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• Preface.
• A Select Collection of Early English Tracts On Commerce
• Thomas Mun, a Discoverse of Trade From England Vnto the East-indies: Answering to Diuerse Obiections Which Are Vsually Made Against the Same.
• Lewes Roberts, the Treasure of Traffike, Or a Discoourse of Forraigne Trade.
• Thomas Mun, England’s Treasure By Forraign Trade. Or. the Ballance of Our Forraign Trade Is the Rule of Our Treasure.
• Chap. I.: The Qualities Which Are Required In a Perfect Merchant of Forraign Trade.
• Chap. II.: The Means to Enrich This Kingdom, and to Encrease Our Treasure.
• Chap. III.: The Particular Ways and Means to Encrease the Exportation of Our Commodities, and to Decrease Our Consumption of Forraign Wares.
• Chap. IV.: The Exportation of Our Moneys In Trade of Merchandize Is a Means to Encrease Our Treasure.
• Chap. V.: Forraign Trade Is the Only Means to Improve the Price of Our Lands.
• Chap. VI.: The Spanish Treasure Cannot Be Kept From Other Kingdoms By Any Prohibition Made In Spain.
• Chap. VII.: The Diversity of Gain By Forraign Trade.
• Chap. VIII.: The Enhansing Or Debasing Our Moneys Cannot Enrich the Kingdom With Treasure, Nor Hinder the Exportation Thereof.
• Chap. IX.: A Toleration For Forraign Coins to Pass Currant Here At Higher Rates Then Their Value With Our Standard, Will Not Encrease Our Treasure.
• Chap. X.: The Observation of the Statute of Imployments to Be Made By Strangers, Cannot Encrease, Nor Yet Preserve Our Treasure.
• Chap. XI.: It Will Not Increase Our Treasure to Enjoyn the Merchant That Exporteth Fish, Corn Or Munition, to Return All Or Part of the Value In Money.
• Chap. XII.: The Undervaluing of Our Money Which Is Delivered Or Received By Bills of Exchange Here Or Beyond the Seas, Cannot Decrease Our Treasure.
• Chap. XIII.: The Merchant Who Is a Mere Exchanger of Money By Bills Cannot Increase Or Decrease Our Treasure.
• Chap. XIV.: The Admirable Feats Supposed to Be Done By Bankers and the Merchants Exchange.
• Chap. XV.: Of Some Excesses and Evils In the Commonwealth, Which Notwithstanding Decay Not Our Trade Nor Treasure.
• Chap. XVI.: How the Revenues and Incomes of Princes May Justly Be Raised.
• Chap. XVII.: Whether It Be Necessary For Great Princes to Lay Up Store of Treasure.
• Chap. XVIII.: How Much Treasure a Prince May Conveniently Lay Up Yearly.
• Chap. XIX.: Of Some Different Effects, Which Proceed From Naturall and Artificiall Wealth.
• Chap. XX.: The Order and Means Whereby We May Draw Up the Ballance of Our Forraign Trade.
• Chap. XXI.: The Conclusion Upon All That Hath Been Said, Concerning the Exportation Or Importation of Treasure.
• Samuel Fortrey, Englands Interest and Improvement.
• England’s Great Happiness; Or, a Dialogue Between Content and Complaint.
• Britannia Languens, Or a Discourse of Trade
• The Preface.
• The Introduction.
• Section I.: Trade National Or Private, Home Or Forreign Treasures Imported By Trade, Thence Land-rents, Populacy Increased, the Revenues of All Ranks of Men Depend Upon Trade, People and Treasure Make National Strength, Particular Advantages In Treasure,
• Sect. II.: The Several Kinds of Forreign Trade, of Trading With Home Or Forreign Navigation, Some General Application.
• Sect. III.: Of Forreign Trade Consisting In Exportation, of the Advantages of Home Manufactures, and Manufactures, Incidently Other Home Trades, and Imployments Are Considered; and Which of Them Enrich a Nation; of the Fishing-trade, and the Annual Export
• Sect. IV.: Of Forreign Trade From Port to Port, the Nature and Advantage of It, Differs From Meer Carriage, and Meer Importation; the Necessity of a Home Storehouse: the Ordinary Exporting of Money Or Bullion, of Dangerous Consequence; How to Be Avoided:
• Sect. V.: That Our Home and Forreign Market Is Incumbered, and Prejudiced By Extraordinary and Unequal Charges, and Cloggs In Our Merchandize Above What Are In Our Neighbour-nations, Viz. In the Building and Furniture of Our Ships, Victuals, Sea-mens Wa
• Sect. VI.: Other Cloggs On Our Trade, Viz. the Late Acts of Navigation, Which, With the Other Difficulties, Have Begot Monopolies; Made Our Navigation Yet Dearer, So Forreign Materials of Manufacture Cause Meer Importations, Hinder Our Forreign Vent of
• Sect. VII.: Forreigners Eased In Trade; Other Clogs and Difficulties Upon Ours; Want of Populacy, Incidently of Extream Prizes of Victuals, and How the Duration of Land-rents May Be Secured, Our People Restrained From Manufactures; the Abuse of the Act
• Sect. VIII.: That a Nation May Grow Poor By Forreign Trade, Viz. By an Excess of Meer Importations, Illustrated By Some Observations: This Facilitated By Exporting Money Or Bullion; the Fatal Consequences and Symptoms of a Consumptive Trade, Decay of Ma
