As for the first; the _East-India_ Company takes off little of our Manufactures, nor do I think the Trade will admit it, for I cannot see how that Nation can be supplied with Manufactures hence fit for their Wearing answerable in Price to their own, except they were a Luxurious People who cared not what they gave to please their Fancies, which I do not take them to be, but generally very Provident; for if we consider that when the _East-India_ Company hath brought their Calicoes and Silks hither with great Charges, and sold them at an extraordinary advance, they find vent by their cheapness, how can we believe that any of our Manufactures can afford them a profit in _India_, where they must be sold suitable in price to the others first cost; and therefore 'twould not be amiss if the Government were put on making a narrow Inquiry whither the Company do _boná fide_ export so much of the Product and Manufactures of rhis Kingdom and land them in _India_ as they are obliged to do by their Charter, elfe many ways may be found out to evade it, and the Nation be deprived of the only Advantage expected from that Monopoly. The _Dutch_ and we deal not thither on the same Terms, their Manufactures are small, and so no Matter what they Trade on, besides their Settlements in the _East-Indies_ are so great, that what they bring thence may almost be called their own Product, whereof by monopolizing that Trade they make greater Prices in _Europe_, which being chiefly spent either in Foreign Markets or by Temporary Residents brings them more Profit; They have also great Advantages above us in their _East-India_ Trade, being possest of the whole Traffick to _Japan_, whither they carry _Cloth_, _Lead_, and other Commodities from _Holland_, _Calicoes_, _Spices_, &c. from _India_, which they sell for _Gold_ and _Silver_, increasing thereby their Bullion as we diminish ours; Besides their _East-India_ Company is not settled on such a narrow Foundation as ours, which being limited to one City exclusive of all others sells their Commodities for greater Advance than any other Traders, whither we consider their Risque, or the time they are out of their Money, which should be the standing Rules in Trade; Nor can it be otherwise whilst they remain a Company, the Charges both abroad and at home being much more than when manag'd by private Stocks, besides the affected Grandeur in all which must be paid by the Nation, whereon I take that Monopoly to be a Tax so far as it might be supply'd with them on cheaper Terms if the Trade were laid more open by a Regulation; I know there is much talk'd by the Company about Forts Castles and Soldiers to defend their Interests in _India_, but I cannot see the use of them, for either they are thereby defended against the Natives, or the _Dutch_ their Competitors; the former have no reason to quarrel with them, for bringing them a Trade so highly their Advantage as the purchasing their