A. D. 1624 As the freedom of commerce depends fo greatly on the preferving, as much as poffible, a juft equilibrium between or amongst the potentates of Europe, it was impolitic in King James the First to affift in aggrandizing France, more especially by lending his fhips to the French King in this fame year, 1624, for enabling him to reduce the Proteftant city of Rochelle.The Dutch too were equally to blame in this refpe&t. Mr. De Witt, in his Interest of Holland, directly accufes the States, or rather Prince Maurice, of lending fhips for reducing their Proteftant brethren befieged in Rochelle. It would furely have been better policy to have affifted thofe oppreffed people, even though there had been no ties of religion in the cafe; in order to put fome reftraint on the growing greatnefs of the French monarchy. It is true, that, with refpect to England, the court party in the Houfe of Commons, on the Duke of Buckingham's impeachment, in the next reign, alleged, and perhaps truly, that it was ftipulated by King James, that his fhips fhould not be employed either against the inhabitants of Rochelle, or any others of the Proteftant religion in France: yet, in fact, they were fo employed. De Witt alfo, a mortal foe to the house of Orange, in another part of that work, "accufes Prince "Maurice and his cabinet-council, of breaking the balance of power between France and Spain, to the prejudice of all Europe, by making the former crown preponderate over the "latter." It must be admitted, nevertheless, that there were plaufible pretexts both for England and Holland's taking such steps, at this time. 66 With respect to England, in particular, the breaking off the Spanish match, the taking of the Palatinate from King James's fon-in-law, by the house of Auftria, then closely united with Spain, and the newly contracted fatal match with a daughter of France, were the inducements. With respect to Holland, the old prepoffeffions against the exorbitant power of Spain, had no small influence on their fears and jealoufies, left that crown fhould ftill entertain hopes of being able to recover their seven provinces. Cardinal Richlieu entered this year upon his miniftry in France, and fucceeded but too well in his great projects of depreffing the grandees and the Proteftants at home; of reducing the fuperiority of the two branches of the house of Austria; and of advancing the commerce, manufactures, and maritime ftrength of France; whilft he lulled afleep the only two potentates of Europe who had it in their power to have put a check to fuch towering and dangerous schemes. It was in this year that the Hollanders first invaded Brafil, of which we fhall fee they held a confiderable part for thirty years after. By an act of Parliament of this fame twenty-first year of King James I. cap. 28. it was enacted, "That when wheat is not above one pound twelve fhillings per quarter; rye, twenty fhillings; peas, beans, barley, and malt, fixteen fhillings, at the port whither they are "brought to be exported, they may then be exported." And we find the like licence and rates by an act of the third of King Charles I. cap. 4. in the year 1627. The English East India Company having laded four ships and two pinnaces for India, the Duke of Buckingham, King James's favourite, knowing that they muft lofe their voyage unlefs they failed by a certain time, extorted from that company ten thousand pounds, for liberty to fail for India, he being then Lord High Admiral of England. This was one of the articles of his impeachment, in the year 1626. The Duke, in his defence, alleged, that, as the company had taken many rich prizes from the Portuguese in India, and particularly at Ormus, a large part thereof was legally due to the King, and also to himself, as Lord Admiral; and that the said ten thousand pounds was the company's compofition and agreement, inftead of fifteen Qq2 thousand A. D. 1624 thousand pounds, which the law would have compelled them to give: and that, moreover, all the faid ten thousand pounds, excepting only two hundred pounds, was applied by the King for the fervice of the navy. It was in the reign of King James I. of England, that the Hollanders firft entered upon the manufacture of fine woollen cloths; and, of course, began to interfere with the English cloth trade in the Netherlands, and elfewhere: fo that, in the twenty-fecond and last year of this King's reign, a certificate was given into the Parliament of twenty-five thousand cloths having, in that year, been manufactured in Holland. Whereupon the House of Commons. refolved, Firft, "That the Merchant-adventurers Company fetting impofts upon our cloths is a grievance, and ought not to be continued: and, that all other merchants, promifcuoufly, "as well as that company, may tranfport every where northern and western dozens, kerfics, "and new draperies." Secondly, "That other merchants, befide the Merchant-adventurers Company, may freely "trade with dyed and dreffed cloths, and all forts of coloured cloths, into Germany and the "Low Countries." 