By The Same Rule, There Must Be 308,720 People In
The Seventeen Parishes Without The Walls; 393,550 In The Twenty-One
Out-Parishes Of Middlesex And Surrey; And 240,805 In The City And
Liberties Of Westminster, All Which Compose The Sum-Total Of
1,045,075 People.
Let me now proceed to inquire into the state of the several great
trading companies in London.
The first, in point of time, I find to
be the Hamburg Company, originally styled "Merchants of the Staple"
(that is, of the staple of wool), and afterwards Merchant
Adventurers. They were first incorporated in the reign of King
Edward I., anno 1296, and obtained leave of John, Duke of Brabant,
to make Antwerp their staple or mart for the Low Countries, where
the woollen manufactures then flourished more than in any country in
Europe. The business of this company at first seems to be chiefly,
if not altogether, the vending of English wool unwrought.
Queen Elizabeth enlarged the trade of the Company of Adventurers,
and empowered them to treat with the princes and states of Germany
for a place which might be the staple or mart for the woollen
manufactures they exported, which was at length fixed at Hamburg,
from whence they obtained the name of the Hamburg Company. They had
another mart or staple also assigned them for the sale of their
woollen cloths in the Low Countries, viz., Dort, in Holland.
This company consists of a governor, deputy-governor, and
fellowship, or court of assistants, elected annually in June, who
have a power of making bye-laws for the regulation of their trade;
but this trade in a manner lies open, every merchant trading thither
on his own bottom, on paying an inconsiderable sum to the company;
so that though the trade to Germany may be of consequence, yet the
Hamburg Company, as a company, have very little advantage by their
being incorporated.
The Hamburg or German Merchants export from England broad-cloth,
druggets, long-ells, serges, and several sorts of stuffs, tobacco,
sugar, ginger, East India goods, tin, lead, and several other
commodities, the consumption of which is in Lower Germany.
England takes from them prodigious quantities of linen, linen-yarn,
kid-skins, tin-plates, and a great many other commodities.
The next company established was that of the Russia Merchants,
incorporated 1st and 2nd of Philip and Mary, who were empowered to
trade to all lands, ports, and places in the dominions of the
Emperor of Russia, and to all other lands not then discovered or
frequented, lying on the north, north-east, or north-west.
The Russia Company, as a company, are not a very considerable body
at present; the trade thither being carried on by private merchants,
who are admitted into this trade on payment of five pounds for that
privilege.
It consists of a governor, four consuls, and twenty-four assistants,
annually chosen on the 1st of March.
The Russia Merchants export from England some coarse cloth, long-
ells, worsted stuffs, tin, lead, tobacco, and a few other
commodities.
England takes from Russia hemp, flax, linen cloth, linen yarn,
Russia leather, tallow, furs, iron, potashes, &c., to an immense
value.
The next company is the Eastland Company, formerly called Merchants
of Elbing, a town in Polish Prussia, to the eastward of Dantzic,
being the port they principally resorted to in the infancy of their
trade. They were incorporated 21 Elizabeth, and empowered to trade
to all countries within the Sound, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Liefland,
Prussia, and Pomerania, from the river Oder eastward, viz., with
Riga, Revel, Konigsberg, Elbing, Dantzic, Copenhagen, Elsinore,
Finland, Gothland, Eastland, and Bornholm (except Narva, which was
then the only Russian port in the Baltic). And by the said patent
the Eastland Company and Hamburg Company were each of them
authorised to trade separately to Mecklenburg, Gothland, Silesia,
Moravia, Lubeck, Wismar, Restock, and the whole river Oder.
This company consists of a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-
four assistants, elected annually in October; but either they have
no power to exclude others from trading within their limits, or the
fine for permission is so inconsiderable, that it can never hinder
any merchants trading thither who is inclined to it; and, in fact,
this trade, like the former, is carried on by private merchants, and
the trade to Norway and Sweden is laid open by Act of Parliament.
To Norway and Denmark merchants send guineas, crown-pieces, bullion,
a little tobacco, and a few coarse woollens.
They import from Norway, &c., vast quantities of deal boards,
timber, spars, and iron.
Sweden takes from England gold and silver, and but a small quantity
of the manufactures and production of England.
England imports from Sweden near two-thirds of the iron wrought up
or consumed in the kingdom, copper, boards, plank, &c.
The Turkey or Levant Company was first incorporated in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, and their privileges were confirmed and enlarged in
the reign of King James I., being empowered to trade to the Levant,
or eastern part of the Mediterranean, particularly to Smyrna,
Aleppo, Constantinople, Cyprus, Grand Cairo, Alexandria, &c. It
consists of a governor, deputy-governor, and eighteen assistants or
directors, chosen annually, &c. This trade is open also to every
merchant paying a small consideration, and carried on accordingly by
private men.
These merchants export to Turkey chiefly broadcloth, long-ells,
tins, lead, and some iron; and the English merchants frequently buy
up French and Lisbon sugars and transport thither, as well as
bullion from Cadiz.
The commodities received from thence are chiefly raw silk, grogram
yarn, dyeing stuffs of sundry kinds, drugs, soap; leather, cotton,
and some fruit, oil, &c.
The East India Company were incorporated about the 42nd of
Elizabeth, anno 1600, and empowered to trade to all countries to the
eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, exclusive of all others.
About the middle of King William's reign it was generally said their
patent was illegal, and that the Crown could not restrain the
English merchants from trading to any country they were disposed to
deal with; and application being made to Parliament for leave to lay
the trade open, the ministry took the hint, and procured an Act of
Parliament (9 and 10 William III., cap.
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