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U I R Y i N T O THE H E R I T S PF THE SUPPOSED JPRELIMINARIES O F PEACE Signed on the 3d Inftant, L O N i) O N, xrinted for John Bird, m Ave-Mary-Lane. MDCCLXII. (Price 6//.) 4. i v**!.:- WPPPP^Wi^wiUPPilUPP If. '* ■\*. • «iH I I I I A N EN Q^ U I R Y INTO THE M E R I T S OFTHESUPPOSEP Preliminaries of PEACE. NO reafonable Man (what- ever be his Party) will ex- claim againft^the prefent Peace, till he knows it to be a bacl one. No jyft Man (whatever be his Intereft) will condemn thofc who have negotiated it, till he is fure they are to blame. To fuch M^n therefore, who have Senfe and B Upright- ii\ nmw "^^mwipnMi [a] Uprightncfs enough to be candid, in thefe Times of Violence and ClamQvir, ^n Enquiry into the Foundation of that Violence and Clamour will not be unacceptable. The prefentWar has been con-i duded by three different Miniftries, It was begun under the old Ad- miniftration : They loft Minorca^ and refigned. The Ute Minift^r parried it on with Spirit and Suc- cefs ; but 1^ did not fucceed in his Negotiation^ for a Peace, and foou after thofe Negotiations broke ofF, he refigned. The W^r has from that Period been conduced by the prefent Adminiftration have carried it c guccefs : and wl They too with Spirit and that wifhes w^ll tQ I I [2] to his Country, does not wifli they may fucceed in their Endeavours to make a Peace, provided they make a good one ? Want of Vigour is generally im- puted to the old Adminiftration t Unequal (it is faid) to the Conduti of an arduous War, they are fup- pofed to have been long defirbus of a Peace, tho' the Ternis of it fliould not have been fo good as many People think we are intitled to expedt. But the Defeds that may have given them this Bias, can never be afcribed to the late Minifter, or to the prefent Admi- niftration. The Year Fifty-nine fliews the one, the Year Sixty-two (hews the pther, to be equal to the B 2 moft i ' i?i>a.'tEinLjlik- iiWJ.P«l^i ^M. C + 1 moft arduous War under whatever Difficulties. Neither can be fuf- peded of concluding a Peace, from an Inability in themfelves to con- tinue the War : But a Peace on proper Terms muft be always a defireable Objed to a commercial Country ; and therefore both have endeavoured to obtain it. The Terms infifted on by the ^late Minifter are generally agreed to have been advantageous and ''honourable to Great-Britain, But the Enemy did not think them- felves then reduced to the Necef- fity of fubmitting to them, and "the Negotiation broke off. On what Terms this prefent Negotia- tion is founded, we do not ccr- ' tainly ts] tainly know J but it has been con- fidently aflerted, that they are in fome Relpeds better^ in ao Refpedt worfe, than the former : They muft be then equally advantageous with thofe we were at that Time contented with ; for the Value of the Acquifitions is exadly the fame as it was. But this perhaps may not be enough : For the fame Peace may be a good one or a bad one, at different Times and in different Circumflances : Is then our Situation better or worfe than it was ? Since the lafl Treaty broke off, and before that now negotiating began, we conquered Martinico* ■Our other Succefles, and particu- larly "mm»-^ .( [6] larly that at the Havannaby have been during the Negotiation, and are therefore a feparate Confidera- tion. But Martini€o is alone a great additional Weight in our Scale, and feems the greater, from our having failed in our former Attempt to fubdue it. On the other hand, we are twelve Millibns deeper in Debt than we were laft Year, and our National Debt was enormous before : We are befides engaged in an additional War with Spain ; and have not only our own Quarrel to fight, but our beft Ally Por- tugalj fuffering in our Caufe, muft be defended on evety Principle of Intereft and Honour. In all thefe Points our Situation diflfers now from what it was laft Year* It is ceftainly -T»-^«ya»l ijiNe-^v^ [7] certainly more glorious, becaufo wc have been farther fuccel'sful 2 It is as certainly more