66 66 In the feventeenth volume, p. 605, of the Fœdera, King James iffued a proclamation, "for abfolutely prohibiting the manufacture of gold and filver thread, gold and filver foliate, (i. e. leaf) purles, oes, fpangles, &c. as tending to the confumption of the coin and bullion "of this kingdom. And he having granted a charter of incorporation to the Governors, "Affiftants, and Commonalty of Gold-wire Drawers of London, he had hoped, by reducing "thofe trades under order and government, to avoid the unneceffary wafte of coin and bul"lion. But having now fully understood, as well by the complaints of his Commons, in "the late feffion of Parliament, as upon examination by the Lords of the Council, that not "only the faid corporation, (which was thereupon revoked, and declared to be void) but alfo "the faid manufactures are unfit to be continued, &c." In the fame volume, p. 608, King James, by proclamation, once more confirms all his former injunctions against the erecting of buildings on new foundations in London and its fuburbs. 66 In the fame volume, p. 609, we have a more diftinct view of the colony of Virginia, in a commiffion from King James to many lords and gentlemen, as follows, viz. "We having, by letters-patent, of the fourth year of our reign, granted power to divers knights, gentle"men, and others, for the more fpeedy accomplishment of the plantation of Virginia, that "they should divide themfelves into two colonies: the one to confift of Londoners, called "the First Colony, and the other of those of Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, called the Se"cond Colony. And we did, by feveral letters under our privy feal, prefcribe orders and "conftitutions for directing the affairs of our faid colony. "And whereas, afterward, upon the petition of divers adventurers and planters of the faid "first (or London) colony, we, by letters-patent, in the seventh year of our reign, and in "the year of our Lord 1610, incorporated divers noblemen, knights, &c. by the name of the "Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London, for the first Colony in Virginia; granting them divers lands, territories, &c. to be conveyed by them "to the adventurers and planters; with power to have a council there refident, for the affairs "of the colony; and alfo to place and difplace officers. “ And, 66 A. D. 1624 "And, afterwards, in the tenth year of our reign, being the year of our Lord 1613, we, "by letters-patent, did further mention to give that company divers ifles on that coaft. 66 "And whereas, we, finding the courfes taken for the fettling the faid colony have not "taken the good effect we intended, did, by a late commiffion to fundry perfons of quality “and trust, cause the state of the said colony to be examined into; who, after much pains "taken, reported, that most of our people fent thither had died, by fickness and famine, and by maffacres by the natives; and that fuch as are ftill living, were in lamentable neceffity "and want; though they (the commiffioners) conceived the country to be both fruitful and "healthful; and that, if induftry were ufed, it would produce many good ftaple commodities. "But, by neglect of the governors and managers here, it had as yet produced few or none."That the faid plantations are of great importance; and would, as they hoped, remain a lasting monument of our moft gracious and happy government to all pofterity, if the fame "were profecuted to thofe ends for which they were firft undertaken. Whereupon we, en"tering into mature confideration of the premifes, did, by advice of our privy council, re"folve to alter the charters of the faid company as to points of government: but the faid "treasurer and company not fubmitting thereto, the faid charters are now avoided by a quo "warranto. Wherefore, we direct you to confider the state of the faid colony, and what "points are fitting to be inferted in the intended new charter, and to report to us. And, in "the mean time, to take care to fupply the planters there with neceffaries, and to do all other "acts needful for maintaining the colony. Moreover, the King (ibid. p. 618) appoints "Sir Francis Wyatt governor of the colony, with eleven counsellors, refiding in the colony." In this fame feventeenth volume, p. 618, of the Foedera, King James fettles a penfion of two thousand pounds per annum, for life, on his grandfon, Prince Charles, fecond