98 D I s c o V E R I E s and Settlements Book I, 
at fo fmall a Charge, and where Work may be done by 
the Labour of Slaves, almoft as cheap as in India, gives 
Ground to hope, that we may manufa£lure Linen here 
cheaper than any Part ot Europe can import them 
U|)on us, and the Colonies be as profitable to us, by 
raifing rough Materials to carry on the Linen Manu- 
fafture, as the Sujfe^ and other Downs are, for fupply- 
ing Wool for that Manufadure, the Profits of which we 
have valued ourfelves fo much upon, that we have fet 
the reft of Europe upon being our Competitors therein. 
Now as theWoollen Manufafiture, efpecially thecoarfe 
Part, has fpread itfelf of late into feveral Parts of the 
Kingdom, which has exceeded the Demsand, and caufed 
great Stocks to remain on Hand, if thofe rough Ma- 
terials of Hemp and Flax were prepared in our Planta- 
tions, the People in North Britain, &c. would foon find 
the Advantage of falling upon that Manuladlure ; the 
Jaborious and coarfe Part being performed abroad, the 
reft would invite not only the Poor and Neceflitous, but 
People of better Circumftances to employ their Time in 
it. If thefe Propofitions are fufficiently confidered, and 
heartily put in Practice,we may hope that by providing the 
aforefaid rough Materials, we fhall have the delightful Pro- 
fpedl of feeingTrade flourifh; for as the Silk and Linen Ma- 
nufadf ures, v/here brought to Perfedtion, are altogether as 
profitable to thofe Nations as the V/ oollen is to us ; and as 
we increafe in our Linen Manufactures, thofe of Mefia 
and all the Hereditary Countries of the Houfe of Aujiria, 
whence we take fuch Qiiantities, muft abate of courfe ; 
their People alfo will refort to us, and help to carry 
them on ; for it has always been obferved, where new 
Manufactures are fet up, theManufadlurers will likewife 
remove. 1 his was the Cafe with the Flemings when 
Queen Elizabeth gave fuch great Encouragement to have 
the Woollen Manufadfure remove hither •, and ours, 
when we had that Inundation of China and India wrought 
Silks, our Weavers went to Holland, Flanders, France, 
&c. fo that feveral Streets in Spittlefields were almoft de- 
folate ; but when thefe Silks were prohibited, the Ma- 
nufacturers returned again. 
It is fuppofed the Ruffians exported to England, and all 
other Parts, in Hemp and Flax, above the Value of a 
Million a Year. If Hemp and Flax be fo valuable a Pro- 
duct for Merchandize with them, there feems to be a much 
greater Profpect of its being fo to our felves, by raifing 
them in our Plantations, becaufe they will not be fub- 
je'dt to any Land-Carriage, but ftiipped immediately froni 
the Place of Growth ; becaufe Land is much cheaper in 
our Plantations than in the South Parts of Rtiffia. The 
Climate, being equal with that in Egypt and Italy, is fup- 
pofed to produce Hemp and Flax preferable to theirs. We 
have before Ihewn, that in the Cafes of Sugar and Tobacco, 
every white Man employs four at home, that is to fay, finds 
them Work to fupply him with Utenfils requifite for his. 
If Sugar and Tobacco employ fuch a Number of Hands, 
at home, certainly every Perfon employed in the Planta- 
tions, in raifing and drefling Hemp and Flax, muft by 
his Labour there, return more than twice the Advantage 
that can be produced by Sugar and Tobacco, for they 
are manufacftured in the Plantations ; The refining the 
Sugar and cutting the Tobacco, with the little Quantity 
that is roiled excepted. Whereas Flax and Heiup are 
Materials for employing all idle Hands ; and of Confe- 
quence the Poors Rate will foon be abated, and theNation 
will find in a little time what they fave yearly thereby, 
will be more than fufficient to encourage the People to 
begin that Employment. And if once we come to be 
employed with Hemp and Flax by the aforefaid Methods, 
every Place will be filled with Flax-dreffers, and the 
Overfeers of the Poor of every Parifti where the Wool- 
fpinning Trade is not carried on, may very eafily come 
at Hemp and Flax, which they will find as profitable to 
them, as the Woollen is to the other and the more 
diftant the Employment is, the better ; for many In- 
conveniences have attended one Manufadure interfering 
with another ; befides, there will be an Intercourfe of 
Trade created, by one Part of the Kingdom fupplying 
the other with their diftindh Manufa£lures. This will 
give full Employment to the whole Kingdom, and an 
iiniverfal Chearfulnefs to every body : For the Poor are 
never happier, nor their Minds eafter, than when they 
have full Employment ; and when they are employed. 
