Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/116

114 reign have come down to us. Licences are recorded to have been granted to the merchants of various foreign countries to bring their goods to England, on due payment of the quinziéme, which would thus appear to have been a customs duty, payable probably both on the import and export of commodities. The Flemings were the chief foreign traders that resorted to the country, and next to them, apparently, the French. In 1213 the duties paid on woad imported from foreign countries amounted to nearly 600l.; of which the ports in Yorkshire paid 98l.; those in Lincoln, 47l.; those in Norfolk and Suffolk, 53l.; those in Essex, 4l.; those in Kent and Sussex (exclusive of Dover), 103l.; Southampton, 72l.; and other places, not named, 214l. The woad, it may be presumed, was almost wholly used in dyeing cloths; but much cloth would also be both exported and worn at home without being dyed.

The freedom of commerce was sought to be secured by one of the clauses of the Great Charter (the forty-first), which declared that all merchants should have safety and security in going out of, and coming into England, and also in staying and travelling in the kingdom, whether by land or by water, without any grievous impositions, and according to the old and upright customs, except in time of war, when, if any merchants belonging to the hostile country should be found in the land, they should, at the commencement of the war, be attached, without injury of their persons or property, until it should be known how the English merchants who happened to be in the hostile country were treated there; if they were uninjured, the foreign merchants should be equally safe in England. This was as reasonable and even liberal a regulation as could have been desired on the subject. By other clauses, it was declared, that the debts of a minor should bear no interest during his minority, even if they should be owing to a Jew; that London and other cities and towns should enjoy their ancient privileges; that no fine should be imposed upon a merchant to the destruction of his merchandize; and that there should be a uniformity of weights and measures throughout the kingdom.