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Langford^ Succcflbr to Mrs. Dodd^ oppofitc St. Clmeni's Church in the Sfrand. MDDCLVI. tPrice One Shilling.] r ' A N ESSAY ON THE I ME S. h. T is fufficiently known, that at that ever-memorable peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in which France had the modefty to demand, and Great Britain the meekncfs to yieK hoftages, the limits of our pofleffions in Ametica, were re- ferred to a future decifion. Thofc limits too had been by the treaty of Utrecht left unaf- certained, and litigable at a time, when no- thing could have hindered their being peremp- torily fettled, but the groffeft, fupinefl negli- gence on our fide, and that rage of patching up a peace in a hurry, which (circumflances confidered) would have then been lefs' won- dered at in the French, than in the Englifh, B who r. u ^ ' ^ occafion J "'"u"' '°° '''^" '° O'erflip the to'tanefgr^" "'^""^■- '^^^^ "" «^« 'hem Pri!:^^'' '^^ P"^* °'' Aix-la-Chapelle, the French were not contented with drillki? on our c iff„i,3 ^,, ^^^^^ ^^^ o?e12e'cht us ouT in ^^^ "^"^ P°' ~"'''»' ^«h keeping North Z, "^^V'T"' °^" *°f^ f«""ories if riS «1^?'™f 'a^'"'^ "'^ °"'-^ ''y undoubted nght, and molefting us in thofe of which we ftand adually poiTefc, but they 1ft add To Is evenTd' ^°^''''''^ infulLg a mockery" as even to deny the name by which the Hif puted country had been immeLria% knowi" and under co or of this ridiculous plea to TJZ Tl-l^^' r ' '"^'^S. infignifiSpe- b "ice th,n "''"''' M '" ^' '''^'^ ^^ i"^"^- Drance, than an availment, to the poiTeiTors unlefsconneaed with the adjacent terriSe' aeemed inWparably conneded with it and ofTtSt^'^r^r '^'^ ''^^'^^dow or a title for fuppofing them feparated. unlefs o t^ver of "sf f ''''''' ''-'S -"'--i"ou 1a7 a ^ ^ • f =»"fence, that inlet to Ca- iJada, and to their encroachments on 7he weftern mland part of our fettlements in Ime! nca, may be called a tide. A title which wo^'d equally hold good for their demanding Sover from us. What hoftilities :hey ufed, both d" rcdJy M -i J ^orious naterial Dpen to •flip the rt them le, the ling on ve chi- seeping ories in oubted ich we add to )ckery, he dif- nown, ea, to mt pc- ncum- eflbrs, tories, e ever I and ladow unlefs linous oCa- 1 the ^me- ^ould )ovcr ;h di- eaiy [ 3 ] redly and indiredlly, by ftirring up the natives to impede the fpreading our fettlement in Nova Scotia, to its juft extent, are -too notorious to need any farther infiftence. But this was not all. The Englifli cofonifts in America, after having much too long, and much too tamely, fufFered the French to creep along the back part of their inland fettlements,, and under favour of thofe lakes (fo admirably fitted for promoting an inland trade and navigation) to open a communication highly convenient to them no doubt (which v^as ftill all their title) even fo far down as to the Miflifippi ; the Englifh, I fay, began to look with ajuftly jealous eye upon thefe encroachments, that tended not only to abridge them of their dif- trids, which by the very tenor of their grants, and the nature of their fituation, could know no limits to the Weft, but what is called the South Sea, but to render their properties in adual pofTeflion more precarious, and in ccurfe lefs valuable. Rouzed then at length by u- furpations, of which they faw no end, and t6 prevent their being inched out of their lands by thefe intruders, they proceeded to vindi- cate their undoubted right to the extenfion of their frontier weft ward. Accordingly, a fort was built on the Ohio ; upon notice of which the French, in full time of peace, arbitrarily, and without either previous declaration, or a proper reprefentation to our Court, fent a party of men, and diflodged our people without fur- ther ceremony ; and yet, after having thus B 2 contu- i^vl [ 4 ] contumclioufly treated our nation, have they the impudence to traduce the Englifh in every Court in Europe, as the aggrelfors in the quarrel, or as if thefe had done any more than carrying on the war upon both elements, which they had begun upon one. But of all the inftances of French difinge- nuity, and of abufive groundlefs declamation, with which they have labored to inodiate this nation to all Europe, there is not perhaps a more flagrant, or a more eafily refutable one, than the reproach they have not been afliamed to make us, of the inflrudions