SOme sort of People having wearied our them­selves, in finding fault with the Government, and reviling sometimes the Dutch, as ready to strike up a private Peace; sometimes the whole Body of the Allies, as none of them having done their Duty: The general Cry of that Party now is, That Money being carryed abroad for the Pay­ment of our Forces, it will in time exhaust the Trea­sure of the Nation, and impoverish it: Which seems so palpable a thing, and begins to gain so much ground upon the Belief of many (otherwise well-affected) People, That a longer delay in shew­ing the falsity of that Notion, might seem of a dan­gerous Consequence: Therefore I think it will not be improper, to prove, That the War increasing our Trade, and occasioning a greater Vent and Ex­portation of our Manufactures, and of the Product of our Ground, inriches the Nation, and augments its Stock.

In the First Place, The Vent of our Woollen Ma­nufactures is greater than heretofore, which appears not only by that it is generally advanced in Price, but in that there is a greater Quantity now ex­ported than in Times of Peace, as may be seen by the Entries in the Custom-houses.

Secondly, The Manufactures of Silk, Linnen, Pa­per and others, have since the War been considera­bly forwarded; there is no longer need of impor­ting flowr'd and mixt Silks, good quantity of plain Silk is made here, as likewise of Linnen and Paper, which saves and keeps so much Money in the Na­tion, as formerly was sent out to purchase those Commodities.

Thirdly, Corn, (which by the Blessing of God hath been hitherto plentiful amongst us, although very scarce amongst our Neighbours) Tobacco, Su­gar, and many others the Products of our Ground, bear a better Price than they should in a peaceable Time, by the greater Exportation abroad; The Ne­therlands alone taking more of these Commodities and of our Manufactures, than what is remitted thi­ther for the maintaining of our Forces, comes to; I say, taking more, over and above what they did in time of Peace. For how can it be imagined that so small a Tract of Ground, as the Spaniards have left in the Low-Countries, which doth not extend to above Thirty Miles in breadth, and an Hundred Miles in length, and which by the great and nume­rous Armies that continually harass it, yields little or nothing; should suffice to maintain Two Hun­dred [Page 3] Thousand Men and Horses of the Allies, be­sides the Inhabitants of eleven great Towns, and of an innumerable quantity of Villages, Castles, and Strong-holds: Certainly that prodigious Number of People must be supported and maintained from the Neighbouring Countries. The Dutch, indeed, supply them in a good measure, (for otherwise being obliged to send Money thither for the pay­ment of their Forces, their Treasure also would in time be exhausted, and they impoverish't) but they draw the greatest part of their Maintenance from us; our Wheat, our Malt, our Oats, our Tobacco, our Sugar, go thither for their Food; our Cloth, our Serges, our Bayes, our Stockings, our Hats, are sent them for their Cloathing; our Coals for their Fuel; our Lead, our Powder, our Arms, for their Warlike Service; our Tallow, our Pewter, our Lea­ther, and Thousands of other Things, for their o­ther necessary Uses: Nay, our Wine, our Brandy, our Salt, (that we take from our Enemies as Prize, and which otherwise would be destroyed) are sent and vended amongst them, and the Money it pro­duces turned to the Nations Advantage; So that the fifty or sixty Thousand Pounds a Month we re­mit thither for the Payment of our Forces, comes Monthly to us again for the Payment of all those Necessaries; from whence perhaps this Inference might be drawn, that the more Forces we send in­to Flanders, provided the Allies do send an answer­able Number, the Better England will fare, and the Richer grow.

Fourthly, Trade in general is much increas'd.

• 1. The Plantations and West-Indias Trade is no less, but rather better; That of Jamaica especially, which is now Treble of what it was before the War, by the great Transportation of Linnen, and other things from that Island, to the Coast of Terra Ferma of A­merica.
• 2. That of Turkey is as considerable, there going now as much Cloth for Turkey in one Fleet, as for­merly did in two or three Years.
• 3. That of Spain as good, we now sending thither some of the Commodities the French used to carry into Spain, and drawing from thence, Wines and o­ther Commodities in a greater quantity than hereto­fore.
• 4. The Trade to Italy is considerably Increased, not only by our getting from thence more Paper and Silk; (this last for the carrying on our Manufac­tures here at Home) but likewise by our sending thi­ther abundance of Cloth, and other woollen Manu­factures; Lead, Tin, Leather, and other things for the service and cloathing of the Forces in Piedmont, the Milanez, and other parts of Italy. The Islands of Sicily and Sardinia; The Kingdom of Naples, and the State of Milan, by the prohibition of French Commodities, drawing now from us several sorts of Goods which they usually got out of France.
• 5. That of Portugal hath received a considerable Improvement; We fetching from thence more Wines [Page 5] than we did formerly, and sending thither in Return, a much greater quantity of Lead, Tin, Coperas, Ser­ges, Bayes, Sayes, &c. than in time of Peace.
• 6. The Trade to all Northern parts, as Russia, Sue­den, Denmark, Norway, is more considerable, by our greater importation of Hemp, Pitch, Tar, and other products of those Cold olymates.
• 7. The Germany Trade, as that of Dantsick, Lu­beck, Hambourg, Bremen, is three times what it was heretofore, by the great quantities of Linnen we import from thence, not only for our own Use, but like­wise for Transportation to Jamaica and Spain; as al­so because we send them more Cloth, and all other Woollen Manufactures, more Tin, Lead, Coals, Wines, Brandy and Salt, than we used to do.
• 8. That of Holland and Flanders, what a vast ad­dition hath it not received? By the prodigious quan­tities of Corn of all sorts, Sugar, Tabocco, Tin, Lead, Coals, Cloth, Bayes, Sayes, Serges, Stuffs, Stockings, &c. of our own Manufacture and Product, we send thither; in such a degree, that where there was for­merly one Vessel Trading between the Netherlands and the Island of Great Britain, there is now Scores of Ships imployed in the mutual Service of both Countries.
• 9. The Trade of France indeed is lessen'd, but is much more advantagious: Our Money (and in a considerable quantity too) was yearly sent to that Kingdom for its Products, whereas now whatever [Page 6] we get of French Commodities costs us nothing, but is sold by our Privateers, and Merchants concern'd with them, in Flanders and Germany, for good Mo­ney, which is so much profit, that accrues to the Nation.

