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thus vouchsafe to extend to such strangers, who have settled themselves and their families in this our realm already, or to such who by their service, according to our laws, shall hereafter deserve the like favour, shall not draw hither or continue here any increasing number of masterless men of handicraft trades, to the extreme hurt both of the English and strangers; but that such either speedily return into their own countries, or put themselves to work as hired servants, according to the true meaning of our laws, or else shall undergo the severity of our laws provided and in force against them." Then comes a third, in relation to the persecuted French protestants, which is too curious to be omitted; and the reader will not pass it over without making his own remarks upon it., " Notwithstanding, our will and pleasure is, that unto such of the French nation who by reason of the late troubles in that kingdom (when there was a league on foot to extirpate all the protestants) have had their refuge hither, there shall be showed such favour beyond the proportion of other strangers, as our commissioners shall think fit, if, within a convenient time, after these troubles shall be overblown, they shall return into their own country again." Thus stood the matter in the reign of king James I. The deeprooted national prejudice, joined to a grasping desire of monopoly, spurred on the English, especially the citizens of London, to seek the expulsion of all foreigners concerned in commerce; and to bar up the way against their entering in for the future. The power likewise of granting monopolies, as well as the payments made for such exclusive privileges, suited the taste and the circumstances of that court, fond of the prerogative, and in want of money.

After the Revolution, the principles of commerce and government were better understood than in former times; the writings of Sir Francis Bacon, Sir William Petty, Sir William Temple, Sir Josiah Child, Algernon Sidney, and Dean Tucker, and other great men, contributed much to cure the nation of their old aversion to foreigners, especially the most useful part of them, merchants and mechanics (1). By modern statutes, therefore, many of the old regulations are modified, and many others are not acted upon, and the modern treaties generally regulate the intercourse of foreigners (2); but, as observed by one of those able writers, even in modern times, and in the senate

house, a person was found who had the decency to propose to kick all the foreigners out of the nation; upon which it has been observed, that this polite expression had of late been quoted with such applause by persons of the same stamp, and echoed through the kingdom in such a manner, as if he deserved to have a statue erected to his memory, for the service he had done his country. (1)

1. Regulations affecting first establishment of an alien in this

country; and,

1st, as affects themselves.

WE will now concisely consider, in a due and practical order, the different legislative restraints which affect the freedom of trade of the subjects of a foreign state in this country, and the constructions upon them. These exceptions or limitations are of two descriptions; comprising, first, the regulations with respect to residence, liability to search, &c. which attach upon an alien merchant or artificer on his very establishment in the country, and independently of any actual exercise of his occupation; and, secondly, the regulations under which an alien merchant or artificer is placed in his actual traffic with his customers. We will begin by considering the first class of regulations, under which an alien merchant or artificer is placed on his very establishment in this country, and independently of any actual exercise of his occupation: and the clearest way of viewing these regulations will be to examine them, first, with rela tion to the alien traders themselves; and, secondly, with relation to the alien apprentices, journeymen, and servants, who may or may not be retained in the service of alien traders, or of the king's own subjects.

First, then, as to the alien traders themselves: The act of 27 Edw. 3. stat. 2. called the Statute of the Staple, has several provisions relating to alien merchants. In the 2d chapter, it adopts them into the king's especial protection; and, in the 17th, it exempts their goods from being seized for debts of one another, where they are not sureties, saving the law of marque and reprisals. The same spirit of liberality is shown to merchant strangers by the stat. 14 Ric. 2. c. 9., which provides, "that merchant strangers, repairing into the realm of England, shall be well and courteously and rightfully used and governed in the said realm, to the intent that they shall have the greater courage to repair into the same." Then comes the

(1) Tucker, 49, 50.

