442 A. D. 1650. 



out government, laws, or clergy. Yet in the year 1745 they, with only 

 about 100 men, repulfed 60Q French invaders with great bravery, and 

 killed 150 of them. 



About this time the French made a great fettlement on the great 

 -ifland of Madagafcar, (to which they gave the name of I'ifle Dau- 

 phin) and ereded a fort near the fouth-wefl point of the ifland. Yet, 

 after keeping pofleflion of it for many years, they at length, abandoned 

 it ; its commerce not anfwering the charge of keeping up the forts, 

 garrifons, &c. 



The favourers of the new EngUfli commonwealth, obferving the great 

 conveniency of the banks and lumber offices of the free flates of Italy, 

 and of thofe of Amfterdam, fir ft began, about this time, to publifh fe- 

 veral projedls for thole purpofes in London ; and one Samuel Lamb, a 

 merchant, in the year 1657, addrefTed a lai-ge folio pamphlet to Crom- 

 well the protedor on this fubjed, though nothing was done in confe- 

 quence thereof. 



1651. — In the year 1651 the rump parliament, taking into their con- 

 fideration, that the interelTt of money in fundry parts beyond fea was lower 

 than the legal interefl of it in England, whereby thofe Englifh mer- 

 chants^ who carried on their commerce on credit with other men's 

 money, undoubtedly traded to difadvantage in refped to the merchants 

 of other countries ; and that high interefl keeps down the price of land, 

 prudently reduced the legal interefl of money from eight to fix per 

 cent ; {fthurhe, V. \, p. 472] which rate of interefl was confirmed after 

 the reftoration. 



Sir Thomas Culpepper fenior, in the preface to his fecond trad againtl 

 the high rate of ufury, publifhed in 1641, remarks that ' within half 

 ' an age we have feen many improvements of land, and a vafl increafe 

 ' of the bulk of trade, by the abatement of interefl.' He farther re- 

 marks, ' that it will feem incredible to fuch as have not confidered it, 

 ' but to any that will caft it up, it is plainly manifefl that Lioo, at 10 

 ' in the hundred, in 70 years multiplies itfelf to Lioo.cco. So if there 

 * fhould be Lioo,oco of foreigners money now managed here at 10 per 

 ' cent interefl, (and that doth feem no great matter) that L 100,000 in 

 ' 70 years fpace would carry out ten millions of money !' As in our 

 prefent times Britain is obUged to pay to foreign nations the annual 

 interefl of many millions of our national debt, the above remark is an 

 ufeful argument in favour of the prefent low interefl thereon. 



The rump parliament of England now made another mofl excellent 

 and memorable law for the advancement of our fhipping, navigation^ 

 and plantations. It had been oblerved with concern that the merchants 

 of England, for feveral years pafl, had ufually freighted Dutch fliipping 

 for fetching home their own merchandize, becaufe their freight was at 

 a lower rate than that of EngHlh fhips. The Dutch fhipping were there- 

 by made ufe of even for importing our own American produds ; whilfl 



