PARLIAMENT-
L 0 N D 0 N,
Printed in the Year MDCC.
The Profit atiii Lofi of the Eaft-
India-Trade, Stated-, and
humbly offered to the Conjide-
ration of the ^refent Parlia-
ment,
j H E AfFair of the Eaft-hdia-T rade
1 being Matter of long Debate in
England, and there being as many Opi-
nions as there are differing Interefts : I
hope it will not be unacceptable to un-
byaffed Perfons, to give fome little Light
into that Trade, with refped to a Na-
tional Profit and Lofs; I Ihall take no
more notice of particulaj' Dealers, than is
n^ceiTary to help us to give a true Eiti-
mate of the Projit' or Lofs as it effects the
whole; and I will endeavour to do this,
as one unconcern'd in any particular In-
X tereft, and as dcfirous of the good of the
A I Nation
(4)
Natio> . And that we may the more
diftin6:ly underftand, wherein the Be-
nefit and Advantage of that Trade conr
fifts, I will take notice of the Commo-
ditie? we Export and Import; our Ex-
port confiiHng chieHy in Bulloin,
which is brought to us as the Effeds
of our own Brcdudl and Manufadures,
and Foreign Commodities Imported and
IBxported again ; and other parts of our
Export to Irulia, confift of Cloth, Pur-
petuanys, &c. Annually, as near as I can
guefs, to the value of Twenty five, or
Thirty Thoufand Pounds j and about
five Thoufand Pounds in feveral forts
of HabK^rdafhery Wares; the Working
and the Materials of thefe Commodi-
ties being our own, this Trade mull
be thus far an Advantage to EngUfid in
general; befides, there is by this Trade,
an Employment for about Twenty five
or Thirty Ships, which may employ
two Thoufand Sea-men, and the In-
flruments and Tackle for fayling thefe
Ships, employ many Perfons of diffe-
rent Trades.
• The
( 5 )
The Goods Imported from ImU as
the Effefts of our Bulloin, and Com-
modities are various, fome of them i^fe-
V ful for our own Confumption, others
helpful to us in War, fome advantagi-.
OLTS for Exportation, others dcftrudive
to our own Produd and Manufadures,
and a hindrance to our Merehandizing
with our ov/n Commodities, and fo per-
• nicious or advantagious according to
the Ufes they ferve too: The Goods
that are Imported from India^ that are
not of hindrance to our own Produd
or Manufadures, cannot do us dired-
ly any dammage, tho' confum'd a-
inongtt us, unlefs they hinder our Mer-
chandizing Trade with our Neighbours,
in our own Commodities, where our^
Profit is greater : There is alfo import-^^
ed from India^ many iinwrought Mate-
rials for Art and Manufadures, which
yield an Employment to our People,
and in that refped, is an Advantage to
the Nation.
But that we may more diftindly un-
derftand this Matter, we will confider
the Profit that comes to each latereft,
concerned fo far as either can be ac-
A 5 counted
% (O
counted a National Profit, that Part
wherein the Merchant only is concern-
ed, let us enquire what his ProEt may
be in his Importation and Exportation ;
we will fuppofe the whole of our Ex-
port fhould be Bulloin, and in Com-
modities to the value of Five Hundred
Thoufand Pound fer Annum^ it then will
follow, That whatever he fells, his Re-
turns for more than Principal and Char-
ges is the Merchant's ProEt; and the
Merchants being Inhabitants of England^
the Nation muft be fo much the Rich ,
er, unlefs theie Effects be ufed to Lux-
ury, or fome other way hinder other . v
Advantagious Employments; but what
this Profit of the whole Imports a-
mount to, is very bard to aflert, unlefs
we take our Guefs from the Increafe or
Diminution of the Stocks that have been
employed in that Trade ; and it being
moffiy carried on in Companies, the
Managers of fuch Companies can eafily
tell what they lave or lofc; and the
Perfons concern'd in thofe Trades, muff
know by their Dividends, and the Va-
lue of their principal Stock; what '
Yearly Intereff and Advantage they
make y
7 )
make: and a Man would think by
their greedinefs to catch at, and unwiU
lingnefs to part with any part of this
Trade, it fhould be very profitable to
^ the Traders that are concerned therein,
and yet at the fame time; to hear the
fame Men complain. That they are
great Lofers, and that their Stocks, for
many Years, have iefien'd, and not fo
much as Common Interefl: divided a-
mong the Subfcribers, which with their
Alfercing both in Print and otherwife, as
it may ferve their Intereft, That the ^
India Trade double the Principal every
Return; and that they inake Two of
^ One in Three Years; that is from the
time of their Export, to the time they
receive their Mc for the Sale off
didions, and are unaccountable; but
Perfons of fuch Reputation afferting it,
we will fuppofe it to be true, and then
the Rate of that Trade Rands
thus, with Fifteen Hundred Thoufand
Pound Stock doubled once in Three
Years, they fave, I fuppofe they mean
towards their Charges, Five Hundred
their Returns;
appear Contra-
Thou-
( 8 )
Thoufand Pound per Annumy which they
tell us, is all Profit to the Nation.