diftreffed, for our Debt, and our Expences, and our Enemies arc increafed. None can think it much better, many will think it much worfe than it was ; for in their Eftimation Mar^ tinico would not feem to be ill exchanged for Peace with Spain^ Security to Portugal^ and twelve Millions of Money, the War with France continuing as it was : And even fiippofing the Balance upon the whole to be in our Favour, the Advantage (as it is certainly not confiderable) will be well im- proved, if it be made the Means of concluding that advantageous and honourably Pe^ce we in vain attempted *'J [8] iittcmpted to obtain in the forme? Negotiation. »f .U i There does not then appear any Reafon to exped better Terms than we demanded laft Year : On thq contrary, there feems great Reafou to be contented with the fame as France then refufed to come into j yet a violent Clamour has been attempted to be raifed now, and tione was heard of then : Have wc any Ground to fuppofe the Terms to be worfe ? Tho' we do not precifely know what the Prelimi-. naries are, we generally believe them to be fuch as they are re-r ported to be ; Do even thofe Re- ports reprefent them to be worfe, ^d juftify the Clamouy ? The 3 [9] The firft Enquiry into the Merits of a Peace is, whether it anfwer the Purpofes of the War ? The prefent War with France was begun for the Security of our American Colonies ; and the Northern Co- lonies can never be expofed after the Ceffion of Canada : The late Minifter required that Ceflion : The prefent Miniftry, it is faid, require exadly the fame. For the Security of our new Acquifition, and our more Southern Colonies, where we could not demand Cef- fions, as we had not made Con- qucfts, it was neceflary to afcertain Boundaries between the French and our Territory. Between Canada and Louifiana^ the Line drawn by C the t i ^^mm m •&!t. [lo] the M. de Vaudreuil was in the late Negotiation chofen for the Boun- dary : Between Louifiana and our Southern Colonies, the Limits were marked by the Names of Nations, whofe Countries and their Extent are very little known to us : In the prefent Treaty, it is faid, our Limits are fixed by the Banks of the Mijftjippi^ which is not only a Boundary that can never be dif- puted, but at the fame time it adds to our Empire all the Indian Nations that have ever annoyed us, and many of the moft valuable French Settlements in Louifiana, ■'■1 :i^ The next great Object of a Peace, is totally and effedually to put an End to the War in every ; Quarter : A> ttm [II] Quarter : We are engaged in two different Kinds of War, a Mari- time, and a Continental : The former has been fuccefsful, the latter deftruclive. All Hoftilities, in any Shape conneded with the Maritime or Commercial War, were by the laft Treaty, and are by the prefent, immediately, or within a given Time, to ceafe. The Trench^ in the late Negotia- tion, offered the fame Conditions, with refpedl to their and our Continental Connections ; and if we would have engaged not to affifl the King of Prujfta with Troops or Subfidies, they would have engaged not to affifl the Queen of Hungary : The Offer was rejected, and we fhould there- C 2 fore f> % § mi' iu 1 I III: .. I I [13] fore have continued to be con- cerned in a German Quarrel againft France^ after a Peace with France^ for how long and to what Degree no-body can fay. I believe the prefent Miniftry are not fufpeded of any fuch Intention : The only Continental Objed: of Importance to us, is the Evacuation of Oft end and Nieufort^ which, it is faid, are to be reftored to the fame Situation as they were put in by the Barrier Treaty. Another principal Confideration in the making of a Peace, is its Stability ; and for that Purpofe Precifion is neceflary. The En^ croachments of the French^ which occafioned the prefent War, were covered ^m ^mm [ '3 ] covered for fome Time by the Un- certainty in which former Treaties had left the Boundaries in y4merka: This we have already feen will be more effedually remedied by the prcfent Treaty, than it would have