In fine, it appears by the Custom's Books, That we export more, and that the Customs yearly render more than they did in Time of Peace: There being not one Forreign Commodity of any kind, wanted here amongst us, nor any of ours, that our Friends are not sup­plyed with: And (which is Remarkable) Trade is not thus generally increased; but notwithstanding our many (and so much talk of) Losses, 'tis much better than in time of Peace, it being Noted, that since the War, not above four or five Merchants of any Name, have gone off th' Exchange; whereas there yearly broke some dozens, if not some Scores in Peaceable times.

And although the Ships our Enemies have taken from us, be many (which there is good ground to hope, by our late Signal Victory at Sea, and the burning of so many Enemies Capital Ships, will in a good measure be prevented for the future) 'tis cer­tain that most of them have been Re-taken by us, or by our friends; for if it be true, that the French have little Trade, and few Ships of their own; how doth it happen, that our Privateers, and those of Zealand, Ostend, Brandenbourg and Biscay, have ta­ken so many prizes as amount to no less than Twen­ty Five Hundred Ships, unless we have Re-taken our own; And indeed the French do little brag of [Page 7] their Profits by Sea, there being Letters writ from France, and writ very feelingly too, that say, those damn'd Zeelanders have not left us one Ship to Trade withall: And if I am rightly inform'd, al­though their Trade be small, Shipping however is so very scarce amongst them, that they want Ves­sels to carry on that inconsiderable Trade they have, and upon the least Occasion must hire Danes and Suedes, and sometimes force them too, to Car­ry their Goods and provisions from one Port of France, to the other.

If from Trade, we turn our thoughts to other parts of the Nation; is there any Sort, or Rank of People that can complain they suffer: The Wages and Salaries of labouring-men are rather higher than in time of Peace: The Handycraft-men want no Work, and vend it easily, and at good Rates; Nay, several Handycrafts are set up by the War, which are needless in times of Peace: The Farmer sells his Corn, his Timber, his Hops, his Cattel, better than at any other time, and thereby is enabled to pay better his Rent: The Shop keeper h [...]th as good and as great a Retail: The Rich-mo­ny'd-man an Opportunity of Lending his Money to a better Advantage: The Land-man indeed must pay Taxes, and if the Tax were equally laid, a small Share of his Revenue, (which is the only visible hardship); but in lieu thereof, how many Gentle­men are there, that have Imployments, and by those Imploys, get more than they give towards the War? What Family is there, that hath not either a Brother, a Son, or some other near Relation in [Page 8] the Fleet, or in the Army? And thereby is put in a Capacity not only of maintaining, but of raising it self: Many a Younger Brother, that in time of Peace had been ready to starve, hath now by the War, Hundreds to spend a year; Nay, many Va­gabonds, and other idle people of the Nation, have by the War an Opportunity of Honestly and Law­fully getting a lively-hood in the service of their Country.

War is said to be a Curse to a Nation, 'tis true, but 'tis only so, where the Seat of War is, where all is Committed to Plunder, Rapine, Fire, Flames and ut­ter Desolation. But how many Nations have Raised their Name, and Rendred themselves Famous and Rich by War? The Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Suedes, are Memorable instances of it, who all grew Great, Potent and Rich by their Wars.

The Dutch, when they form'd themselves into a Common-wealth, were a handful of people, and had neither Ships, Money, or Strong Towns to boast of; but under the ever Auspicious Conduct of the Princes of ORANGE, and by a fourscore years Spanish War; They grew to that vast Wealth and Immense Grandeur, we have seen them ar­rived at.

And what have not Advantagious Wars brought into this Nation? Our Conquests in the West In­dies, have for certain advanced our riches: The Fifty years War of Edward the Third against France, cost England an immense Treasure, and yet all our [Page 9] Chronicles say, England was never so rich as in his time: Our great Queen Elizabeth had not always a peaceable, though a happy and a golden Reign: Oliver was not in Peace, whilst he govern'd; but no body then complained the Nation grew poor, every body was sensible it grew Rich: And had not the Richards, the Henries, and others our Heroick Princes, Render'd by their Wars abroad the English Name formidable throughout the world? I don't know, what our last Thirty-years-peace, would have brought us to, and whether we had been not the prey of a Neighbouring Prince, otherwise gree­dy and Powerful enough, but who perhaps was daunted by the remembrance of our Ancient Va­lour; and the glorious Atchievements of our Ance­stors.