The next part of this Trade to be
confider'd is, that which is Exported a-
gain to other Countries, by our own
Merchants; and even here we muft di-
ftinguifh between that part of this Ex-
portation that isoppofite to, and hinder
the Exporting our own Materials and
Manufadures, and what is Foreign to
Our own Commodities; but that we may
give this Trade all Advantage that it
can pretend to, we will furpofe our Mer-
chants Export per Annum to the Va-
lue of Two hundred thoufand Pound in
InAh Commodities, and advance Ten
per Cent, above the Coft at the pub-
lick Sale, this will add Twenty Thou-
fand Pound Profit to the Nation, over
and above what the Importer gains at the
Inch of Candle ; and tliis I conceive to
be the whole National Profit this
Trade can have any Pretence to, if fo
much may be allowed to it.
I can by no means bring in to this
Account any Profit that the Whole-fale
or Retai-Dealer at Home, receh/e by
their trading in thefe Commodities, be-
caufe
\
( 9 )
caufe in the Nation, what one faves a-
iiother lofes, and the Commodities are
neither more or kfs valuable, or the Na-
tion Richer or Poorer, tho' thofe Com-
modities fhould be fold and bought a
Thoufand times over.,
Neither can I allow any National
Profit by the Home-Confumptions of
thefe Commodities, more than accrue to
the Importer at his Firft Sale, the Price
whereof generally agreeing with the
Price of our own Manufactures, to which
they are oppofite, fo that the Confu-
mer may furnifh himfelf with our own
Commodities, fully as cheap as in thefe,
and have as great a variety for his
Choice, and asferviceable: If any will
affert that thefe Manufactures promote
the Exportation of our own, which I
wholly deny, or that our Manufactures
cannot fupply our Occafions and De-
mands, which I never yet met with a-
ny that would afiert, and the great
want of Employment of our People, e-
vidence the contrary; fo that the Pro-
fit that comes to this Nation, upon a Sup-
pofition what thefe Gentlemen Aikft is
Truci ftands-thus^
B By
( 10 )
Pounds,
500000
20000
40000
In all, 56000Q
We will next confider what -Loft
comes to the Nation by this Trade to
I/^dU, and I will do it under thefe
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 Manufadlures,
and the Confumption of our own
Wool.
As to our Exportation, it has been a
great hindrance of our Exports to Hoi-
land^ and our Wejl-IndU Colonies, that
we have enjoyed to the one for more
than one Hundred Years, and to the 0-
ther
By the Return of FiveO
Hundred Thoufand Pound >
from India per Jrmum, \
By the Export from £->^-7
land by our Merchants. 3
Behdes what Advantage
we have by an Export oQ
Thirty or Forty ldioufand>
Pounds per Annum in Ma-N
nufadures.
( )
ther for a long time; it is known to
many Merchants and others, that we
have had a very confiderable Trade to
/ I thefe Places in Commodities made of
Wool, and Silk and Wool, for Wo-
mens Ware and Ufe; and that no
European Merchants or Manufadliires
could ever get this Trade from us, thefe
being natural to England ; we haveoiit-
fold and under-fold all our Neighbours ;
but lince the Improvement and Increafe
of the Importation of Gotten and Silk,
and Gotten and Herba Commodities
from India^ which Increafe our Mer-
chants almoft alone have caufed.