been by the laft. The Affairs of I^idia were not attempted to be fettled in the late Negotiation : They were left to a future Difcut fion between the two EaJi^India Companies : The Companies might not have agreed, and iVar might foon have revived in that Part of the World, which perhaps would not have been confined to that Part only : But it is faid, that in the prefent Negotiation, thefe alfo are fettled, A Peace, i:s mmmm I wm •'■ 1 1 ^ w [h] A Peace, that has thefe three Requifites, cannot be a bad one, unlefs we have gained fuch a Su- periority over our Enemies, as in- titles us to demand other Advan- tages, not immediately relative to the Occafion of the War, or to the Continuance of the Peace, but to be granted to us merely on Ac- count of our Superiority. Such Advantages we have claimed both in the late and the prefent Nego- tiation. The CefSon of Canada is one of them, for that Country was not in Difpute before the War: The mere Settling a Frontier in North America would have been a Security againft the Injuries we took up Arms to uries redrefs but we 2 to :'i'i the it to ■ \^ Ac- jA we have gained, as Q)nqueror8, the Country on both Sides the difputed Frontier to the North, and have removed our Frontier to the South beyond even our own Pretenfions, by the Addition of fo great a Part of Louijiana. The Fifliery on the Banks of Newfoundland has been divided, fince the Treaty of Utrecht^ be- tween the French and the Englijh ; that in the Gulph of St. Laurence almoft monopoHzed by the French. In the late Negotiation, their Plight to catch Fifh on the Banks, and to dry it on the Shore of New- foundlandy was to be acknowledged as before : But by the Ceffion of all the Coafts of the Gulph of St. we .*■■■.•- -■ wmmmmm r i'^ f I ■ IR - M 11 ! [ »6 1 St. Laurence^ they were to be In a great meafure excluded from the Fifhery there, which has always been to them far the greater of the twc ^ and for the Benefit of either Filhery, a diminutive Ifland, incapable of Settlement, by Stipu- lation not to be fortified, and under the Infpedion of an Englijh Com- miflary, cannot be compared to the Harbours, the Fortrefs, the Settlements, and the Coafts they have hitherto been poffeffed of. Thefe were the Acquifitions in North America by the late Nego- tiation, and thefe, it is reported, we are to have, without any ma- terial Alteration, by the prefent. :^ In r m the of. In the Weft-Indies^ by the late Treaty, the neutral Iflands were to have been equally divided be- tween France and Great-^Britain^ the French Miniftry infifting that St. Z4ucia fhould be in their Divi^ lion, Tbofe who thought this Ftipulatiqn to our Prejudice, be^ caufe once we pretended to the Whole, did not diftinguifli between a disputed Claim and [an acknow-r ledged Right : Thofe who thought it had been as well if they had been continyed neutral, did not Jcnow that, whil? they were de-. dared fo, they were moil of them occupied by the French and their Dependents. But to thofe who ^i-Q acquainted with the State of D pur ^ II ••/' % i^l [ i8] our Wejir^lttdiesy two Sugar I/lands, which may now be improved to the utmoft, without any Danger of the Planters being molcfted in their Improvements, or of their Property being hereafter cal]ed in Queftion, feemed a very valuable Acquifition ; and the Grant of a^ many Iflands to the Enemy was by no means a Balaiice ; becaufe wc have cultivated almoft all, and have worn out fome of our Pof- feflions in the ff^ejl-lndies : They have ftill much uncultivated, and do not want more for the fame Purpofes as we do. By the prefent Treaty, it is reported, a different Divifionis to be made: Three out of four neutral Iflands are to be ceded to Great-Britain \ and to thefe the Grenada ■jmiiairto^v.