第9章

Now if England be 320 Miles long, and 290 Miles wide, it must, supposing its Length and Breadth to be every where alike, contain 92800 square Miles: But as England is not so regular a Figure, I suppose it will be needful to deduct a Third of its Content for its Irregularity, Towns and Rivers; and then there will be about 62000 square Miles contain'd in it.

Now suppose that at present, but about half, that is, 31000square Miles are cultivated, a 360th Part of that, viz. 86 square Miles at least, should every Year be further added, and taken into Cultivation, to hold Proportion to the natural Increase of Mankind: And if a greater Part of England be already improv'd than I have supposed, or if Mankind increase much faster than Sir William Pettis above asserts, then the Addition every Year must be greater too in such Proportion.

But as nothing like this hath hitherto been done, it's evident to Demonstration, That hence all Trades, Occupations, Manufactures and Profession, are overstock'd with Numbers, and embarrassed. and hence Rents have been advanced by the Demand the Increase of People hath occasion'd for Land; and hence Living is become much more chargeable than formerly, and the People less able to support themselves; besides, the inhancing the Price of Necessaries hath either advanced our Commodities, or made them so much worse, that our Neighbour Nations have not taken so many of them as they would otherwise have done, and we probably must have taken more Commodities of them for this Reason. And thus, I doubt not, the Ballance of Trade is against us, that is, the Gold and Silver this Nation have by this Means been really diminished; and the prodigious Exportation of Gold and Silver of late Years is a strong Indication of it, whatever Pretences may be advanced concerning it to the contrary. Beside that the Exchange, especially for Holland, hath of late Years been considerably below the Value of our Coin, as the Exchange with every Nation will always be, whenever they have the Ballance upon us.(3*) And though this may be some small Encouragement to the Exportation of our Commodities, because they come so much cheaper to the Markets abroad,yet if our Trade goes on so, we shall certainly have very little Cash left. But if, to prevent this dreadful Evil, we do as fast as possible put a very great Quantity of Land into Use, more than at present is cultivated, our Poor will be employ'd, the empty Houses soon filled, and our Manufactures become much cheaper and better; and this will both increase our Exportations to the Nations we now trade with, and give Rise to other foreign Markets to vend our Goods at, and prevent the excessive Importation of foreign Goods amongst ourselves; and thus the Ballance of Trade will become in our Favour, and increase the Cash of the Nation, or Money will certainly by this Method become plentiful enough amongst the People in general. But there is no other Way in Nature to compass this End, or recover the Trade of the Nation: For those Nations that can work cheapest, must have the Money, as sure as they always will have the Trade; to which Iadd, that the People will always flow into those Nations that get the Money (i.e. have the Ballance of Trade in their Favour)because Trade, which is the Means of getting the Money, is that which employs and subsists them.

But before I dismiss this Point, I can't help taking Notice of an Article inserted in the Daily Courant of January 3, 1731from Berlin, where, it seems, an exact Register is kept of the Births, Deaths, and Marriages; by which it appears, 3331 Persons were born, and 2691 died; so that the Increase is 641 Persons that Year in that City. Now I have tried the Par of human Life from our Bills of Mortality, which doth not amount to 25 Years, one with another: But, however, multiply the Deaths by 25, the Product will be 67275 Persons in that City, which divided by 641, the Increase gives 104, the Number of Years in which Mankind will double. And if we take this for the Rule, there must be near 300square Miles of land more taken in and cultivated, every Year in England, or the Increase must fall into the several Professions, Trades, and Manufactures, and over-do, and absolutely spoil them all; which is the necessary and unavoidable Consequence of the Increase of Mankind, if Land, in proportion to the Increase be not every Year added and improved, to employ and support them.

Another Thing, which undoubtedly is of the utmost Importance to the Trade of this Kingdom, is the making Timber so plentiful, that we may build our Ships so much cheaper, that no Nation may be able to sail for less Freights than the English. If this be sufficiently done, together with making Labour considerably cheaper, Ships may soon be buildt here than now can be; and this will employ abundance of People of many Trades, besides the still greater Numbers who will be imployed in navigating them. And as the Riches of this Kingdom do undoubtedly very much depend on maritime Affairs, so the Strength of it is chiefly its Navy:

Wherefore if Timber be made very plentiful, and Labour cheaper too, which would make a mighty Difference in the Expence the Government are now at for the Navy, beside that they will be mann'd, and fitted to Sea at so much less Expence likewise. This will infallibly be the Consequence of sufficiently executing this Proposal in all its Parts. Thus will much less Money serve all the Affairs of the Government, and soon make a Surplus arise, to reduce the national Debts, and ease the Taxes, without any Inconvenience to the Government or the Nation.