Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1165 A Quiet Change ([-])

On June 1658, 6, John Hill took a ship and sailed into the increasingly busy Thames River.

When entering the port, he paid a lot of customs duties, which made Hill extremely critical: the current "Navigation Regulations" are really too strict!His ship was loaded with tobacco, sugar, and woad from St. Christopher's Island for sale in Lisbon, Portugal, and it was inconvenient to have to go to London to pay customs first--think The policy of the people on the east coast is better. I heard that their overseas colony, Xinhua Island, often trades with countries around the Indian Ocean, but these merchant ships only need to pay export duties locally, because the relationship between their homeland and the colonies has been abolished. It is really enviable that the import and export duties of a large part of goods are covered, and the number of goods on this duty-free list is still increasing year by year.

On the other hand, the trade between England and its overseas colonies is almost like that between countries. When the goods of the American colonies enter London, they need to pay import duties, and when they are exported to foreign markets, they need to pay export duties. This makes many small and medium-sized businessmen traveling overseas Miserable.It's just that, with the increasing authority of the maritime court, the lawless businessmen have become more honest. Although there are many businessmen who evade taxes, the number of people who pay taxes according to regulations is also increasing day by day.After all, these tariff revenues are one of the real core revenues of the government. Today, when the military budget has been severely cut, the navy counts a lot on it. As an ocean-going businessman, do you dare to offend the navy?

Of course, although the "Navigation Regulations" have many disadvantages, as the de facto beneficiary of this bill, John Hill still hopes that this law will continue to be implemented.Commodities such as tobacco in Virginia, sugar in Barbados, and dyes in St. Christopher were all monopolized by the Dutch (mostly from the West India Company) before, and they earned most of the money. Planters are also more willing to sell their output to the Dutch, because their prices are reasonable, and they can always bring them cheap old continental industrial products and even women!But today, when the "Navigation Regulations" have been repeatedly reiterated and strictly enforced, these Dutch merchants have been driven away, because according to the law, the goods of the British overseas colonies can only be transported by British merchant ships, which makes George Hill's plantation The merchants who owned the fleet at the same time were very happy. They monopolized the local commodity trade (the price was often lower than that of the Dutch, which caused dissatisfaction among many plantation owners), and then happily shipped them to the Old Continent. Sell ​​for huge profits.Among them, the only ones who have suffered losses are probably the plantation owners in the New World, but they have no advocates in the London Parliament to fight for their rights, so who cares about their ideas?

So, we now know that John Hill's complaints are nothing more than complaints, and it is the nature of businessmen. If anyone wants to cancel the "Navigation Regulations", Mr. Hill will probably be the first to jump out to oppose it!

It was George Hampton's son Michelle who came to meet him at the pier.Michelle is in her early 30s, and was sent by George to a friend in London to study business at the age of eight—this is a tradition in England, and members of the trade guild often send their sons to relatives, friends or business partners as Apprenticeships, a process that can take up to 12 years, are seen as a great way for business families to cement their relationships with each other.When the apprentices finish their studies and can start their own businesses (meaning they have obtained the recognition of the trade association), they often become partners of their masters; Or directly inherit the master's business, which is not uncommon. Don't you see that Edward Osborne, the founder of Eastland Company and the director of Levant Company, once served as an apprentice to William Hewitt, a woolen wholesaler, and later married His daughter eventually reached the pinnacle of her career.

The experience of Michel standing in front of Hill at this time is somewhat similar. This charming man married the widow of his master, former member of the House of Commons James Campbell (died in 1642) more than ten years ago—— An old woman who inherited a whopping £4.9 fortune - and got rich fast.Now he has entered the circle of big businessmen in London, and after the death of his first wife, he married a down-and-out former countess as his wife, and his social status has also been greatly improved. North American businessmen - far behind, have to sigh the magic of good fortune.

"The health of the dictator Cromwell has been getting worse and worse recently. Mr. Spencer even thinks that it will be difficult for him to survive this year. The gentlemen in London (referring to big businessmen) are very worried about the future of the country. They are worried about the future of the country. It will fall into long-term chaos, because after the death of the Lord Protector, it is obvious that there is a lack of a prestigious person to integrate the forces of all parties and lead England to move forward." After sitting in a luxurious and comfortable east coast carriage, Michelle He lowered his voice and said to Hill: "Cromwell's status in England is only under God. Once he dies, there may be chaos in the country."