** We have wholly loft our Trades to
thefe Places, for our Manufaftures that
are proper for Women's Gonfumption,
that are fine, and above the value of
Twelve Pence per Yard ; our Wejl-In-
dies that us'd formerly, and ftill might
be cloathed with our own Manufa-
£lures, for the Female Sex will now
touch none, unlefs luch as are very
Cheap, at eight Pence, ten Pence, or
twelve per Yard ; and to that De-
gree is this Trade loft, that of all thofe
fcveral Species of fine Goods that ufe to
B 2 be
( 12 )
be made in, and Exported out of E^g-
land ; upon the heft 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 fer Yard, made of Wool
or Silk and Wooll and Grogram Yarn,
and thofe that be occafion'd by an Ac-
cident of the prefent Mourning, where-
as formerly this Nation usM to abound
with different kinds of thefe Manufa-
ftures, from twelve Pence fer Yard, to
five or fix Shillings; and that this Dam-
mage may be the furer faftened upon
us, a Draw-back is allowed to our own
Collonies, that they may be Cloathed
Cheaper than the Inhabitants of Eng-
land with India Manufadfures ; and that
pur own Commodities may be fhut out,
tho' the Inhabitants of thpfe Collonies
are obliged to ufe only what they have
from us, which mufi: be a great lofs to
this Nation, both in the Materials
and Workmanfiiip, which both to
Holland and to thefe Plantations, cannot
amount to lefs than Two hundred Thou-
land Pound per An. and this Lofs muft
come by the Inaia I'rade, no Manufa-
aures
( I? )
Oiiires {landing in oppofition to thefe of
onr own, but Mia,
We will now confider our Turky and
Italian Trades ; and tbo' I acknowledge
the prefect Traders to thefe Places, are
more competent Judges of what Dam-
mage come to them in their Exports ;
yet I cannot but take notice they are
much lefs then formerly, the Rca-
fons may be various; I fhall only hint
what is obvious from the Eafi-lndith-
frade: This Account I have had of
Matter of Fa£l:, from known Perfons,
with refpe8: to their Aleppo Trade;
that before our Cloth was carried di-
re£lly by Sea to Perfta^ great Numbers
of Carravans ufe to come through a long
Tra6: of Land many hundreds of Miles
with Silk and other Commodities to A-
leppo^znd buy our Cloth of ourFa£lors that
refided there; and in their Return in the
great Towns and Villages as they paf-
fed, us'd to fell our Cloth to the Inha-
bitants of thofe Countries, in very large
quantities; and that fince the India Mer-
chants have fupplyed the PerJiansj thefe
Carravans have ceafed to come; and
though we may have kept part of our
( >4 )
Perjta Trade, we have lofl: the Trade
of thofe large Countries through which
thefe Carriers have formerly palfed,
which have not only been, if true, a i
lofs to our Export of Cloth, but a fur-
therLofs to this Nation, by keeping our
Poor unemploy'd in the Silk tliat
us'd to be brought in exchange for
this Cloth; and here I think it con-
venient to mention, how profitable to
this Nation our Turky Traders have
. been, who us'd not only to Export our
Product, but this ProduQ: Employed
great numbers of People; and the Re-
turns of thefe Commodities being Ma-
terials Unmanufaftured, afford an Em-
' ployment in England for more than one
hundred thoufand People; and the great
difference between thefe and the India
Merchant, who bring his Returns fully
Manufadured : As to our Italian Mer-
chants, it is apparent, their little Trade
for their Returns have hinder'd their
Exports, and I think it highly reafon-
able to conclude the lofs of the Ufe and
Confumption of our Turky and Italic
an Effeds in the many Manufadures. ^
^ ^ Tha '
( '5 )
That they ufe to be wrought up in
both Lor^on and Canterbury, have been
a very great caufe that our Exports to
Turkey and Italy have been fo low ; and
the great Lofs that have come to the Na-
tion by the want of Employment for fo
many Thoufand People in London and
Canterbury, is very difficult to compute ;
befides the Damage that this Nation fu-
ftains, by fo many of its Artifts going to
Ireland, Nerv-England^ and other Places;
the Effeds we do not yet find, and what-
ever Lofs comes to us thefe Ways, muft
be attributed to the Increafe of India Ma-
nufa£l:ures, that in fuch a degree, have
unhinged all thefe Trades; and in all its
Parts (^cannot amount to lefs than one
hundred Thoufand Pound ^er Jnni) 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 thofe Cora-
modities, it being common to pay more
for the working of Silk and Grogram-
Yarn than the Material cofl:.
