Country by their Marches, infult the Gentry whofe Eftates pay their Subfitence, awe the Boroughs, influence Elections, and make the People uneafy and difaffected Thefe BROOM-STICKS (for A from their Ufe they may justly be fo ftyled) are fit for nothing but Rods for the People's Backs. It was an excellent Obfervation of the prefent Cardinal de Ficury The English Fleet awes their Enemies; their Army themselves.

When ill Ufage has driven half our Seamen into Foreign Service, the Na- B tion will, too late, be fenfible which ought to be most refpected and encouraged, the gaudy Butterflies or the rough honeit Tarrs. Yours,

SAMPSON MAINMAST.

Daily Gazetteer, Jan. 22, No. 1119. To the Gentlemen that met at Salters-Hall on Wednesday the th of Nov. laft.

fion, as in other common Cafes, were to have gone Hand in Hand, and they certainly had both paffed into Laws, and I believe without a fingle Negative in either House, had it not been for the violent Oppofition of one Perfon (now no more) that hindered them from being propos'd: Neither did his Oppofition arife from the Unreasonablenefs of doing what you defire; but from quite another Confideration, ae needlefs as improper to relate. So that here you fee, Gentlemen, that you have not been altogether forgotten by your Friends in Power: And that with regard to you, they were Unanimous, however they might differ in another Political Point. I had not mentioned this, but that I thought it necef fary to remove the great Objection, That your Friends had never any Thought of ferv. ing you: The Conclufion drawn from which Opinion, by their and your Enemies, is, That they never will. But if this Fact be allowed to be true, as undoubtedly it is, then the Argument turns the other Way'; which is, If the Whigs, when in Power, did endeavour to relieve you, and had certainly done it, but for the unfortunate Obftinacy of one Perfon, they will certainly relieve you, whenever it may be in their Power hereafter: And

is there not too much Reafon to appre hend the fame Opportunity may foon offer itself again? Is there not as evil a Spirit working in the Nation at this very Juncture as ever was known? It stops at nothing! The King, his Ministers, the Parliament, are all arraign'd together! This is fuch a Spirit as never was seen in the World before, in a Country where the People are in the quiet Poffeffion of their Liberty and Property, under the Protection of Laws adminiftred with the utmoft Candour, Knowledge and Integrity! And if this Spirit fhould break out again into open Rebellion, can you doubt but the fame Providence, which has fo often appeared on our Side, will affift us again? Is this then a Time for Us to be quarrelling amongst ourselves? But as what I have just now mentioned, is not a Thing to be confidered (th' if it should happen, We ought to make better ufe of it than we did betore; and indeed we cannot fail of doing it, for Reasons too obvious to need relating). As this is not a Thing, I fay, to be defred, give me leave to obferve to you, that there feems to be fomething elfe arifing in your Fayour, from a Quarter where you might have the leaft Reafon to expect it: I mean from those who have behaved hitherto with the greatest Averfion (not to fay

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Acrimony) towards you. There have been feveral in the Church of England for fome Years paft, who have carried their Notions about the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to fuch a pitch of Extravagance, that many of the wifest and most learned Divines amongst them, that have been reckoned the trueft Supports of the Church, have been startled at the monftrous Doctrines they have advanced; and one of them has very learnedly, and with great Strength of Reafon, lately oppos'd them in Print: And if this Argument is carried but a little farther, all that you require may be eafily granted; at leaft it will become Perfons of your Difcretion and Temper, to wait a little to fee what Turn this Matter may take. Nothing is more common, than for the People of England to run from one Extream to another. Many have preach'd for fome Years paft, that the Papifts are better than the Diffenters; they have faid this fo long, that the People take them at their Words, and go even a little farther, and think them better than Churchmen.

This is one of the principal Caufes why Popery has increased fo prodigiously of late Years: But now fome of the most Difcerning of the Clergy begin to see that the Papifts are juft ready to get up upon their Backs; and if this Apprehension fhould make them Cry aloud to the People, the People will foon fee how much they have been impos'd upon : And when utter Destruction threatens, the Clergy themselves may be very glad of your Alfiftance. Much ftranger Things than thefe have happen'd in this Kingdom; and of all Junctures, this, certainly, in a most particular Manner, requires you not to run the Hazard of hurting yourselves and Friends, by any extraordinary Motion: Befides, there is, methinks, one Circumstance, tho not much attended to, which F ought to contribute, not a little, towards making you the easier in your prefent Situation, hard as it may feem to you; and that is, That you are in the fame Condition with the greatest Man in the Kingdom; he does not wear the Crown, but upon fubmitting to the fame Terms which G are required of any one of you, to enjoy whatever Poft of Honour or Profit you might be rais'd to. And if you will but confider coolly of the Matter, would it not be fomething strange, that a greater Indulgence fhould in any Refpect be shown to a Subject, than to the King himself ? And would not this be an odd Sort of an Application to a Prince: "Sir, I defire your Majesty to beftow an Employment or Poft upon Me; but I hope you will