• Sect. IX.: That a Consumptive Trade Must Render a Nation Still Weaker and Weaker: How Far the Meer Establishment of Absolute Power, Or Meer Liberty and Property, May Alter the Case.
• Sect. X.: Further Presumptions of Our Late National Overballance In Trade; an Account From the Mint In November 75. and Thence Our Former Ballance of Trade Estimated.
• Sect. XI.: Particular Decays In Our Exportations, and the Beneficial Parts of Our Trade; Instances In the Decay of Our Foreign-trade For Woollen Clothing, In the Several Countries and Ports We Traded To, In the Sinking of the Foreign Price of This Manufac
• Sect. XII.: Instances In Late Increases and Excesses of Our Forreign Importations, and Therein of the Decay of Some Other of Our Own Manufactures Which Supplyed Our Home Uses, Viz. In Linnens of All Sorts, More Dear Fine Linnens Used; Incidently of the
• Sect. XIII.: That a Considerable Part of Our Late Treasure Is Exhausted: Application to Our Publick and Private Revenues: Objections Answered, Viz. the Plenty of Money to Be Let On Securities, Stores of Money In London, Stocks In Merchandize, the Over
• Sect. XIV.: People and Treasure the True Pillars of the National Strength: the Odds In the Different Vse and Imployment of People. the Absoluteness of the French Monarchy No Cause of the Present French Grandure: the Late Application of the French Co
• Dudley North, Discourses Upon Trade
• The Preface.
• A Discourse Concerning the Abatement of Interest.
• A Discourse of Coyned Money.
• Postscript. Upon Farther Consideration of the Foregoing Matters, I Think Fit to Add the Following Notes.
• Considerations On the East-india Trade
• To the Reader.
• Chap. I.: The Objections Against the East-india Trade; Viz. the Exportation of Bullion For Manufactures to Be Consum’d In England; the Loss of the Labourer’s Employment; the Abatement of Rents Are Enforc’d.
• Chap. II.: The Exportation of Bullion For Indian Manufactures, Is an Exchange of Less For Greater Value.
• Chap. III.: A More Open East-india- Trade, Is More Profitable to the Kingdom.
• Chap. IV.: The East-india Trade Does Not So Much Diminish the Riches of Some Private Persons, As It Increases the Riches of the Kingdom.
• Chap. V.: The East-india Trade Is the Way to Increase Our Bullion.
• Chap. VI.: The East-india Trade Must Increase Our Exportations.
• Chap. VII.: Notwithstanding the Idleness of the Mint, the Money and the Bullion Are Increas’d.
• Chap. VIII.: The Increase of Paper Money Is to Be Ascrib’d to the Increase of Real Money, Rather Than the Apparent Plenty of Money to the Increase of Current Paper.
• Chap. IX.: The Kingdom Is Not More Impoverish’d By the Consumption of Indian Than of English Manufactures.
• Chap. X.: The East-india Trade Destroys No Imployment of the People Which Is Profitable to the Kingdom.
• Chap. XI.: The East-india Trade Is the Most Likely Way to Inlarge the Business In the Present Manufactures.
• Chap. XII.: By Being the Cause of the Invention of Arts and Engines, of Order and Regularity In Our Manufactures, the East-india Trade, Without Abating the Wages of Labourers, Abates the Price of Manufactures.
• Chap. XIII.: The East-india Trade Is the Most Likely Way to Set On Foot New Manufactures For Imployment of the People.
• Chap. XIV.: The East-india Trade Does Not Abate the Rents, By the Exportation of Bullion, By the Diminution of Consumers, By the Abatement of Wages; the Importation of Indian Manufactures Is Less Likely to Abate Rents Than the Importation of the Unwro
• Chap. XV.: The Importation of Indian Manufactures Abates Only the Price of Labour, But Raises the Price of the Produce of the Estate.
• Chap. XVI.: And This Is Confirm’d By Examples.
• Chap. XVII.: The East-india Trade Does Not Abate the Rents of the Landholder By Destroying His Monopoly.
• Chap. XVIII.: The Fishing-trade Is Not So Profitable As the Importation of Irish Cattel, Or of Indian Manufactures; and Is More Likely Than Either to Abate the Rents of England.
• Chap. XIX.: The Herring-fishery Not Practicable In the Present Circumstances of England; the Dutch Can Sell Cheaper.
• Chap. XX.: The Way to Bring England to Be Contented With As Little Profit In the Fishing-trade As Holland.
• Chap. XXI.: That the Way to Enable England to Catch and Cure Their Herrings As Cheap As Holland, Is, First to Have Materials For That Trade As Cheap: and That This Is Most Likely to Be Done, By Discharging the Customs Upon Such Things, By Making the T
• Chap. XXII.: The Way to Make English Labour In the Fishing-trade As Cheap As That of Holland; That the People Here Must Cohabit As Close Together; and the Most Probable Methods For Effecting This, Are to Erect a Free-port, to Impower Parishes to Send

