803 
ENGLAND. 
COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, PUBLIC RE- 
VENUE, and PRESENT STATE. 
It was not till the reign of queen Elizabeth, that the 
commerce of England firff began to make a figure in the 
trade of Europe. In the fecund year of her reign, the 
queen can led gunpowder to be made in England, which, 
till this time, had been fupplied by the German Steel¬ 
yard company; (lie alfo can fed brafs and iron ordnance 
to be caft, and built a conliderable number of fhipsof war, 
forming the mofl important fleet that England had ever 
feen; lhjTomuch, that foreigners ftyled her “ the refterer 
of naval glory, and queen of the northern feas.” Her 
wealthieft merchants alfo, after her example, began to 
build (hips with great alacrity ; and,- on any emergency, 
readily joined them with the national fleet, which enabled 
her to fend out twenty thoufand fighting men for fea fer- 
vice. AmidCt this profperity, it was no fmall mortifica¬ 
tion to the queen, that, having no military (lores of her 
own production, (lie was dill neceflitated to obtain them 
of the German Steel.yard merchants, at their own prices, 
there being then but few Englifli merchants dealing in 
that way; and this was one of her greateft inducements 
for encouraging commercial companies amongft her own 
fubjeifis. To (hew that this period was but the dawning 
of the day of Britifli commerce, we may here remark, that 
queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, was pre- 
fented, by her (ilk Woman, Mrs. Montague, with a pair 
of black knit fiik (lockings, the fir(l of the fort known in 
England ; and thenceforth (lie never wore cloth ones any 
more. Dr. Howell, in his Iliflory of the World, relates, 
that Henry VIII. that magnificent and expenfive prince, 
generally wore cloth hofe, except there came front Spain, 
by great chance, a pair of filk ftockings ; for Spain very 
early abounded in filk. His fon, Edward VI. was pre- 
fented with a pair of long Spanifh filk (lockings by fir 
Thomas Grefham ; and the prefent was much taken no¬ 
tice of at court. From henceforward, not only trade and 
commerce, but every fpecies of domefiic convenience and 
national advantage, was wifely and liberally promoted. 
The manufacture of alum was alfo, in 1608, firfl invented, 
and fuccefsfully praCtifed in England, under the pa-tronage 
of James I. by lord Sheffield and fir John Bourchier, who 
opened manufactories of this article in Yorkfltire, and 
warehoufes in London, which were greatly encouraged by 
government. The king alfo, in 1610, built the larged 
and fined (hip of war, that ever England had before feen, 
carrying fixty-four cannon, and of fourteen hundred tons 
burthen. Thus, we may in part fee, by what gradual 
Heps the royal-navy of England arrived at its present,mag¬ 
nitude and grandeur. 
The commerce of the world being in perpetual fluctua¬ 
tion, we can never be too watchful, not only for preferv- 
ing the invaluable portion we are now in polfeffion of, but 
for availing ourfelves of the midakes or negligences of 
other nations, in order to acquire new branches of it. See 
the article Commerce, vol. iv. p. 856. Who could have 
imagined, three hundred years ago, that thofe ports of 
the Levant, from whence, by means of the Venetians, 
England, and almod all-the red of Chridendom, were 
fupplied with the fpices, drugs, &c. of India and China, 
(hould one day come themfelves to be fupplied with thofe 
very articles by the remote countries of England and Hol¬ 
land, at an eafier rate than they were ufed to have them 
direCtly from the ead? or, that Venice (hould afterwards 
Jofe to Lifbon the lucrative trade of fupplying tite red of 
Europe with them? or, ladly, that Lifbon (hould after¬ 
wards lofe the fame to Amderdam: or that Amderdam 
and Haerlem (hould gradually lofe, as in great part they 
have done, their famous fine linen manufactures to Ire¬ 
land and Scotland? At prefent, our w-oollen manufacture 
is the nobled in the univerfe; and fecond to it is our me- ’ 
tallic manufacture of iron, (teel, tin, copper, lead, and 
brafs, which is fuppofed to employ upwards of half a 
million of people. Our unmanufactured wool alone, of 
one year’s produce or growth, has been lately edimated 
to be worth two millions of money llerling ; and, when 
manufactured it is valued at fix millions more, and is 
thought to employ upwards of a million of our people in 
its manufacture ; whereas in former times all our wool 
was exported to foreign countries unmanufactured, and 
our own people remained at home unemployed. 
