STATE BETWEEN 1635 AND 1693. 49 



(52.) Fluctuating State of the Trade between 1635 

 and 1693. — By the ^reat act of tonnage and poundage, 

 passed in 1660, on the restoration of Charles II., taxes 

 were imposed, among other things, on the exportation 

 of woollen manufactures, and it was not till the reign 

 of William, that the wretched policy of such regula- 

 tions was discovered, and a law was passed in 1700, by 

 which the duties on woollens were abolished, because 

 in the words of the act Ml & 12 WiUiam III. chap. 

 20), ** the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom doth, 

 in a great measure, depend on the improvement of its 

 woollen manufactures, and the profitable trade carried 

 on by the exportation thereof." 



In the time of Charles IL, an act was passed for the 

 erection of manufactories (Par. 1, Sess. 1, Cap. 40), by 

 which it is enacted, that no native or stranger is to ex- 

 port wool nor skins with wool upon them, until made 

 into work, or put to the best advantage, under the pain 

 of first value thereof, half to the king, and half to the 

 informer. It is also, in this act, ordered, *' that none 

 forestall the mercat of wooll, nor keep up the same to 

 a dearth, under the pain against regrators and forestall- 

 ers, and that for eschewing the deceit of putting stones, 

 or the like stuffs therein, no wooll be wrapt up in the 

 fleece, under the pain of confiscation, half to the king, 

 and half to the discoverer and pursuer, declaring al- 

 ways that the Exchequer may licence the export of 

 wool and skins, as they shall see cause." 



The French refugees, in 1635, brought money and 

 talent into England, and contributed greatly to the 

 erection of manufactories for slight stuffs, and other 

 French fabrics, never before made in England. The 