given to gene- ral Braddock, as if in the lealt inconfiftent with a declaration of a pofterior date, from the miniflry to the French embafTador, denying that Braddock had orders to ad hoUilely, or invafively. Recrimination is no defence : or furely were that reproach even well founded, it would come with the worft grace imaginable from the French, whofe example we fhould have done no more (and God knows that would have been bad enough) than imitate, with this mi- tigation of having been provoked into it, by their fhewing us the way, of difrefpeding that publick faith, which ought to be facred to all nations. But the truth is, that the very lliadow of any accufation of injurious or unfair procedu/e en our part, muft vanifli on the leafi: refledion upon the nature, propriety, and intention of fuch inflrudions, admitting them to have been as or ti $ as [ 5 ] as ftrongly couched as they pretend, and as for the honor of the government it is to be hoped they were. The moft inveterately prejudiced in favor of the French will hardly deny, that it was their prior hoftility, their adual invafion, even to fuch a degree, as to demolifh a fort, built by the Englilh on fpecifically their own terri- tories, which forced the Englifh to fend troops into thole parts to defend their own, and to repel violence with violence. But fhould it be faid, that this fort was not eredted in a diftrid inconteftably our own, and that the quellion is therefore begged : let this objedlion for argu- ment fake be granted, though againft all color of truth or reality. Suppofing then thefe territories to have been of no more to us than a dubious title : at leaft they will not deny that we had a right, after they had been notorioufly long fmuggiing over their forces to Canada in fmall divifions, and at length openlv '• c iifi- derable bodies, to take fome cffc -^a- fures to vindicate our title, call it a dl - to thofe lands which they were tL feftly ufurping, as well as to prevent tii^.. poirefTing us of thofe, concerning which there was no difpute. Had we then any moral af- furance that the flames of war, which them- felves had kindled, might not fpread further than thofe territories, to which tho* we had an equal right, that right had, ©n account of their inland fituation, been left dormant and unexerted, impolitically if youplcafe, butfure- ly [ 6 ] ly not prefcrlptlvely in matter of claim agalnft us ? in the julleft apprehenfion then, of a na tion never known to fet other limits to its own encroachments than its convenience, what ground of complaint, what violation of the public faith could there be, for Braddock to receive inftrudlions how to purfue incidentally the advantages of v,7ar, or to conduct retalia- tively an invalion, which there was more than a moral probability the French would draw upon themfelves, and in truth liad already done more than was neceflary to provoke it, by giving a moft unjuftifiable extenfion to the country they call Canada, and that obvioufly for the fame motive of felf-intereft, as they had contradled the diftrid of Acadia. Such a declaration then made to the French ambaf- fador'here, that the deflin^tion of the forcco fent to the fuccor of the opprefTed, and threat- 'ened Englifh colonies in America, was purely a pacific one, has nothing in it but what was literally and rigorouily true, both in fad and inference : as nothing is more univerfally al- lowed, than that a preparation for defence, and offence, is of all expedients the fureft to- wards preferving or reftoring peace. That Braddock then (hould be eventually furnifhed both with defenfive and offenfive inftrudlions, with plans of operations adapted to contingen- cies, was plainly matter in courfe of his mif- fton, and of which '^e French could not have the leafl renfon to complain, unlefs they would engrofs to themfclves exclufively the right of invafion. I if [71 invafion, or fuppofe us meek, or paflive enough not to return them the compHment of one, whenever they (hould ihvite it, as, in truth, they had already done. In this fair and ob- vious fenfe then, what contradidion, what prevaric.ition, can be laid to the charge of the Englifh Government, (whilft it openly fcnt that reinforcement to their colonies, which the prc- ceduieof the Fiench themfelves had made an indifpenfable meafure,) for its vouchfafing an afTurance and declaration of pacific intentions