372 Tradesman and Merchant — Commercial Population 



in wealth fastest. These facts are ev'ident from comparisons of the 

 apportioned tax assessments^ of 1660, 1672, and 1693. The rank of 

 the richest counties during this interim shows some remarkable shifts. 

 Surrey rose from fifteenth to second place; Oxford from sixteenth to 

 eighth; Berks from fourteenth to sixth; and Bucks from ninth to 

 fourth. Suffolk and Kent declined most. The distribution of wealth 

 agreed with the distribution of people,^ Middlesex being densest and 

 Surrey second. 



The commercial and industrial capital accumulated from various 

 sources. Davenant allotted the £2,000,000 annual increase into three 

 parts, £900,000 from the manufactures and home product disposed 

 of in the plantations and the re-exportation of part of the returns; 

 £500,000 from sales on the Continent; and £600,000 from the East 

 India trade.^ Trade, manufacture and agriculture were the great 

 sources.'* In each there were prodigious growths. Another source was 

 the EngHsh interests in the Spanish plate fleets, both from their contri- 

 butions towards the charges of these Spanish expeditions^ and from the 

 piratical successes of Enghsh privateers. Foreigners purchased large 

 holdings in Enghsh national debt.*^ The Dutch in particular bought 

 up the debt. As Holland declined through losses by wars, the burden 

 of taxation, and the rivalry of other nations, her capital, heretofore 

 invested in commerce, was loaned to foreign states and enterprises." 

 England was also the recipient of much capital by having Irish and 

 colonial absentees reside on her soil, as well as by salaries paid to 

 Englishmen in oflScial capacity in Ireland and the colonies. Calcula- 

 tions made in 1728 put the flow of Irish wealth to England annually at 

 between £400,000 and £622,000. ^ One very lucrative place of in\'est- 



^ Rogers, Ag. and Pr., V, 118-19, see also his Eco. Interp.'of Hist., 153-7; the 

 same situation e.xisted in 1736, apparently, for the rate of interest bears, other 

 things being equal, a reciprocal relation to the volume of loanable capital, and at 

 this date the rate was lower in the maritime counties than the inland, and lower 

 in London and vicinity than elsewhere. Allen, Ways and IMeans, 8-9. 



2 Rogers, Ag. and Pr., V, 78. 



^ Davenant, Works, I, 93-4. 



^ Compare with Gibbin, Ind. in Eng., 304. 



5 Justice, Gen. Treat., 106. 



^In 1728 they were said to hold seven or eight millions. See "Wealth and 

 Commerce," 4; compare Anderson, III, 318. 



" See Yeats, Growth, 237-43. The difiference in the rates of interest in Holland 

 and England was the attraction. Barbon, Discourse, 85. 



* Browne, Reflections, 47-8; Dobbs, Trade of Ireland, 51; Prior. List of .Ab- 

 sentees, 1-14. 