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not think I can do that to qualify myfelt for receiving it, which you have done to put yourfelf into a Capacity of being able to beftow it upon Me." I really think this deferves your serious Attention, and to that I fubmit it. I am with great Truth, Gentlemen,

Your most fincere Friend,
and most devoted Servant,
UNKNOWN.

EXTRACT of a LETTER to a Member of Parliament from a Friend and Elector in the Country.

SIR,

Sir, we are a trading Nation; and whatever affects our Trade is our nearest Concern, and ought to be our principal Care.

Of all the Branches of our Commerce A that to our own Colonies is the moit valuable upon many Accounts. If I am rightly informed, it is by that alone we are enabled now to carry on the reít, and therefore ought to be the most fecure. Foreign Markets may be loft or spoilt by various Accidents: Other Nations may get in, and carry Commodities, that may be preferred to ours; or by working chicaper, may be able to underfell us there: Bur in our own Plantations nothing of this can happen. So that it is the Narfery of our Seamen, the Support of our Naviga tion, and the Life of our Manufacturers.

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HAVE never follicited, I never will follicit you, tho' you thould come to have a better Intereft at Court, for any of thofe little Places, which feem of late to have been multiplied, only to answer C the Demands of Men in my Situation, as far as poffible, upon thofe in yours; and which are become almost the only Subject of Correspondence between Members of Parliament, and their Friends in the Coun 2. You will therefore permit me to take the Liberty now of correfponding D with you on another Foot, and after four Years Silence to remind you a little of what I have a Right to expect from you as my Reprefentative. The Importance of the Conjuncture will excufe my Prefumption. It is not difficult for us now to Speak upon thefe Matters: They are brought fo home to our Minds, they are E made to pain to our Senfes, that we can't be doubtful what Opinion to form. It is hardly necefiary to reafon; it is enough to feel, there is a Time, when wrong and mifchievous Mcafures may be

The

But of late Years our Merchants paffing to and from our Colonies, have been ftopt, examined, plundered and abufd by the Spaniards, our Ships confifcated, and our Seamen enflaved, fo that the Navigation thither is become fo dangerous, that if an effectual Stop be not foon put to these Practices, this moft bencficial Commerce will be utterly loft. Source of them is a Right of Sovereignty which the Spaniards arrogate to themfelves in the American Seas; a Claim always treated with Derilion and Scorn by every Power in Europe, and particularly by us, who were really Matters of thofe Seas, from the glorious Reign of Queen Elizabeth, down to the weak one of King Charles the Second. And this Claim of Spain is ftill fo far from being owned by us, that tho' it be a fecret Motive, they have not yet had the Infolence to avow it openly as the Caufe of their Proceedings. But they treat evety British Ship, which they are able to malter, as if the failing only in thofe Seas was a fufficient Caufe of Confifcation. They have feized and condemned outward-bound Ships, above a hundred Leagues from any Shore, without any Pretence at all; and where they are gracioufly pleafed to allign Pietences for their Depredations, thofe Pretences are worse than the Depredations themselves. They pretend that every Ship which has Logweed, Cocoa-Nats, or Pieces of Eight aboard, is lawful Prize Now two of thefe grow in our own Colonies, and the South-Sea Company by the Alliento Contract, furnish the Spaniards with Negroes, which they pay for in Pieces of HEight, and as the principal Marker for thefe Negroes is Jamaica, this occafions the circulating a great deal of that Specie there, fo that we might with full as good Reafon stop the Ships of Spain in

gled, but there is a Time too when they will difcover themfelves. While the evil Seeds are fowing, thofe alone are alarmed who have Penetration enough to fee Things in their Caufes; but when they are grown up, and the Fruits appear, the Grofs of Mankind have Capacity to judge, and Spirit to complain. This, Sir, is the Circumftance of the People of Egland. They fuffer too much to be G amufed: And if they continue to fuffer, it will not be from Error or Infenfibility, but from fuch Caufes as I do not care to fuppofe. There is Reafon to hope that their Complaints will be redrefled; and in that Hope I write this Letter to you. I shall propofe to your Confideration fome particular Points which we in the Country think, fhould make the Business of this Seffion; and if you agree to my Reafonings, I dare promife myfelf you will not afterwards differ from them in your Conduct.

their

LETTER to a Member of Parliament.

their Paffage by Jamaica, or our other Plantations, and confifcate them formally, if we find aboard of them either Logwood, Cocoa-Nats, or Pieces of Eight: For this will just as well prove, that they A have been trading with our Colonies, as our having fuch Goods aboard, can prove that we have been trading with theirs.