f was this, by any conftrudtion, other, or more than telling them, that nothing on their part was intended to break 'he general peace on the defiftence of the French, from their provoca- tions, and from giving us occafion for fupport- ing our rights by arms, or of exading latis- fadion for ulterior injuries. That Braddock then was equipped with all the inftrudions .neceffary for the moft determinate war, is not in the leaft repugnant to the moft fmcere profelTions of wiOiing and meaning nothing but peace ; as a man who puts on a fword, may, for all that, defire nothing fn much as not to be compelled to draw it, or to make ufe of his fencing-mafter's inftrudions. So far have I fummarily ftated the cafe of the aggreffion, and fliewn on which fide it lies, with a candor I might fafely ddy even the abbot Deville to implead, if he had not in the Dutch Obfervator (univerfally attributed to him) fhewn how little he refpeds that virtue, whilft he aims at fmothering the truth under It [ 8 ] under all the flowers of fophiftry, and at (lir- ring up the paiTions by declamatory rants, and gr^'undlefs reflexions. But whilfl: the French are thus palpably ob- noxious to the charge of having been origi- nally the incendiaries of the war, whilft the Englilh have, on the other hand, the jufl:efl of caufes to maintain againfl: the open inva- fions of their rights and properties, it feems the fate of this nation never to imitate the French, but in thofe points which redound to the reproach of their tafte, or of their honor. The French, it is true, fet us the example of committing hoiVilities, without a previous declaration of war. But was fuch an example to be followed ? Or can it well be given as a reafon and fandion for our procedure ? If they violated the facred law of nations, in their un- formal attack upon a fort, in an obfcure, re- nT6!e fpot of America, the old fair Englifti way, was to have inftantiy declared war, and have repelled their perfidy Li a manner more fuitable to the dignity of the nation. It will be faid,"that the meafures to be kept with Spain, whofe jundlion with France was to be apprehended, upon the declaration com- ing firll fron\ England, were the reafon of poftponing fo effential a point. But furcly a weaker excufe could not be urged. The ag- ercflion is, without doubt, virtually and more i^rongly implied by ads of hoftility, than by any v^erbU ^declaration of war. This advan- tage ' peac pofe wei^ of i exifl nati( fped facri / ] ir un- ;, re-* nglifh \ and I ■ -i I [9] tage then the French had manlfeftly given us. Nothing was more eafy than to prove it : and if the Spanifh court could have refufed its alTent to fo felf-evidcnt a point j if it can be thought, that an adual violation of that ' peace, for the prefervation of which it is fup- pofed fo interefted, would not have more weight with it, than the mere matter of form of a declaration, there could, in all reafon, exift no further reliance on the amity of that nation ^ and our not declaring of war, in re- fpedl to it, was implicitly fubordinating and facrificing the national independence to its ca- price or injuftice ; and it was even a jefl to think other, than that fuch an abjedt fubmiffion to that fame dear brother of Spain, muft be ultimately a vain one. The failure then of this eflential form, »vhich is only the lefs defenfible for its being an imitation of the French, has furniflied them with that handle for declaiming againft us, of which they have taken fuch advantage. The hoftilities begun and committed by them in a nook of America, though to the full as real infradions of the peace, as any we have fince retaliatively continued, were not however of fo glaring and univeri^illy ilriking a nature, as the predatory war by us carried on upon the fea, which was fpread with their merchantmen innocently navigatin?, it, upon the faith of a peace, of which this rupture had as to them received no fandion of a de- claration of w^ar i and iureiy fuch a iueaiure Q could * could not, humanly fpeaking, fail of bringing one on ; fo that to treat them as only provi- fional captures, is as falfe with refpedt to po- litics, as it is with refpedt to the law of na- tions ; and was it ncceflary to wait pronounc- ing it fuch, till the event ihould prove it fo ? But to examine this point with a true fpirit of candor, let the queftion be fairly ftated, to even