(2) 27 Edw. 3. st. 2. c. 17.

stat. 5 Hen. 4. c. 7., by which it is enacted, "that all merchant strangers, of what estate or condition that they be, coming, dwelling, or repairing within the realm of England, shall be entreated or demeaned within the same realm in the manner, form and condition as the merchants denizens be, or shall be entreated or demeaned in the parts beyond the sea." The stat. 5 Hen. 4. c. 9. among other things enacts, "that in every city, town, and port of the sea in England, the customers and comptrollers of our lord the king in all the ports of England, shall take sufficient sureties for all manner of merchandizes brought by the merchants aliens and strangers coming and repairing to the said ports, to the intent that the money taken for the said merchandize shall be employed upon the commodities of the realm, saving their reasonable costs, as in the same statutes more fully is contained. And, moreover,

it is ordained and established, that the said merchants aliens and strangers shall sell their said merchandizes so brought within the said realm within a quarter of a year next after their coming into the same; and also that the money which shall be delivered by exchange in England, be employed upon the commodities of the realm, within the said realm, upon pain of forfeiture of the same money; and that no merchant alien nor stranger shall sell any manner of merchandize to any other merchant alien or stranger, upon pain of forfeiture of the same merchandize: and also, it is ordained and established, that in every city, town, and port of the sea in England, where the said merchants aliens or strangers be, or shall be repairing, sufficient hosts shall be assigned to the same merchants, by the mayor, sheriffs, or bailiffs of the said cities, towns, or ports of the sea; and that the said merchants aliens and strangers shall dwell in no other place, but with their said hosts so to be assigned; and that the same hosts so to be assigned shall take for their travel in the manner as was accustomed in old time." The two last-mentioned acts are confirmed by that of 4 Hen. 5. c. 5.

The 17 Edw. 4. c. 1. provides, that aliens and strangers, workers in gold and silver, inhabiting in the city of London, shall inhabit in the open streets of the same city, where there is the best and most open publicity of their art. The 14 & 15 Hen. 8. c. 2. contains several regulations as to aliens; enacting, among other things," that all aliens born, whether denizens or not, who inhabit in London, Westminster,

formation of the wardens and fellowships of handicrafts within the city of London, with one substantial stranger; that the wardens, with such stranger as aforesaid, shall appoint a proper mark, by which the aliens' merchandizes may be known; and have full power to search and reform all manner of wares of workmanships made by such alien handicraftsmen; and that no alien using the occupation of smith, joiner, or cooper, shall make any wares without putting such mark to them before they are sold or used." A similar power of search and reformation is given to other officers in other towns; but the act does not extend to aliens dwelling in the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or within the sanctuary of St. Martin's le Grand in London. If the officers in London or elsewhere refuse to mark the wares, the alien may sell them without mark; and as to the marking, it is declared that the act extends only to the trades of joiners, pouchmakers, coopers, and blacksmiths. By 21 Hen. 8. c. 16. the last-mentioned regulation was confirmed; and it was further provided, that alien artificers and others, being housekeepers, should pay the same charges as the king's subjects of the same trade, or on refusal, should no longer occupy any handicraft; that they should take certain oaths; that no stranger artificers or handicraftsmen, who were not householders at a time therein mentioned, should set up or keep any house, shop, or chamber, wherein they should exercise any handicraft or mystery; and that they should not assemble but in the common hall of their crafts; and that foreign artificers, being denizens and householders, and inhabiting and occupying any craft in or within two miles of London, should go with the wardens to make search, according to the last-mentioned statute of 14 & 15 Hen. 8. c. 2. The act confirms the exemptions enjoyed by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, providing commission of certain persons to make search and view for particular purposes in St. Martin's le Grand.

The 13 & 14 Charles 2. c. 11. § 10. enacts," that for preventing of frauds in colouring of strangers goods, and otherwise, every merchant or other passing any goods, wares, or merchandizes inwards or outwards, shall by himself or his known servant, factor, or agent, subscribe one of his bills of every entry with the mark, number, and contents of every parcel of such goods as are rated to pay by the piece or measure, and weight of the whole parcel of such goods as are rated to pay by the weight; without which the officers of the customs shall not

suffer any entry to pass; and that no children of aliens under the age of twenty-one years be permitted to be traders, or any goods or merchandizes to be entered in their names. (1)

The acts of the 33 Geo. 3. c. 4. contained some exceptions in favor of alien merchants, which however were repealed by the 38 Geo. 3. c. 50. The object of both these acts, as well as of some other modern statutes, was to impose regulations of police upon aliens. The last of these was the statute 56 Geo. 3. c. 86. § 1. (2) which enables his Majesty, by proclamation or order