^ \" f »9 ] Grenades are to be added, which have been always the Property of France ; and are valuable not only for their Produce, but for the bed Harbour in the Wejl-Indies, In Africa^ Senegal and Goree Were, by the late Treaty, to have been ceded to Great-Britain ; but France was to have had fome other Settlement on the fame Coaft for the Purchafe of Slaves. It is the Faihion now to value Senegal at a very low Rate : I remember the Fafliion quite otherwife ; and cer- tainly the Gum pan be had no- where elfe, and is neceffary to many Manufadures. If fuch a Com- modity were folely in the Hands of our Enemies, they might find D 2 Means 4. • itl " I t 2° ] Means to diftrefs our; if it is jil oir Hands, We may find Means to diftrefs their Manufadures. By the prefent Negotiation, it is faid, that Senegal is, for thefe Reafons, to be ceded to Great-Britain ; and Goreey it is reported, is to be that Settlement which the French re- quire for the Purchafe of Slaves : As we do not want it for that Pur- pofe, it may be as convenient to us that they fhould have that, as any other Settlement on the Coaft : No cornmercial Advantages were expedled from the. Poffeflion of Goree ; but it has been reprefented as neceflary to the Security of Senegal : I do not know that it is : I only know that we held Senegal a Twelve- month before we took • . Goree ; n % t s» ] Goree ; and if it be not ncceflary for Defence, a Garrifon in fuch an unhealthy Climate is a heavy and a ufelefs Incumbrance. In the Eaft'Indies nothing was determined by the kte Negotia- tion ; by the prefent, it is faid, every Thing is fettled j arid wfc have probably fecured more during the Succefs of the prefent War, than w^e could have got by the fubfequent Negotiations of Com- miffaries in Time of Peace : They are to begin their Trade there anew ; they are to carry it on under certain Reftridions which we have imnofed on them ; and tho' their Settlements are reftored, yet they* are difmantled and de- moliflied, I ! mm 11 inoliflied, and are not to be re- fortified ; fo that the French muft depend upon us for their Proteftiort from the Natives^ and will be always in our Power, In Burdpe^ all Cc^cltieds 6h both Sides were by the late, and are by the prefent Negotiation to be mutually reftored. This ^Tticle too is in our Favour ; ios we have only Belleifle and Munjler to re- ftore : They had laft Year Minorca^ all Hejfey ana Part of Hanover : This Year they have indeed lefs in Germany ; but they have been more fuccefsful in a Part where we are more fenfible ; and yet Portugal dangeroufly invaded, in Part con*- quered,^and the Whole imminently threatened. "tx — s:r L 23 ] threatened, is to be evacuated 5 and by both Treaties the Fortifi- cations of Dunkirk are to be de- ftroyed. tboth re by o be Tticle : have d re- norca^ lover : lefs in more fc are rtugal : con> nently tened, For all thefe Advantages in every Part of the Globe, Guadaloupe and Martinico are to be reftored to the French : For Terms far lefs advan- tageous than thefe, the Reftitution of Guadaloupe was agreed upon laft Year ; and yet that Reftitution could not then obtain thofe Terms : Whether we are intitled to better Terms upon the whole than were then demanded, has been con- fidered above ; yet we do actually get better for ourfelves, and much more humbling to France ^ than thofe flie then refufed to fubmit to; y\ I III If j in [ 24 ] to; and France^ if the prelent Treaty takes place, will be in many Refpc^s worfe, in no Refped better, than ftie would have been if flie had poncluded the Treaty laft Year ; for then fhe would have had MartinicQ ^4 Gu^dgloupe^ On this Footing the Negotiation flood, according to common Re-» port, when we heard of the Con-^ queft of the Havannah ; Thofci who were too fond of the War, made this a Pretence for frefli Cla^ mour, on a Prefumption that it woijd be reftored without an Equi-r valent : Thofe, who were too im-^ patient for Peace, exclaimed too^ from an Apprehenfion that th? Miniftry might rife i^ their Dc-r mands, 'm ■#. i'( wmm fent lany pe£t aeen •eaty have ^' • iation L Re- Con^ hofei War, Cla- at it % ■rfdf [25] hiands, and thereby prdtra^t the Negotiation. Till their Condud was certainly knbwn, no honeft br fenfible Man could join in either Clariiour : Biit the current Opinion is, that they have riferi in theif Demands, and that the Spaniards have acquiefctd in thenl. vVhat they particularly are We do not imagine v^e know, even with that Degree of Pofitivenefs we pretend to about the Terms with FranU .