the greateft bigot to national prejudicies, and fee whether he could fafely, and in con- fcience, deny the conclufions, to be drawn in disfavor of an undeclared war, in the man- ner it has been carried on, efpecially at fea. ' We will then fuppofe, for argument fake, (what thank God is not the cale) that the Englifh were the aggreflbrs, in circumftances exactly alike with thofe of the French towards us : had that nation then in fuch a fituation, all of a fudden, without a previous declaration of rupture, out-hounded all its {hips of war to the chace, and deftrudion of our trade and navigation -, I leave to any candid judge to confider what name the Englifh would have given to fuch a procedure : would not our legiflativc allembiies, our coffee-houfes, our ftreets, have rung with the bittereft invedtives, the keenell iambics againft Gallic perfidy, and breach of public faith ? or can it be thought, that every nation in Europe is not deeply con- cerned, in decrying fo pernicious a precedent? Upon this occafion too, who could help pitying the deftination of our cxpenfive ar- maments, futticient (if fo vulgar an expreffion may *«3 )ringing yf provi- \ to po- of na- 3nounc- I it fo ? ue fpirit tated, to judicies, in con- rawn in e xnan- it Tea. ;nt fake, that the nftances towards ituation, :laration of war ade and judge to lid have not our ifes, our vedtives, idy, and :hought, ply con- xcdent? lid help five ar- ipreffion may [ " J maybe forgiven) for blowing Europe out of the water, to fo fcurvy an employ j armaments too under the influence of io great a man, as is now feen fo worthily at the head of our naval affairs, and whofe tafle of the fweets of the Acapulco-plunder, was at leafl counte* nanced by the received law of nations, and who could not therefore be fuppofed to fug- geft or favor fo irregular, and fo invidious a meafure, than which too furely nothing could have been more effedtualiy contrived, to give fo good a caufe as ours the air and face of a bad one. This was then playing the game the French wifhed diieaiy into their hands. Hurt, as they were, by the tranfient damage we did to their mercantile intereft, a point which, though efpecially of late highly con- fidered by them, was never but fubordinated to their general fyftem, they bore it with even pleafure, hugging themfelves in the irrepara- ble damage, they juftly knew we were doing ourfelves in the opinion of the public, and in the fair handle they faw it would give them for repairing of Dunkirk, which had ever been their capital objed, and the reproach for whicli from hence they treated as fo prema* turc, that the French king, in his manifeft, made no fcruple of giving the lie in the face of all Europe to the miniflry here, without fcarcely mincing the term : an ufage, which, if undcfeived, mufl in this nation create a re- fentment equal, if that were pofTible, to fo enormous an outrage, unlcfs it fliould be ut- "C 2 terly Ii [12] terly dead to that fenfibility of honour, the lofs of which is ever one of the fureft and mod deplorable fymptoms of an approaching difTolution. In the mean time, the French did not let flip a fair occafion of making a parade of their moderation in returning us the Blandford man of war, they took with governor Lyttelton on board, whom they alfo difmifled, as if to ihame us out of a proceduce fo contrary to the laws of nations, and, in faft, to our own intcrcft. Snll, even then, we went on as if the way to repair an error, was to perfeverc in it. Yet however we might defpife this flep of reftitution made by the French 5 how- ever we might treat it as a captious piece of oftentation, or what would be fiUier yet, as a fear of us, with fo little reafon as they have to be afraid of us, perhaps the wifdom would have been to have imitated them in this lau- dable example, as we had beiore done an un- juftifiable one of theirs, at leaf!:, we fliould have deprived them, in fome meafure, of the advantage of going on painting our procedure in the mod odious colors, and diflortions, they could imagine, to caricature it, with more fuccefs too, than the foul bottom of their own caufe deferved. But that foul bottom, they were by ourfelves, having fillily troubled the clcarefl: water, enabled to keep out of the hght of a public, which rarely taking the pains to dive beneath the appearances of things, lufiaces, lunips its conclulions n. )ur, the