The next thing to be confider'd is,
what Lofs there comes by the India-T rade,
as it hinders the Employment of the Poor;
and
C i6 )
and the Employment of People being
more advantagious to any Nation than
any other Trade; and Experience fhew-
ing, that all Nations in the World are
Rich or Poor, according as their People
are employed; I conceive what Lofs
comes this way to be irreparable, and no
Equivalent to be found for it. Many al^
fert this UdiA Trade to be very Advan-
tagious, 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 In-
ftance, our fine Manufadures of Wool,
will, in one Month's time bring ten
thoufand Pound worth of Wool by La-
bour and Art, to be worth one hundred
thoufand Pound, which is-Ten of one in
a Month, and fo go on throughout the
Year. And if the Trade to MU hinder
the Employment of our People to any de-
gree, it mnfl: neceffarily be fo far a great
Lofs to England ; now let any Man call
his Eye about the £;i?gNation, efpeci-
ally thofe Places whofe Manufactures are
oppofite to India ; or let him reflefl a
little upon the total lofs of many Species
of Manufallures;' that no Nation in
( »7 )
rope^ could ever yet hinder us in either, 1
as to our Home-ConfumptionS, or Fo-
reign Exports; and let us confider the
direct oppofition there is between their
Stuffs made ofSilk,and Silk and Gotten, or
Only Gotten,and ourManufafI: ures of Silks !
and Silk, and Wortted and Woolen;
and how thefe take up the fame Places
with ours, and let us inquire into the Po-
' verty, the want of Work; the Gries of
the Poor for Employment and Bread in
thefe Places; and certainly we miift con-
elude, thefe Gommodities hinder great-
ly the Employment of our People, and
the Poor muft be maintain'd with, or
without Work, and nO Man can at the
Requeft of his Neighbours or Friends
employ People in one Place, but he muft
leffen his Employment in another, it be-
ing very hard to conclude how far the
Lofsby Gommodities reach under
this Head, We will join it with the next;
which is how this Trade hinders the Im-
provenient of our ManufaQures.
Improvement is an Excellency which
Englijh'VCi^ generally have afcribed to
them; and it was a great Perfection,'
that Wdoll, I mean the long fine EtigUfh.^
€ Wool
\
( i8 )
Wool Was brought to in leveral kinds of
Commodities; ten, fifteen, twenty Shil-
lings laid out in Labour and Art upon
one Pound of EngUlh-VJoo\y and many .
Thoufand Pieces of our Stuffs, that
weigh'd not above fix,eight or ten Pounds
have been Exported to Holland^ and
Scotlmd, and the Wefi-Indies , and
Sold for fix, .eight, or ten Pounds per
piece; and what a great Employment
did one hundred thoufand Pound
worth of Wool, thus wrought, give to
our People, arid by confequence, thefe
fome of the moit valuable Manufadures
England had; but fince the Importation
of fuch Quantities India Commodities,
our Gentry of the Female Sex, and thofe
that follow them at Home, and abroad in
tlieir Fafhions.
Slighting our Manufactures, the
Dealers in them could not give a Price for,
or incourage the making of thera.TheMa-
hufaCturers have been forced to debafe
them, there being the greateil Incourage*
ment to him, that could make the flight-
eft Goods J fo that whereas we us'd to
make looooo 1. worth of Wool by La*
hour, to be worth one Million either at
home
( «9 )
home or abroad. If we allow this Woo!
be now wrought up, it isinfuch flight,
cheapCommodities as amount not to more
. I I than three or four hundred thoufand
ij Pound in value, which, a^ it is a great
1 Lofs to the Nation, fo it is a true Rea-
fon why not more than one Third Part of
thofe People are employed as might and
would be, had we none or fewer of
■ thefe Indian Manufa6lufes ; now I being'
fully fatisfyM that this is matter of Fa6l
and true, I hope I may have leave to,
make a modeft guefs; I fuppofe that there
! . us'd to be Annually two hundred thoufand
f Pounds worth of our long Wool wrought
" up in thofe Commodities, now either loft
or debafed ; and that the like quantity of
' this Wool is wrought up into Commodi-
ties, which make but four of one; then
upon this Head there muft be 1 20C000 /.
