COMMERCE. 



25 



History of 



English 



commerce. 



Commerce which it had occasion, more than once, to l-esort to 

 arms, and punish the rapacious disposition of the kings 

 of Denmark. At last the improved government of Eu- 

 rope, lessening the necessity of this confederation, the 

 different branches of the league gradually fell off, and 

 remained satisfied with the protection of their respec- 

 tive sovereigns. 



In the fourteenth century, the woollen manufacture 

 was so little understood in this country, that Edward III. 

 wrote a letter with his own hand, to John Kemp, a 

 woollen manufacturer in Flanders, offering to take him, 

 and his servants, apprentices, goods, and chattels, under 

 his royal protection, (Rymer's Fcedera, p. 496.) and pro- 

 mising the same to all others of his occupation, as well as 

 to all dyers and fullers, who should incline to come and 

 settle in England. (A. D. 1337.) No less than seventy 

 Walloon families, engaged in the woollen manufacture, 

 availed themselves of this encouraging offer, and came 

 over to settle here. Only four years after the introduc- 

 tion of the first woollen manufacturers from Flanders, 

 an act of parliament (the 11th of Edw. III. c. 2.) was 

 passed, to prevent the exportation of wool, and holding 

 forth protection and rewards to all cloth-workers who 

 should come from foreign parts. By another act, (the 

 11th of Edw. III. c. 1.) all persons other than the king, 

 queen, and royal family, were prohibited from wearing, 

 any cloth that was not manufactured within the realm. 

 The importation of foreign cloth was also forbidden on 

 pain of forfeiture and other punishment. But so jealous 

 were the weavers of our own coarse cloths, of the intro- 

 duction of better workmen from abroad, that, in 1344, 

 a mob in London, principally composed of, and insti- 

 gated by them, insulted and maltreated the foreign wea- 

 vers, so that they could not carry on their business with 

 security. Upon this warrants were issued by the king, 

 directed to the mayor and sheriffs, to imprison the ring- 

 leaders in the jail of Newgate. 



Such was the comparative insignificance of our ex- 

 ports, even so late as 1 534, that the whole, from every 

 part of England, did not exceed L.900,000, of the pre- 

 sent value of our money. Yet the balance of trade in 

 our favour at that period, was imagined to exceed 

 L.700,000, as appears by a record in the exchequer. 

 This balance, arising principally from the exportation 

 of wool and woolfels, lead, tin, and leather, appeared 

 very great in proportion to the whole amount of the 

 trade, and produced a duty of customs on export to the 

 amount of L. 246,000, according to the present value of 

 money, while the duty on imports amounted to little 

 more than L. 1 700. * It is curious to observe by what 

 slow degrees the commercial improvements, at present 

 most familial- to us, were introduced among our ances- 

 tors. The practice of making remittances by bills of 

 exchange, was so little known or followed in England 

 in the 1 5th century, that Henry IV. granted leave to 

 Philip d'Albertis, a rich Lombard merchant then resi- 

 ding in London, to give a bill of exchange (Jiteram cam- 



bii) on his partners abroad for 2500 merks sterling to Commerce 

 the Bishop of Bath and Wells, or his attornies, on the ""■"" '~~~', 

 express condition, that " neither the said gold received ? ' st ," r 7 0I 

 for the bill of exchange, nor any other gold or silver, CO mmerto. 

 either in coin or bullion, be transported beyond sea un- 

 der colour of that licence, uj)on pain of forfeiting all the 

 money so transported." 



Elizabeth fortunately possessed in Cecil a minister 

 capable of giving unwearied attention to political sub- 

 jects, and much more disposed to seek the establishment 

 of public wealth in internal regulation than in schemes 

 of foreign conquest. One of the earliest applications of 

 his talents related to the copartnership of German fac- 

 tors of the Steel-yard, who, by a mistaken policy, en- 

 joyed particular privileges and immunities in exporting 

 our cloths. These factors traded principally to Antwerp 

 and Hamburgh, and found means, partly by superior 

 capital, partly by the enjoyment of preferences from 

 government, to render all competition unavailing. A 

 particular investigation being made by Cecil, it appear- 

 ed that while the whole body of English merchants 

 had exported in the preceding year only eleven hundred 

 cloths, the German merchants of the Steel-yard had ex- 

 ported forty-four thousand. Their immunities were 

 therefore abolished ; and such were the effects of this 

 decisive step, that the very next year the English mer- 

 chants exported forty thousand cloths to Flanders. Of 

 the favourable effects of this and other wise measures of 

 Elizabeth's cabinet, we shall be fully satisfied by advert- 

 ing to the circumstance of the customs having been 

 farmed at the commencement of her reign by Sir Tho- 

 mas Smith, at fourteen thousand pounds a-year, while 

 towards its close, he paid fifty thousand pounds for 

 them. The laws and regulations of this reign infused 

 a spirit of enterprise into the nation, which produced 

 wonderful effects. The passage to Archangel was dis- 

 covered, and a trade opened with Russia, a region till then 

 scarcely known in this kingdom. The Czar, John Ba- 

 zilowitz, granted extraordinary privileges to the Eng- 

 lish throughout his dominions; and an attempt was 

 made to open a trade with India by the rivers Dwina, 

 Wolga, and the Caspian Sea, which, although tedious 

 and expensive, would have had its advantages, had not 

 our navigators preferred following the route of the Por- 

 tuguese round the Cape of Good Hope. 



The rich prizes captured by Sir Walter Raleigh near 

 the Azores in 1593, tended farther to excite the national 

 impatience for a direct trade with India. Accordingly, 

 in the year 1600, a foundation was laid for this cele- 

 brated company, by associating a body of merchants, 

 whose capital, divided into shares of £ 50 each, amount- 

 ed in all to no more than ;€ 72,000. Their shipping 

 likewise formed a curious contrast to its subsequent ex- 

 tent, being confined to five vessels, measuring only 

 1330 tons in all, and valued collectively at jf? 27,000. 



The judicious system pursued by Elizabeth for the 

 advancement of trade, was considerably favoured by 



• From the 11th of Edward III. to the 43d of Elizabeth, the following acts passed for improving and regulating the woollen ma- 

 nufactures of England, admeasurement of cloths, &c. viz. 



11 Edw. 



18 



31 



38 

 SO 



III. 



3 Rich. II 



n 



4 Hen. 



7 



c. 3. 5. 

 c. 3. 

 c. 8. 

 c. 6. 

 c. 7. 

 c. 2. 



— c. 4. 

 IV. c. 6. 24. 



- c. 10. 



13 Hen. IV. c. 4. 



2 Hen. VI. c. 5. 

 8 c. 22 



14 c. 2. 



18 c. U 



3 Edw. IV. c. 1. 



4 c. 1. 



7 c. 3. 



16. 



3 Hen. VII. 



4 



3 Hen. VIII. 

 6 



22 



24 



27 



37 



c 11. 



c. 8. 11. 

 c. 6. 7. 



c. 9. 



c. 1. 



c. 2. 



c 12.13. 



e. 1.5. 



3 and 4 Edw. VI. c. 2. 

 5 and 6 



VOL. VII. PART I. 