reft and caching 1 not let of their )rd man dton on IS if to trary to )ur own on as if erfeverc >ire this s how- piece of 'et, as a ey have 1 would his lau- ; an un- t fliould , of the ocedure ns, they h more leir own n, they bled the of the inw the f things, imps its iclulions [ 13 ] conclufions accordingly; and what Is worfe yet, is fcarce ever brought to revoke them by any fubfequent force of reafon, or demonftration. Upon feeing then that we continued our ftrange cruizing war, it was very natural for them to {how fome figns of refentment. The wonder would have been if they had not. Accordingly, they took a ftep, which could very little increafe their expences (their man- ner of military government conlidered) of can- toning their troops along the coaft oppolite to ours, which, befides the many other collateral advantage of fuch a pofition, evidently carried with it, that of holding us in a conftant alarm and apprehenfion of the threatened invafion, as well as of making us take fome precau- tionary meafures againft it. And fuch, in truth they were, that the expence of them, great as it is, is incomparably the leaft hurt- ful part of them to us. They had alfo, for full obvious purpofes, given room to fear, that Britain would be at- tacked in yet a tenderer part, even in H itfelf. And as fuch indeed it was treated, in the early and accumulative provifion made for its fafety, with a high hand, as it were in a bravade of what might be thought of fo Ih'iking a prediledlion. Fifty five thoufand Ruffians v/ere engaged, whofc dcftination muft appear to thofe, who knew either the map of countries, or of poli- tics, to be that of auxiliaries rather to H ==. cut as it tnat was not enough, in all V [14] all the heat of over-diligence, before the ink of the fignature of that treaty was fcarce dry, there was another ftruck up with Pr — , by way of providing a cloak for that El — , on the other fhoulder. Pr then condefcended, for a valuable confideratlon, part of which was the admiflion of a claim, demonflrated fhamefully unjuft, to engage virtually to hinder the French from penetrating the El , though this latter treaty was in plain terms contradic- tory to, and tending to blank that with Ruffia, by rendering the ftipulated march of its troops unneceflary, which was a kind of baulk, or fruflration, that could not be greatly making our court to that nation ; infomuch, that it would be fcarce to be wondered at, if their difguft was to throw it into the arms of France, or at leall confidcrably cool its amity towarda us. The Ruffian treaty then, alien as It was at firft to any very valuable purpofes, at lead as to B , was thus rendered yet worfe by this . ilrange annulment of it, to fay nothing of the offence that treaty muil have given to thofe German princelings, whofe clearefl revenue ariiing from their trafHc in the blood of their wretchctl fubjed:s. This mufl be a circum- . fiance alone fuiHcient to difaffed them to H — as they could not be extremely pleafed to fee it carry our cutlom to another fliop. No mea- fure too could be more unnational to Germa- ny, than thus threatning it with the irruption of Gl rorml'l'l^*!'^ nnr^ ftll lafplu cnuiyAnr/^i] ac ^ barbarous [ '5 ] a barbarous nation, under the color of an auxiliary to a particular province of it, againft the invafion of another equally to be dreaded, though it feems not fo obnoxious a power : two points that furnifhed the K — of Pr with an occafion of afTuming the charader of guardian to the empire, in that counter-trea- ty, fo glorious and fo advantagious to him, but fo uncomprehenfible as to Britain, which muft only be the weaker for fuch an acceffion, thus purchafed at a difhonorable expence, and with the lofs of allies, befides the difcredit for levity, or impolicy. And here may be fairly afked the queftion, whether, on debating the a«5l of fettlement, fuch a fuppofition had been ftarted, as that fuch an event might poflibly come into exig- ence, as the hiring fifty five thoufand Ruffians for the defence either of H or Br through its connexions with H ? whether, I fay, the broacher of fuch a fuppofition would not, of the two, have been thought a pro- perer objedl to be fent to Bedlam for being crazy, than to the Tower for a difloyalift j and yet, •^—^^Folveniia dies en attidit ultro. This provifion having been fo early, and fo courtierly made, what fliall