Riches is diffufed throughout the whole Nation, 
It is a common Opinion, that we have above a Million 
of People in the three Nations deftitute of Work •, but if 
thofe rough Materials (fo often mentioned in this Dif- 
courfe) fhould come to be raifed in our Plantations, there 
need not be one idle Perfon : Now, fuppofe one Million 
of People were put upon manufacturing thofe rough 
Materials, and each Perfon earned but one Penny a Day, 
and allowing but three hundred Working-days in the 
Year, it would amount to one Million two hundred and 
fifty thoufand Pounds : A prodigious Advantage to the. 
Nation, which is ftill greatly heightened by confidering 
that thefe People would be then employed, at leaft in 
part, and fo far as they were employed, would be the 
better Subjedls. That all this might be brought about 
with lefs Trouble than has been given the Nation by one 
Baltick ov MediterraneanExp&Eition, and at the tenth 
Part of the Expence of a Campaign in Flanders, is a 
thing will be acknowledged by all who are capable of 
judging of this Subjedt ; and therefore that it ought to 
be done, is a Point that cannot be difputed. I would 
not mifiead my Reader by the Comparifon, into a bad 
Opinion of fuch Expeditions or Campaigns 5 that is not 
my Bufinefs, or my Intention ; the Juftice of my Com- 
parifon turns upon this, that the Motives to fuch Ex-* 
peditions and Campaigns are, comparatively fpeaking, 
near and at hand •, whereas we are lefs acquainted, or 
at leaft lefs affedlcd by the Connedlion between our In- 
terefts and thofe of the Plantations ; though, from what 
has been fai.d, I think it will plainly appear, that they 
concern us as much, and as nearly ; as any Interefts can do 
without the Limits of our own liland. 
1 5. But it is now time to bring this Sedbion to a Clofe, 
and after having given the Reader, from the beft Au- 
thorities I could find, as clear an Account as I was 
capable of giving of thefe noble Settlements, I come 
next to add a few general Remarks, not upon this or 
that Plantation, but upon the whole Body of Qm Ame- 
rican Settlements taken together. We have fhewn how 
the Out-lines were drawn, fo early as in the Reigns of 
King Henry VII. and Henry VIII. We have taken notice 
of the Schemes and Preparations that were made for 
fettling the Countries we had a Title to in the Reign of 
Queen Elizabeth. We have given an Account how far 
thefe were carried into execution in the fucceeding 
Reigns. And in this Sedlion, v/e have plainly exhibited 
the Manner in which this laft Plan was fully accomplifhed. 
By this Means the Reader fees, that the Difeoveries of 
the Cabots, though treated by fome unfldlful Writers as 
trifling Things, and Matters of no great Moment, were 
in Reality the Grounds of our Pretenfions, now con- 
verted into the adtual PofTefiion of that vaft Tradl of 
Country from the Northern Coaft of HudfoAs, Streights, 
down to the Southern Limits of the new Colony of 
Georgia, or of the old Colony of ; for the Limits 
are the fame. As for the Iflands, I take the Settlement 
of them to have been occafioned by the old Rout to 
Florida, which has been fo much ridiculed •, but which, 
notwithftanding, feems to have been the true Source of 
our Acquifitions in the Leeward IJlands. Jamaica is 
ours by Conqueft, and which is another Circumftance 
worth remembring, became fo, in a great meafure, by a 
Force raifed in our Plantations. Whether it be ourinterefl: 
to think of making fuch Expeditions for the future, I 
fliall not determine ; but Care ought furely to be firft 
taken of the Colonies we have ; which it never can be 
till the Importance of our Plantations in general is 
thoroughly underftood, by the.BuIk of this Nation. This 
is the Point I have principally laboured in this Work, 
and I fhall clofe all I have to fay with the Confideration 
of three Points ; which I hope will make the Matter plain 
to every Underftanding. 
The firft of thefe Points is. What the Condition of this 
Country was before we had any Plantations ? In regard to 
this, I think I may fafely affirm that it was very low and 
defpicable. In the vidborious Reign of Edward the Illd. 
there was a Balance of Trade ftruck, and delivered into 
the Exchequer, by which it appeared that the Exports of 
one 
