And in my Lord Treasurer's excellent
letter to the King upon this subject, he tells the King how it
was the spending more than the revenue that did give the first
occasion of his fathers ruine, and did since to the rebels; who,
he says, just like Henry the Eighth, had great and sudden
increase of wealth, but yet by overspending both died poor: and
further tells the King how much of this 1,200,000l. depends upon
the life of the Prince, and so must be renewed by Parliament
again to his successor; which is seldom done without parting with
some of the prerogatives of the Crowne; or if denied and he
persists to take it of the people, it gives occasion to a civill
war, which did in the late business of tonnage and poundage prove
fatal to the Crowne. He showed me how many ways the Lord
Treasurer did take before he moved the King to farme the Customes
in the manner he do, and the reasons that moved him to do it. He
showed me a very excellent argument to prove, that our importing
lesse than we export, do not impoverish the kingdom, according to
the received opinion: which, though it be a paradox, and that I
do not remember the argument, yet methought there was a great
deal in what he said.
Pages:
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611