be faid of the fur- ther meafures taken for the protedion of Great Britain, againft the invafion impending from the troops cantoned along the French coaft ? and here, it may not be improper to iketch '• a fliort H! [ j6 ] a fhort retrofped: of England's once happy arid honorable fituation, in comparifon of its pre- fent one. Not to go fo high as the time of Edward III. let us confider it under Henry V. Under then • the difadvantages of a fierce martial gaunt neighbor, ever ready and ever willing, upon the firft occafion, to carry fire and fword into the heart of its dominion, Ireland then not thoroughly conquered, and rather a drain of men and treafure, than of the leaft afliftance to us } yet this nation, born up by the native courage, and the not yet exploded patriotifm of its inhabitants, could pour numerous troops into France, and crown its king in the capital of it, at a time too, when the ftrength of France was not inferior to what it is now, in any proportion to the feeming encreafe of ours to what it was then ; and fee to what we are reduced ! England, with all its acceffions of territory, and real or nominal wealth, is confef- fedly unable to defend itfelf, and forced to fue for affiftance to Hefliins and Hanoverians, to fight for our Religion, Laws, Life, Liberty, Property, and every thing that is dear to us. Thefe precious tutelar forces then are landed, and have gracioully brought to Britain that fafety, which it would once have bluflied to have owed to any power but its own. In the mean time the Dutch, who owe their very being as a ftate, and their name amongft nations, tc the generofity of our anceftors, ex- tenucu to tiiCiii at a time, w*i£n uareiy a non- concurrence I r 17] concurrence to their afTiftance, would have been as certain death to them in their inftant llruggles, as the mofl adtual hoftility ; to fay nothing of later obligations, even then the Dutch, vi^hether from ftill not ftomaching a iladtholder being crammed down the throats of their burgomafters, a fort of gentry, who naturally care as little for parting with any (hare of their power, as fome amongfl their neighbors here, or from their phlegmatic un- appreheniivenefs of the prodigious wii^iom of our councils, have not only declined affording us that aid, it was doing them but too much honor to afk of them, though in confequences of treaties, but have behaved in fo fliy and gloomy a ftyle, as gives but little marks of a fiiendly, or even fcarcely not of an unhoftile difpolition towards us. f And now, after fo npany inftances of Britain's perhaps too officioufly interfering on the conti- nent, at the expence of its blood and treafure, for the prefervation of the common liberty of Europe, there is fcarce a ftate in it that will vouchfafe us its alliance, even upon the Swifs footing of paying for it -, and what a folid de- pendence can be had upon mere mercenaries, may be fufficiently (een in all antient, and modern hiftory. There is indeed, as before obferved, the appearance on the lide of H-— of one ally newly made out of an old enemy, or at beft a fufpicious friend, from whofe dif- pofition Britain had once very little to fear or hope: and yet that alliance, tliough ukroncouiiy D — ^^ ■"" " (as hi [ i8] (as it is given out, and for the prede'iuced reafons fo it might well be) proffered by him, does not, for all that, come but loaded with a preliminary conceffion of Britifh money, not only highly unreafonable, but in the pretext for it, big with a precedent of a moft perni- cious tendency, befides the certainty of that treaty's difgufting one old ally^, and the danger of its alienating another, and both very pow- erful. May it not too come out after all, that he has entered into this treaty purely to take our money, and laugh at us, either in playing a concerted collufive game with France, or in adhering to a cold fyllem of obfervatton, the objed: of which will be lefs to hinder mifchief, than to promote it, if but to have the better chance of raifmg his market 1 may he not in Ihort prove more dangerous as a fubtilizing infidious pretended friend, than he could pof- fibly have been as an open enemy! *'Thus then deferted at its greateft need, the nation fees itfelf precifely in the condition of a filly prodigal, who having mortgaged, and deflroyed his eftate, in undiftinguifliing hbe- ralities and fenfelefs profufions, finds no friend