SECTION I.

Trade National or Private, Home or Forreign Treasures Imported by Trade, thence Land-Rents, Populacy increased, the Revenues of all Ranks of men depend upon Trade, People and Treasure make National Strength, particular Advantages in Treasure, the difference between Ancient and Modern Wars, Navigation supported by Trade, this necessary for the Security of an Island, and therein the farther scope of the whole.

TRade is either National or Private: The National Trade doth influence the Wealth and Strength of a whole Nation, and therefore is not the only Concern of Merchants.

Private Trade hath regard to the particular Wealth of the Trader, and doth so far differ in the scope and design of it from the National, that a private Trade may be very beneficial to the private Trader, but of hurtful, nay of very ruinous Consequence to the whole National; as will appear.

I shall speak of National Trade, which is properly divided into Home Trade, and Forreign Trade.

The Home Trade in every Nation hath dependence on the Forreign Trade: if a Nation hath no Gold or Silver-Mines within its own Territory, there is no practicable way of bringing Treasure into it (in times of Peace) but by Forreign Trade: And if such a Nation be not enriched by Imported Treasure, its Home Trade can only be managed by Exchange of Goods for Goods.

But if Treasure be Imported, then may its Home Trade be managed by buying and selling for money.

And from hence may the Lands in such a Nation come to yield a money Rent, which is the produce or profits of Land sold for money.

In which Case the price of Home Commodities, and consequently the yearly Rent of Lands in a Nation which hath populacy and property, will hold proportion with the quantity of the National Treasure; and will rise or fall as the Treasure does increase or diminish.

For where there is an increase of Treasure in a Nation which hath property, this will ordinarily diffuse amongst the people by the necessity and succession of Contracts; and then the people having universally more money than before, the Seller will not be so necessitous for money as before, and will have a greater choice of Chapmen, who will be more able and ready to buy.

These numbers of Chapmen will inevitably raise the Market one upon the other, as is demonstrable by common and undeniable Experience and Fact; And therefore I shall lay it as a ground in Commerce, That the plenty of Chapmen, who have plenty of money, will cause a higher and quicker Market for any desireable Commodity, especially if the Seller be not so necessitous for money as to be forced to snap at the first offer.

And that on the other side, where there be fewer Chapmen, who have less money, and the Sellers themselves are more necessitous, they must and will sell lower; This must inevitably happen in a Nation where there is little money.

For instance, if there were but 500l. Sterling in England, an Ox could hardly be worth a peny, nor could the Revenue of all England be 500l. per annum, or not above;

It follows then, that a Forreign Trade (by increasing the National Treasure) will advance home Markets, and the value of Lands in England.

I shall admit that if a Nation can be Victorious in War, and can plunder the Conquered, some Treasures may happen to be Imported this way; But certainly those who consider it, will rather desire to be enriched by Trade than by War, since in the Course of Trade, far mightier Treasures may be gotten with Peace, Innocence, Security, and Happiness to the People, who cannot be Victorious in War without Bloodsheds, Rapines, Violences, and Perpetrations of all kinds; they also must be subject to perpetual difficulties and hazards in the hardships and event of War, which will disturb or subvert the Home Trade, nor can the Treasure of a People so imployed circulate in the Markets to any advantagious degree; or should we have any such Bravoes or Knights Errant as would rather purchase Wealth by Fighting than by Industry, yet are these imaginary Conquests absolutely impracticable at this day without the assistance of Forreign Trade; as will be shewn.

But first upon the former grounds I shall add, that a Forreign Trade (if managed to the best advantage) will yet further advance the values of Lands, by necessitating a vast increase of people, since it must maintain great multitudes of people in the very business of Trade, which could not otherwise be supported, (as will also further appear): All which having the Rewards of their Labours in their hands, will still enlarge the choice of Chapmen to the Sellers, and there being so many more persons to be fed and cloathed, there must be a far greater home Consumption of all the products of Land.