But on what Ground of the Law of Nations, or by what Article of any Treaty, have the SPANIARDS a Right to ftop or fearch our Ships at all? Where a general Trade is allowed, one Species of Goods B may be prohibited; as, for Inftance, Wool, or Fuller's Earth; and the exporting it may be highly penal: But did this Country ever pretend, when her Naval Power was at the Height, to ftop Ships out at Sea, in order to fearch whether fuch Commodities were aboard? Would the little C Republick of Genoa endure our doing it? Could any thing less than a Conqueft bring her to fubmit to it? But the doing it in America is much lefs defensible. For where no general Trade is allowed, no one particular Species of Goods can be more prohibited than another, and the Searching there has no Object at all, and D

no Foundation in Reason.

As to our failing near their Coafts, it is
not only permitted, but is of abfolute Ne-
ceffity in the Courfe of our Voyage to
and from our Plantations in America:
How near we fhall go to them, it is impof-
fible to fix, because it depends upon Cir- E
cumstances we cannot command, as Winds,
and Tides; but very near we must go
frequently; and they reciprocally muft
No Treaty therefore
go near to ours.
has ever fettled any Bounds, except the
very Ports and Havens of either Crown
in America, within which it fhall not be
lawful to fail; nor can they be fettled,
fo as not to be liable to infinite Difficulties,
and endless Chicane.

Were our Ships found trading in the
Spanish Ports and Havens themselves,
even in that Cafe, tho' they ought to be
confifcated, it is a great Abfurdity to fup-
pole they fhould be first fearched. For
as the Ship and Cargo, be it what it will,
is forfeited by our being there without
Diftrefs, to what Intent or Purpose is a
Search to be made after any particular
Species we may have aboard? But upon
this Pretence to stop our Ships on the
High Seas, is to infult our Understanding,
and defpife our Power, as well as to in-
fringe our Rights, and to destroy our
Tarde.

It was the juft Senfe of Parliament last Seftion, that more effectual Measures ought to be pursued. And to enable his

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Majesty to take them, great Supplies were
made; the whole Nation expected, and
defired a War, if fuch a Peace could not
be gained, as would retrieve our Honour,
and fecure our Trade. Soon after the
Parliament rofe the War appeared inevi-
table: Strong Fleets were fitted our, and
fent to Spain and the Thaies: This could
not be done without a valt Expence, great
Obstruction to our Trade, and Hardship
Yet fuch was the Spirit
on our Sailors.
of the People, fuch their Refentment at
the Indignities put upon the King and
Nation, that they came into it chearfully
and not a Murmur was heard unless a-
gainst the Spaniards. It was believed,
our Adminitration would fhew, that
our former Remiffness did not proceed
from Fear or Negligence; but that they
curbed their Spirit till the Point of Time,
when they might be fure to exert it with
This their Friends
decifive Advantages.

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gave out, and candid Men were willing
to think; especially as it was faid, that
one Great Perfon had declared, he thought
it for the Intereft of a Minifter to have

and Warmth of thefe Expectations, while
War rather than Peace. But in the Height
all Europe was intent on the Motions and
Operations of our Fleets, we heard of a
Convention being figned, and that we
might expect a speedy Accommodation of
our Differences by a Peace.

Of the Terms of this Convention you will, no doubt, be apprifed at the Meeting of the Parliament, and then you will judge, whether it is proportionate to the Charge we have been at, the Opportunity we have neglected, the Wrongs we have fuftained, the Satisfaction and Security we have a Right to expect.

I only beg Leave to mark out to you two principal Points, upon which I think you can't mistake in forming your Judg ment. If we make a Peace, it ought to be fuch, as will remove, in the most effectual Manner, both the Caufe, and Pretence, of the Injuries done us by the Spanish Nation.