fon of the Ele&or Palatine: and, in the preceding year, the Duke of Buckingham, befides all his great employments, had a penfion of one thousand pounds fettled on him. In this year alfo, and in the fame volume, p. 621, King James once more difplays his talents and prejudices against tobacco, by the following proclamation, viz. 66 "Whereas our Commons, in their last feffion of Parliament, became humble petitioners "to us, that, for many weighty reafons, much concerning the intereft of our kingdom, and "the trade thereof, we would by our royal power utterly prohibit the use of all foreign to"bacco, which is not of the growth of our own dominions:-And whereas we have, upon "all occafions, made known our diflike we have ever had of the ufe of tobacco in general, as "tending to the corruption both of the health and manners of our people.-Nevertheless, be"caufe we have been often and earnestly importuned by many of our loving fubjects, planters "and adventurers in Virginia and the Somer Ifles, that, as thofe colonies are yet but in their infancy, and cannot be brought to maturity, unless we will be pleased, for a time, to tolerate unto them the planting and vending the tobacco of their own growth; we have con"defcended to their defires and do therefore hereby strictly prohibit the importation of any "tobacco from beyond-fea, or from Scotland, into England or Ireland, other than from our "colonies before-named: moreover, we ftrictly prohibit the planting of any tobacco cither. "in England or Ireland." The reft of this proclamation relates to fearching for and burning of foreign tobacco, and the marking and fealing the legal tobacco of our colonies. On the fecond of March, 1624-5, he issued another proclamation to the fame effect. In February, 1624-5, King James, from Newmarket, iffues a fresh proclamation against eating flesh in Lent, &c. A. D. 1625 In that fame month he iffues his warrant to the Duke of Buckingham, as Lord Admiral; "That whereas many of his fubjects had suffered great wrongs and damages, as well at fea as "otherwife-not only by the fubjects of our brother the King of Spain, and of the Low "Countries, but alfo by thofe under the States of the United Netherlands-and all fair courses "and due proceedings having been in vain ufed, in demanding reftitution or reparation thereof, and that thereupon our faid fubjects have made humble fuit unto us for Letters of "Reprifal :-we therefore will, require, and authorize you to grant your commiffion for the apprehending and taking the goods, fhips, aud merchandize of the King of Spain's fub"jects of the Low Countries, as alfo thofe of the subjects of the United Netherlands, refpec"tively, for the fatisfaction of our loving fubjects fo damnified; and in fuch manner and "form as fhall be agreed on by our privy council, or any fix of them, in writing under their "hands." In volume eighteen, p. 12, of the Fœdera, we see a similar warrant for reprisals, a few months after, by his fon King Charles I. against both the faid nations, exactly in the ftile and form hereof; and again the fame year, ibid. p. 188. Yet, in neither of those warrants are the pareticular damages complained of at all specified. King James died on the 27th of March, 1625. This monarch's wild notions of the extent of his prerogative have been seen in his numerous proclamations and injunctions for his fubjects doing or forbearing of things, which a free people could not eafily ftomach; and which could not in our days be done but by acts of Parliament. His getting his Attorney-general, Sir John Davis, to write and dedicate to him a treatise in favour of his prerogative of levying the tonnage and poundage duty by his fole authority, encouraged his fon and fucceffor to levy fhip-money in the fame manner; which proved his ruin in the end.-Such doctrines, which Davis endeavoured to fupport by precedents quoted by him, virtually destroyed all the effential rights of Parliament, and particularly that of giving money for the public fervice. Davis's book (the title whereof was, The Queftion concerning Impofitions, Tonnage, Poundage, Prizage, Customs, &c. fully stated and argued from Reason, Law, and Policy) was reprinted in the year 1656, probably by connivance of the government at that time, for expofing the arbitrary tempers of both father and fon. Its conclufion runs thus :-" That, by virtue of an ancient prerogative inherent to his crown, "the King of England may justly and lawfully fet impofitions upon merchandize, and may "limit and rate the quantity and proportion thereof, by his own wifdom and difcretion, without an act of Parliament." 