And hence must arise a kind of Competition amongst the people who shall farm or purchase Land, when the Revenue of Land is certain, and grows higher daily, as the Treasure and People increase, which must cause Land to rise as well in the years’ purchase, as in the years’ value; nay, the very Earth must receive an inevitable Improvement by their Industrious numbers, whilst every one will be able and willing to possess and manure a greater or lesser part, according to his occasions; there is hardly any Land in England but may be improved to double the value, and very much to treble and more.

This necessary Improvement of Rent and Land is verified in the Forreign instance of Holland, and in such of our English Lands as lie near great and populous Corporations; And on the other side, we see that in Spain and Turkey, and also in such parts of England and Ireland, where there is little Trade, and fewer people, there lie great quantities of Land which yield little or no profit; and hence I conclude, That the Revenue and Value of Land will simpathize with the National Trade.

There are indeed certain Ranks of Men of honourable and necessary Imployments and Professions in every Nation, whose Revenues do not so immediately arise from Trade; such are Officers greater and less, Lawyers, Physicians, and such like.

But though these are not placed in the direct Channel of Trade, yet ’tis very plain they derive their Revenues from it; being supported in their Grandure and Gains at the cost of the Land-Holders and Traders; who will be more capable and willing to give them greater Gratuities and Fees, when their own pockets are fuller; and as the People, Trade, and Contracts do increase, there will be more Law-Suits and Diseases, and ordinarily more Fees and Gratuities, so will there be more Houses built, more Apparel made, and more Imployment of all sorts for Masons, Carpenters,Taylors, and men of all other middle and inferior Callings.

And from hence it also follows, That a Forreign Trade managed to the best advantage, will make a Nation vastly stronger than naturally it was, because money and people do ordinarily make National strength.

Money is necessary for the purchasing of many Provisions for War by Land or Sea, as Arms, Victuals, Ammunition, materials for Shipping and many others, which being gotten, yet neither Souldiers nor Sea-men will now adventure themselves at the mouths of Cannon and Musket without pay, whereof the further Consequence is that the Prince and Nation which hath the greatest Treasure, will finally have the Victory, and probably with little or no fighting.

For being enabled by their Treasure to keep themselves in a posture of War, they will oblige their Enemies to the like Expence, till their Enemies Treasures are exhausted, and then their Armies and also their Councils will dissipate.

This shews the difference between the ancient and present Course of War, for anciently the event of War was tried by frequent Battles, and generally succeeded as one Nation was Superior to the other in personal Strength and Roughness; But since the Wealth of the Indies came to be discovered and dispersed more and more, Wars are managed by much Treasure and little Fighting, and therefore with little hazard to the richer Nation.

And hence also doth it appear that in the present condition of the World, it is in a manner impossible for a Nation to gain Riches by Conquest and Plunder, unless it hath first store of Treasure at Home, which cannot otherwise be gotten than by Forreign Trade.

Also money will command the Service and Lives of any poorer and rougher Nation, It will purchase the Assistance of Forreign Princes, It will indear their great Ministers, open their Cabinets, engage true and close Correspondencies, and poison their Councils: It will pass unseen through Rampiers, Fortifications, and Guards, into Cities and Forts, and will surprize them without the tedious hazards of Seiges; It will purchase Governors and Generals, and like Lightning will consume the Heart of a poorer Nation, whilst its Countenance and Outside shall remain fresh.

So are people necessary to Guard the Treasures, and defend the Nation, who will be more or less true and serviceable to the National Interest, as they have a greater or lesser share in it; he that hath somewhat of his own, and lives Comfortably, will stoutly defend the Nation against Invaders; But if a People be poor and miserable, their Condition being uneasie, it will be indifferent to them who is Conqueror; nay they will hope for a better Condition by turning the Tables; so is it of dangerous Consequence that the People should become vitious, because it generally weakens their Bodies, Courages, or Faiths: In all which the excellency of a great and well regulated Forreign Trade may be discerned, since it will render the People Rich, and ordinarily Virtuous; as will also appear.

But Forreign Trade may bring a particular advantage to an Island by a great Navigation, without which its impossible for any Island long to defend it self against a Forreign Enemy potent in Shipping, for the Invaders circling an Island with their Ships, may sail from Place to Place, and Rob, Spoil, and Kill, before the Natives can, by long Land-Marches, apply their Courage and Land-Forces to resist them; which must necessarily distract and weary out the most valiant People on the Earth: this hath been evident by many Demonstrations in England, which hath been often Conquered by Forreigners for want of a sufficient Naval Force, particularly by the Romans, nay by the Saxons, Danes, and Normans; but hath more often repulsed Forreigners, whilst we have been most powerful at Sea; and therefore the constant Policies of this Kingdom have long aspired too, and enjoyed a Soveraignty of the Sea, and kept a narrow and jealous watch on Neighbour-Nations, lest they should aggrandize their Naval Strengths.