loft in Labour and Art per Ann, and this^
lofs of Employment muft come from In-
I dia Manufadures being confumed by the
I Chief of our Gentry at Home, and our
! Plantations abroad that follow our Faftii-
ons, no other Manufactures ftanding in
oppofition to them ; and befides the lofs,
' 1 this tends greatly to the Nation's diflio-
^ C 2 nour:
. 20 j
jiGur. The laft Thing I fhall mention, is
to fhew how this Trade hinders the Con-
ftimpcion of, and keeps down the Price
of our Wool; as to the Confumption of
Wool, if as before it hinders our Export
to Turkey and Itdy^ to the valde of one
hundred thpufand Pound per Am, The
Wool that thofe Comrnodities would take
up, muft be to the value of fixteen thou-
fand /.; and if we fhall allow our Wefi-
India Exports, and home Confumption to
be but one hundred thoufand Pound in
value, yet this is a great lofs ; and I can-
not reckon all the Wool that is Exported
Annually by our India Traders, to amount
to more than 6 or 7000 /. for which I
have accounted in my Head for Profit;
and as to the Price of this Wool, the In-
dia Trade fo far as itlefiens the Confump-
tion, it muft bring down the Price; thefe
^ings being matter of FaH, I leave it to
tttter Judgments to confider of them ; but
if true, as I think and believe upon the
beft Inquiry and Obfervation I can make,
Then the ftate of England's lofs by India
Manufactures, that are oppofite to our
ewn, ftandsthus;
• i i ■ , ^ ; i
Damage
/
Damage as it hinders our-
Exports to HoUandy Germany
Portugal^ and our Wefi-Jndia^
Colonies,
As it hinders our Export to?
Turkey and Italy, S
As it hinders the working
up of Turkey and Italian Ef-(
fe£ls, and employment ofj
our Poor in them.
As it hinders the Employ-
ing of our Poor, and pro-
cures the debafing our own
fine Manufaftures.
As it hinders the Confump- ^
tion of our Wool, and as itQ
tends to bring down the val-^
lue thereof. j
Pounds,
200000
lOOOOO
looooo
I200000
> I16000
Total lyidoooK^
And I hope no Man will wonder at
this Account, when they confider the
great part of the dammage lies in the ten-
dency of this India Trade, to the deba-
fing of our own Manufa£lures, and lb
hinders the Employment of our People in
them
( 22 )
them,and bringingthem out ofReputation
wherever they come; for this Trade
would have the fame effect upon Cloth,
Ihouid there be brought great quantities
of Commodities from hdUj or any other
Place in oppofition to it, that fhould
have the fame eileem with the People;
and here we may fee that there comes more
Lois to England than Profit by this Trade
fer An, 1156000 I. : And if thefe 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 in-
fer, we fee what part is fit to be incou-
raged, and what a necellity there is to re-
Ifrain that which does fo much damage ?
And certainly every Englifi-mRn com
cern'd in this Trade, will no longer de-
fire to carry on a Trade fo much to the
damage of his Country.
And the Whole-Sale and Retail Dealers
in thefe Commodities fhould infer, fince
we can live as well, and fave as much Mo-
ney in buying and felling Englijb as Indian
Manufactures, v/hy fliould we defire to
hinder the Labour of our Neighbour,
And
( 2? )
who, if h6 had Employment, would lay
out part of his Gettings in our Shops ?
And the Confumer fhould conclude it
mofl: elegable to wear fuch Garments as
wili moft advance his own Eftate, and
fupport his poor Neighbour, and caufe
Mony to Circulate through every part of
his Country, and thereby make the Inha-
bitants Pleafant, Eafy, Chearful, Ufeful,
Induftrious and Pious.
And the Owners of Land may confider
the Natural Eflfeds of this Trade^ fo-far as
it hinders the Labour of the Poor; the
Employment of People being the only
means to give a value to Landthen fo
far as any Trade hinders Employ ment ,fo
far it muft lefTen the value of the Product
and Rents of Land.
I hope the Gentlemen concerned in this
Trade, did not apprehend what a Lofs
this part of it is to the Nation; and that
they thought, that tho' it damaged the
Manufactures a little, it was of Advan-
tage to the whole, and were deceived by
thefalfe Colours that fomeput upon it;
and by others reprefenting only the light
fide of it; and may it not be expeCted,
that others wdll either fhew the miftake
'cf
( 24 )
of this Account, or aQ: like Englifh-rnQn^
and not any longer hinder the Publick
Good by fuch weak Pretences; that if the
Commodities come not from Iftdla^ they
will be brought from our European Neigh-
hours, when they fee the great Lofs
comes by fuch Manufactures as our Neigh-
hours cannot pretend to Import \ upon us,
hut we have conftantly Exported to them?
Or that other Excuie, that we muft con-
fume thofe Goods, or the Dutch will have
the Trade ; whereas our Kings Domini-
ohs Confume at leaft three parts in four of
what is brought to Europe of thefe Com-
modities.
By T.S:
FINIS.