66 On the 30th of March, 1625, King Charles I. of England, as per vol. xvii. p. 673, of the Foedera, ratified the contract which his father King James had made juft before his death, for his marrying the Princess Henrietta Maria, fifter of King Louis XIII. of France. Her portion was eight hundred thousand crowns of three one-third livres each, or two hundred and forty thousand pounds fterling. Half to be paid down; and the other half in one year after. She was to have eighteen thousand pounds fterling, or fixty thousand French crowns, yearly, for her separate ufe. So that three one-third French crowns, or ten livres, were then equal to one pound sterling. She was alfo, fays the printed Collection of Treatifes, article xx. to have the value of fifty thoufand crowns in rings. The authory of an Hiftory of the Caribbee Isles, published at Paris in the year 1658, and at London (in English) in the year 1666, relates, that the English and French colonies in those ifles had their beginning in the fame year, viz. in the year 1625: that Monf. Defnam buc, A. D. 1625 buc, a fea captain, in the fervice of France, and Sir Thomas Warner, an English gentleman, jointly took poffeffion of the Ifle of St. Chriftophers on the very fame day, with about three hundred perfons of cach nation, in behalf of their respective kings; in order that they might have a place of fafe retreat for the reception of the fhips of both nations at any time bound for America. In those times, the English, it feems, were wifer than the French, in building good houses here, and having wives and children; whereas the French contented themfelves with fuch huts as the Caribbean natives had, few of them being married. The first English planters employed themselves in raifing tobacco; but afterwards, in imitation of Barbadoes, they entered upon the cultivation of fugar, indigo, cotton, and ginger, by which means they foon became rich. That ifle had been difcovered long before by Columbus, though never planted till this year by any nation. It was, however, found to be furnished with various natural advantages, which occafioned the Spaniards to ftop frequently at it in their American voyages. But this French author frankly owns, that, for preventing any fecret intelligence between the native Caribbeans of that island and the Spaniards, who were at this time the common enemy of both nations in America, the English and French, in one night, difpatched all the most factious of those Caribbeans; and, not long after, forced all the reft to quit that island. In the following year the French King incorporated a number of gentlemen for planting of this and other American ifles. According to this author, the island of St. Chriftophers was the first of all the Weft India iflands planted by either England or France. (Here, however, he feems to be mistaken-fee the year 1614.) The bold claims of Spain to the fole propriety of all thofe iflands having deterred other nations, till now, from fettling thercon: but as the power of Spain at this time, was on a visible decline, the nations already mentioned justly thought they had a good right to poffefs themfelves of fuch ifles as Spain had never yet fettled; as we fhall fee they gradually did on others of thefe iflands. Our hiftoriographers of the city of London relate, that it was in this fame year 1625 that any hackney coaches first begun to ply in London streets, or rather at first stood ready at the inns, to be called for as they were wanted: and they were at this time only twenty in number. They, however, in ten years time were encreased fo much in number that King Charles, in the year 1635, thought it worth his while to iffue an order of council for restraining their increase. King Charles I. as appears in vol. xviii. p. 13, &c. of the Fœdera, now renewed his late father's commiffion to twelve Commiffioners of the Navy. These seem to have been mostly stationed, as at prefent, into diftin&t branches; fuch as a Comptroller, a Surveyor, a Clerk of the Navy, &c. one, and the firft named of that number, was Sir Richard Wefton, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and another of them was Sir William Ruffell, who was alfo Treafurer of the Navy. This board also, as at prefent, was to be subordinate to the Lord High Admiral, or the Admiralty Board, from whom the faid commiflioners were to receive directions and orders in maritime affairs. The Protestant Boors of Auftria now took up arms, for the recovery of the free exercise of their religion, taken from them; and they became mafters of fome places: but not being fupported by any foreign potentate, they were reduced to fubjection in the following year, and feverely punished. Whereupon the Emperor, Ferdinand II. compelled all the Proteftant gentry, clergy, and school-mafters, to leave Auftria; many of whom were kindly and |