* But if the vague Rumours of the Day deferve any Ci-edit; if PloHda is to be ceded to us; if commercial Advantages ar6 to be granted to the Subje(fls of Gfeat - Britain^ which, with refped to them, will take away the Force of the fo much dreaded Family-Compadt ; E if m ■ «• * fli if no.. i' [26] if all our Difputes with that Crown, which gave Occafion to the laft, and furniihed a Pretence for the prefent War with Spainy are to be determined entirely to our Satif- fadion ; then this Part of the Ne- gotiation, in which no other Mi- jiiftry but the prefent ever had fo much as an Opinion, will be more to our Advantage, than even the Unreafonablenefs of Clamour ever thought pofllble. The whole Treaty then taken together gives us every commercial Advantage we ever claimed, and fecures to us every commercial Objed which our Enemies ever wifhed to deprive us of. Our American Empiie will be enlarged '^\ beyond -'-^ -'^"^-"'-'^'^ o wn, laft, the o be Jatif- Ne« Mi- ad fo more :n the r ever taken ncrcial d, and nercial »s ever Our nlarged beyond [»7] I beyond our moft languine Expec- 1 tations by the Ceflion of Canada^ w^ith the Gulph of St. Laurence^ Part of Louifiana^ and all Florida ;. which gives us the entire Domi- nion of that iminenfe Continent 1 between the Ocean and the River ^Miffififph Oux fTefi-India Settk-' '% ments are increafed in Extent and :|in Value by the Accefiion of four Sugar Iflands. While the French retained the Shores of the Gulph of St. Laurence^ and had Colonies in the Neighbourhoodf they had Advantages over us in the Fifhery ; We have now ftill greater Advan- tages over them ; and as we fliall be able to carry it on more con- veniently, with more Certain ty^ and at lefs Expence, we muft in Time c . get % "I\l™l^' ti 1.1 If" I m :il t »«] g€t moft of it from them. Tho' the War has been extended to every Quarter of the Globe, it is termi- nated every- where by Ceflions in our Favour, and all our Advan- tages are commercial : Both our Enemies cdritribute: to our Great- nefs, and neither we nor any of dur Allies cede a Village in Re- turn. Our Trade with Spain is td be on a better Footing than it evef has been ^ and we may affure our- felves that vi^ith Portugal will not, after what we have dorifc for thenii be put upon a Worfe. A Peace is undoubtedly much wanted, if it be not neceflary to us : We have no Reafon to exped: higher Terms, when lower were refufed us laft Year ; but if we were to continue the ^ 1 dur Tfeat- ny of 1 Re- t is td t ever' : our- not^ ace is if it have erms, laft itinu^ the s o [«9 ] the War, one Reverfe of Fortune [plight deprive us of the Oppor-^ tunity pf getting the fame : And Ifurely the Improvement of thefe idvantages is preferable to any 'hing we can get by the Con-* tinuance of the War : Our prefent pSuperiority over Pur Enemies was )btained not by Conqueft, but by P:he Arts pf Peace, the Improve- |mept of our Trade and our Co- lonies : By the fame Arts we rauft maintain that Superiority; and [under the great Advantages pro- [pured by the prefent Treaty, we Ifhall increafe it. But by venturing beyond our Strength, and demand- ing Terms which our Enemies, humbled indeed, but not con- quered, could not poflibly grant, lyc # I a |! r IJ 1^ i I sol We might endanger the greateft Part of what we now get, and may enjoy in Safety for ever. » «<' • If the Preliminaries then fhould be fuch as they are reported to be, and this be the right, the candid Way of confidering them, furely no juft Man, when he knows what they are, and no fenfible Man^ when he underftands them, will reftife his Approbation to the moil Idvanl^geous a^d honourable Peaai that ever was madfe,^ pi attempted to be made, for Great-Britain. ^ 1 N i^i I .'"^ \ li I ; ;fcateft :i"and r. (hould to be, candid furcly 7s what : Man^ n, will bemoft iePeacb empted a *">..