Record 13 from 1728

This record provides information on the import ban on Indian handkerchiefs from Holland.

To caleb d'anvers esq Sir Batson's Cofee house.The letter you were pleased to oblige the World with last Saturday upon the Navigation Act has given us great satisfaction and if the law be doubtful in that point it is probable that the Legislature will declare and fix the sense of it that an Innocent Honest merchant may not be ruined by frauds imposible to be prevented by him.If prohibited Goods put abroad a Ship without the Owners Knowledge, shall be considered to make a forfeture? of the Ship and if the owner can have no other Remedy but fuing the Person who brought them abroad, what Merchant will ever be concerened in Shipping? WHere then will be your Sailors? And what will become of your Navy, the present terror of the World? If therefore the Lay be doubtful [...] If this Discovery had not been made, the Ship in all probability had been seized and prosecuted for a forfeiture, Tea being prohibited to be imported from Holland. At this rate no merchant, whose Fortune and Estate lies in Shipping can pretend to take in Goods; Frauds cannot be prevented, and for an India Handkerchief, or an Ounce of Tea from Holand, or any part of Europe will make a forfeiture. The merchant upon this account, at the best is liable to be prosecuted and so put in fear and made dependant by which means Trade is fetter'd which ought all possible Methods, to be encouraged.

Source: Country Journal or The Craftsman, 13 April 1728