MR. Cary says , That the People of England wants Work ; and therefore he is for prohibiting Indian Silks and Callicoes : Which is to raise a Tax on the Subject to maintain them .

Certainly no man that knows the state of England would ever use such an Argument ; for , it is but too apparent we want not Work , but People , having Work enough to employ double the number of Hands . Let us but consider how much the Hollanders gain by their Fishing-Trade in our Seas , and what the Value is of the several Goods imported into , and spent in England , which might by Diligence ( not Prohibitions ) be produced and manufactur'd here ; those two Articles , tho' others may be added , are sufficient to shew , that we do not want Work in England , but rather People , and Laws to oblige them to work .

He is likewise for Confining the Trade of England barely to Exchanging of Commodities , therefore would have no East-India Goods wore , because they are not the Returns of our Product and Manufactury , but of Mony : Whereas in truth the East-India Company hath sent out , since October 1693 , near Three hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds in English Products . Yet , supposing his Position were true , I affirm , That it is the Interest of England to send their Product and Manufactury to the best Market , and from thence to bring such Commodities as they cannot purchase cheaper any where else ▪ which they ought to lay out where they may buy cheapest ; and by this natural Circulation the Nation will be enrich'd ; but , That we shall be oblig'd to take Commodities in exchange for ours , tho' never so dear , is a Doctrin that no Merchant , or any Nation that understands their Interest , will hearken to .

But he adds , That if we do not take Their Manufacturies , they will not take Ours : Therefore he is for encouraging German Linnens , &c.

Answ . We send to Germany , Leather , Tin , Lead , Copprice , Woolen , &c. and a great many other Goods of our Plantations , with which they cannot be supplied any where else cheaper . We do likewise take of them what is fit for our purpose . Now , if we take less of their Linnens , the ballance must be paid us in Mony , and that Mony ought to be laid out to the best advantage . Now , if Callicoes be three times cheaper than Linnens , as he allows , the Question is , Whether we had better send one third of that Mony to India to buy Callicoes , or take it out in Linnens from Germany , at treble the price .

As to the Laws in force , which put a Restraint upon Trade , I will not pretend to meddle , leaving it to those who may more properly do it ; I humbly conceive they are of the same nature with the Act for prohibiting Irish Cattel , which Mr. Cary is so much against .

I think the Example of the Dutch ought to be follow'd , since that by their Trade and Policy , of a Po●r Distressed People , they are become the High and Mighty of the World , in less than a Hundred Years , and that under the great Disadvantage of a very chargable Country . Indeed their Method of Trade is far different from that of Mr. Cary's , they have Lands and Manufacturies in proportion to the bigness of their Country , yet they do not think it the Interest of the Freeholder to curb Trade , knowing that the only way to raise the Price of Lands and other Estates , is by a Free Trade , which encreases Wealth and People .

A Free Trade makes all manner of Commodities cheap ; the cheapness of Commodities impowers our People to work cheaper ; the cheapness of Work encourages a Foreign Trade ; and a Foreign Trade brings Wealth and People , and that alone raises the Price of Lands and Houses .

On the contrary , Prohibitions make Cloathing and every thing else dear ; so that the People cannot live without they have a proportionable price for their Labour . And I conceive Prohibitions to be a principal Reason why we cannot Trade so cheap as our Neighbours do .

Our Author concludes with his Method of making the East-India Trade profitable to the Kingdom , viz. by bringing Cotton and other Commodities , which being bulky , will employ more Shipping . That is in effect to say , We shall bring to England Materials to be manufactur'd which will stand us in a great deal more than the Goods now do ready manufactur'd . This is the way he proposes to enrich the Nation . I must confess it is of a Piece with the rest of his Discourse upon this Subject ; it will employ the Poor to Weave and Spin , and that is what he aims at right or wrong , not having a due Consideration whether the Nation gets by it , or not .