Our trade to the Ead Indies alone, conditutes one of 
the mod dupendous political, as well as commercial ma r 
chines, that is to be met witli in hidory. The trade it- 
felf is exclufive, and lodged in a company, which has a 
temporary monopoly of it, in confideration of money ad¬ 
vanced to tlie government. See East-India Company, 
vol. iv. p. 875. Without entering into the hidory of the 
trade, and the company’s concerns in that country, it is 
fufficient to fay, that, befides their fettlements- on the 
coad of the peninfula of Alia, which they enjoy under 
certain reft fictions by aft of parliament; they have, through 
the various internal revolutions which have happened in 
Hindoodan, and tiie ambition or avarice of their fervants 
and officers, acquired fuch territorial poireffions, as render 
them the mod formidable commercial republic (for fo 
it may be called in its prefent fituation) that has been 
known in the world fince the demolition of Carthage. For 
tlie Britifh arms have lately been carried by generals Wel- 
lelley and Lake, further than ever Alexander the Great 
penetrated in India. Thefe happy fuccedes were follow¬ 
ed by a peace figned between the Ead India company 
and the rajah of Berar, on the 17th of December, 1803 ; 
and with the chief of the Mahrattas on the 30th of the 
fame month. 
The manufactures and commerce of England at the 
prefent day, form fo extenfive an income to the nation at 
large, and produce fuch a condderable revenue by the 
cudoms and excife, that the unparalleled profperity of the 
government feems to have arifen in great meafure from 
this unbounded'fource of wealth. Whenever money is 
wanted by the minider, the commercial men are applied 
to ; and thefe monied men, as they are called, have it always 
ready to advance ; be the millions what they may, of 
which 'the loan confids ; an evident proof of the riches 
dill acquired by individuals from trade and commerce, in 
fpite of the heavy duties and taxes with which they are 
burthened. -To trace the origin of our commerce, we 
mud obferve, that the earlied daple commodity of Eng¬ 
land was tin, a metal rarely found in other countries! 
The Phoenicians at a very remote era fil'd introduced it 
into commerce, and their extenfive trade foon ditfufed it 
among the Oriental nations. Tlie Romans, upon their 
conqued of thefe regions, did not neglect this fource of 
wealth; but as Cornwall was not conquered by the 
Anglo-Saxons till the reign of Atheldan, we know not 
whether the Cornifh Brifons carried on any condderable 
traffic in this commodity, though it is probable that it 
was at lead exchanged for the wines of France. The fin- 
gularity and importance of this fird national daple, has not 
been diffidently noticed by the Englifli hidorians. Wool 
had been regarded -as the grand daple of England, as 
early as tlie twelfth century, but was chiefly exported in 
a crude date, till Edward 111 . encouraged fettlements of 
Flemiffi manufacturers. Wool then became the dandard 
of private property, and the prime article of commerce. 
Taxes and foreign fubfidies were edimated by lacks of 
this commodity. Great quantities of raw wool continued 
to be exported to the Netherlands and Hanfe Towns ; but 
queen Elizabeth caufed it to be chiefly manufactured at 
home, and the exportation of woollen cloths was then 
valued at a million and a half annually. 
I11 recent times, tlie manufactures of iron and copper, 
as native minerals, have become great fources of national 
wealth ; nor fhculd the new and extenfive exportation of 
elegant porcelain be forgotten. The cotton manufacture 
is ditfufed far and wide, forming a grand fource of national 
induftry and profperity. That of linen is not lo much 
cultivated in England as in Ireland and Scotland ; though 
nature would rather demand that flax fliould be more 
cultivated in this fertile country, while (heep and wool 
were reftriCted to the alpine pafturesof Scotland. 'Die 
* 2 manufactures 