Hill heard the words and nodded.To be honest, as a middle-level businessman, he has a good impression of Cromwell, far from the deep hatred of a big businessman like Michelle.After all, Cromwell is strict with himself, and he never pays attention to extravagance and ostentation that the common people don't like. In this point alone, he is much better than the extravagant and expensive English royal family; He likes to accumulate wealth, and only raises money from the whole country when his beloved army has insufficient military expenditures. He also takes more money from rich businessmen, and the burden on civilians is not heavy; Treating civilians equally - this is especially unbearable for the gentlemen of the Parliament; of course, the most important thing is that he strongly promoted the "Navigation Act", which brought a lasting impetus to the British economy. This is what Mr. Hill believes in. The most fundamental factor of his favorability is that he is a man who has truly brought the "national fortune" to England, not the waste-like nobles and kings of the past.

"Once Cromwell dies, the country's policy towards Spain may change." Michelle continued to talk about important information for colonial businessmen like Hill: "We have now acquired the island of Jamaica, The French immigrants on Barbados and Saint Christopher Island are almost squeezed out by us. These rich islands produce huge amounts of tobacco and sugar every year. This is a huge business, but if they are to be developed properly, they need a safe Therefore, it is imminent to ease relations with the West. But before Cromwell’s death, there seems to be no possibility of any change in this policy. We can only continue to endure endless harassment and attacks from the Spaniards. Of course, now With the addition of the East Coaster fleet, our merchant ships are becoming less and less safe in the Caribbean Sea, it is time to change our tactics!"

In fact, England needs to end the war with Spain, so why doesn't Spain want to end the war with Britain?After all, their archenemy has always been France, which is coveting the Southern Netherlands!Moreover, their reconciliation is not completely without foundation: Spain and France tried their best to win over Britain long before the United Kingdom did not actually form an alliance with France. The conditions for Britain to capture Dunkirk. As a result, Cromwell wanted to develop overseas trade and occupy Mexico, so he finally chose to side with France. This has led to the current dilemma of the Spaniards - selling a lot of rights to the New World That pagan country that never seems to be fed enough, and there is a tendency to sink deeper and deeper. If this is not called a dilemma, then what is it?

What's more, now this evil country called the East Coast has grandly dispatched a fleet to Puerto Rico, and has incorporated important Caribbean commercial cities such as St. Augustine, Cartagena, Havana, Veracruz, and Bello into its own territory. The sphere of influence, intended to exclude all other Old World countries, naturally aroused the anger and uneasiness of the British - the anger came from the mainstays of domestic handicraft industries such as papermaking, metalworking and woolen textile industries (these three industries were along with leather, construction and shipbuilding. , is the six pillar industries in England at this time), the uneasiness comes from businessmen who are planning or have already invested in overseas colonies (such as investors who plan to invest in the sugar industry of Caribbean islands), and they are now more and more concerned about the activities of people on the east coast in the Caribbean. He became more and more hostile, and tried every means to put pressure on the Lord Protector, intending to let him send a naval fleet into the Caribbean Sea to expel the people from the east coast-of course this was rejected, but big men like Michelle, Thompson, Spencer, Stone, etc. The businessmen didn't give up, they were still active, intending to re-convince the government to pay attention to the threat of the people on the east coast, even if they gave some blood to support the military.

Of course, these things above are the long-term expectations of the gentlemen in London. In the short term, they still need to continue to be patient, because Karen, who is No.1 under God in the Republic of England and has just become the second Lord Protector Will has not died yet, he has sent [-] warships to blockade the port of Dunkirk, and sent [-] veterans to Marshal Turenne to fight against the Spaniards.At this sensitive time, naturally, he would not rashly change the relationship with France and fan his mouth. After all, that would be a huge blow to his prestige, and he will never do that—at least in the short term ——Then, for the big capitalists in London, the turning point may only come after the death of Cromwell.

"Mr. Hill, please follow me to meet some important people. You often go to the east coast. They really want to use you to learn something about that pagan country." Just as Hill was worried about the future of England At that moment, Michelle's voice came to my ears.

"Ah, I'm very honored." John Hill replied immediately.

(End of this chapter)