Now the Pretence for them has been

folely this, that they claim a Right of ftopping and fearching our Ships, on the High Seas, or near their own Coafts; which Claim of theirs is unfupported by Treaty, and directly repugnant to the Law of Nations, to the Rights of our Crown, and the Freedom of our Navigation. If therefore we clearly aflert, that They have no fuch Right; that where we have no Trade with them there can be

The Author here appeals to Treaties we have quoted before, E

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no prohibited Goods; that we have a Li-
berty to fail as nigh to their Coasts as the
Course of our Voyage, the Convenience
of Winds and Tides, and other Circum-
ftances of Navigation may require; that
in pursuing that Courfe, our Ships are
not to be fearched or ftopt on any Account ;
that, in Cafes of Neceffity, they may even
enter their Forts, and that only in Cafe
of Trading there they are to be feized;
if we exprefsly affert all this in our Trea-
ty of Peace, it may be a fecure and lasting
one, and deferves well the Sanction of B
Parliament.

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As to the other Point, the Caufe of all thefe Injuries, I take it to have been the Contempt this Nation is fallen into, from what unhappily may have feemed to our Enemies a defpicable Tamenefs and Pu fillanimity in our Conduct. How far this has gone, I am ashamed to fay. Thofe, who to infult us could not presume on their own Strength, by long oblerving, or fuppofing they obferved a Weakness in our Councils, have come to fuppofe it in the Nation itself: For where Impunity is certain, Infolence knows no Bounds. If the Peace we moke does not retrieve our D Reputation, it is impoflible it can last, for it may be broke without Fear. SPAIN can have no Reafon to keep it, unless it is made on fuch Terms, as to convince her that the Temper and Spirit of our Court is changed; and that we will bear no longer what we have borne fo long. Should any Article of it be dishonourable or mean, tho' all the reft were advantageous, that alone would be fatal, because it would leave us expofed to endless Infults and Affronts, the certain Confequence of a Stain imprinted on our national Character. I dare anfwer for the Merchants, that, great as their Loffes are, they had F rather endure them without any Compenfation, than have it made in a Way dif graceful to their Country. Sure I am it would be better for them to lofe their Money, or for us to pay it out of our own Pockets, than for the Sake of Retribution to them, to admit of a Treaty, in which G the Security of our Commerce is not firmly established, beyond a Polibility of all future Cavils, by exprefs Declarations of our Right not to be fearched. For to admit of fuch a Treaty, would be no lefs an Abfurdity than to be bribed with our own Money to our own Undoing.

In thefe plain Lights, Sir, I hope you H will confider this Convention, when it hall be laid before you in the Course of the Seffion. You will not, I dare fay, fuffer yourself to be amused with nice Di. tinctions, and Refinements of Policy.

You will remember how useless, nay, how fatal, all thefe Subtilties have hitherto proved, and what they are like to produce. You will defire to fee a Treaty, which fhall not be the Beginning, but the End of Negotiation; which fhall fpeak fo plain, that every Eaglish Country Gentleman, and every Spanish Governor in the Indies, fhall understand the Sense of it, as well as the Walpoles, and La Quadras.

When this is done, you will confider of the Methods, how to turn this Peace to the best Advantage. The only Way of doing this, Sir, is to put the Nation in a Condition to be feared; and this can only be done by reducing its Debt, and gradually leffening its Taxes.

It is a melancholy Thought that fo much Time fhould have been loft from this neceffary Work, fince it has been in our Power, i. e. fince the Peace of U. trecht. The French have, by Attention to Trade, by eafing their People, and hufbanding well the Money they raife, laid a Foundation for their future Greatness. Had we purfued thefe Meafures, we should now have nothing to dread, by pursuing them fteadily we may yet be fate. But till a wifer Adminiftration restore our Affairs, little Dignity or Vigour is to be expected from our Councils. Some Appearance of Vigour may perhaps be maintained; but it will impofe on Nobody; no, not on ourselves. To think that keeping up, at a vaft Expence, great Fleets and Armies, with a Refolution not to employ them, can secure our Reputation, is as grofs a Miftake, as if, in private Life, a Gentleman known to be in Debt, and not difpofed to clear himfelf, fhould think to cheat his Creditors, and fupport his Credit, by encreafing his Equipage, and making fumptuous Entertainments.

The natural Srrength of this Nation is great, its Refources great, and in one Refpect greater than ever, because the Funds having been tried, and found fuffi cient, the borrowing on them again, when our Debt is reduced, would be fecure and eafy. To reduce it therefore ought to be the principal Object of all who meddle with our publick Affairs. We fhall judge of all your other Virtues now by your Frugality.

Above all, beware of new Additions to Civil Lift. It is a ftrange Circumstance, and will not found well to Pofterity, that while the Publick lofes in fo many Arti cles, fo many Galns have been of late made to the Crown.

There is another Article I must not pafs over in Silence, because it may probably

come