_Saylors_ they have brought home, for whose appearance their Wages should be Bail, and then those whose turn it is to serve in the Fleet should after due time allowed for finishing their Voyages be sent thither, and a penalty on every Master of a Ship who carry'd a Saylor to Sea after his three Years Prodict was expired; such Laws and Time would bring things into regular Methods. [Sidenote: Inconvenience of pressing Saylors from Ships on their Voyages.] This would also prevent great Mischiefs and Inconveniencies which arise from pressing Saylors our of Merchants Ships whilst on their Voyages, many of them being thereby lost at Sea, and others detained in the _West-Indies_, to the great Discouragement of Trade; whereas better ways might be found out of supply the Men of War abroad, all Merchants Ships bound to the places where they are might have a proportionable Number of Sailors deliver'd them by the Admiralty to be carried out _Gratis_ for their Use and Service; and this would prevent another Mischief too often practised abroad, where Captains of Men of War press Saylors from one Merchants Ship only that they may make profit by selling them to another. [Sidenote: Short Voyages breed Saylors.] It's supposed that no Trade raises more Seamen than that of Coals from _Newcastle_, which imploys many Hundreds of Ships to supply the City of _London_ and other Ports of _England_, and being a home Trade doth thereby breed and encourage Saylors more than long Voyages would do. [Sidenote: Oytland Trade.] To come now to the Trade which _England_ drives with Foreign Countrys; here 'tis necessary to enquire how each doth encourage our Product and Manufactures, how our Navigation, what Commodities we receive in Returns, and how the Ballance of Trade stands in either; among which I esteem none to be so profitable to to us as that we manage to _Africa_ and our own Plantations in _America_, and none so detrimental as that to the _East-Indies_. [Sidenote: East-Indies.] To begin therefore with the _East-India_ Trade, which for many Reasons I take to be mischievous to the Kingdom. To clear this we are to consider how a Trade may be advantageous or detrimental to a Nation, and then to draw Inferences thence applicable to the above Proposition; I shall therefore lay down such general Notions as may without dispute be allowed by all unbyassed Persons, which are these: 1. That that Trade is advantageous to the Kingdom of _England_ which Exports our Product and Manufactures. 2. Which Imports to us such Commodities as may be manufactured here, or be used in making our Manufactures. 3. Which supplies us with such things, without which we cannot carry on our Foreign Trade. 4. Which encourages our Navigation, and increases our Seamen.