left him in his diftrefs, and wonders as much at it, as if his condudt had been of a nature to defer ve any. ^^ . It is true, however, we have flill our land and^ naval forces left, fufiicient, under the di- redllon of a national, ftcddy, well concerted fyflem, to extricate us out of our prefent plunge, and replace inQ uatc once more on a refpedable mn rail mai and £ vat( 1 iciuced by him, ed with ley, not pretext I perni- of that ; danger •y pow- lil, that to take playing e, or in on, the lifchief, 3 better I not in utilizing lid pof- ed, the ion of a d, and [ig hbe- friend s much ature to lur land the di- ncerted prefent re on a >e<5table t '9 J refpedable footing. Nor can there be a doubt of fuch a fyftem being fet on foot, from the urgency of thofe conjundures, which have been palpably brought on by the impolicy of having fo long drawled on without one 5 and of improvidently trufting from day to day to the chapter of chances. As to the army, they muft delight in de- foair, who do not hope every thing from one 10 well conftituted as ours, which muft be the moft fenfible to thofe who know it moft, ef- pecially on making their own candid refolutioa to themfclves of the few following queries, the meafure of their opinion. -h- ''^ifl. What qualifications of the head and heart are necelTary in generals, to beget effec- tively the foldiers love and confidence in them ? 2dly. How far the officers have been taught to confider their military duty as a fcience, and, in truth, a profound one, and what care has been taken to inure them to fatigues, and warlike exploits ? 3dly, Engineer-fhip having become the moft capital branch in the modern praeries of ' honor, s coun- o£ bat- innate to their :e of its Drs.' not lefs > it was ntmen, ^ One t grati- ngaged r coun- hat we of any ficils of or ene^ er tafle an for many •een, in iavy its etched a fleet, : muft, forced defiKit. If '^ [21 ] If this abufe has been of antient fianding, and hitherto produced no fatal effects, from the innate courageof our Englifh failors, furmount- ing every confideration, in the inflant of ac- tion, fo much the more muft fo valuable a clafs of fubjeds deferve the redrefs of a grie- vance, which is not of a nature for any pre- fcription of time, to reconcile to it the objeds of its arbitrary oppreflion. What good-will to the fervice of their country can be exped'-d from the captives of their own country- men ? or into what enemies hands could they fall, that would give, them worfe than fuch ufage^ ^ml^ who would at leaft have the law of na- tions ^rf their fide, whilfl thofe country-men of theirs have that of their own nation dired- ly againft this pradice, which yet it feems to tolerate, or connive at. It is iaid too^ftnt^ taiac hoped groundlefstyni faid> that the unwillingnefs of the common feanien to enter on board men of war, does not entirely proceed from the wages being lefs • than what are given in merchantmen, nor j from their confidering them as floating jails, i but froni the intolerable domineering and in* ! folence, 'generally fpcaking, exercifed upon ; them, under the notion, that it is abfolutely j neceflfary to what they call carrying a com- | mand, a term of which the mif-conftrudion has probably done more mifchief to the naval fervice, than all the points of abufe befides ; as furely it can never be the way to raife. the courage [ 22 ] courage of the men by crufliing of their fpi- rit. Thofe poor heads, whom a little power is enough to intoxicate, will have no concep- tion of this. But how much more nobly and wifdy did that great admiral Blake think, and aduivi. himfelf to his fhip's company, when he tuM tlicu-n, That the mcanejl of them were Jree-lorn Engiijhn. n cis well as himfelf, and that officers and fom-majUmen were all fellow- fer^ "cants to the Govcrmneiit of their country. Words of this import mufl: found rather more ani- mating to a Britifli ear, than thofe with which the publijk papers (falfcly no doubt) j;nakeaa admiral lately coiiciude his harangue — " there aie only two choices, fight or — be hanged !" an alternative fureiy to be addrefled with more propriety to a pirate-crew, on a man of war's coming up with them, than to Engli(h failors going againft the enemies of their country.^' Such tlien as think, or talk of even oiir common run of feamen, as mere brutes, and who are to be treated as fuch, are mofl egre- gioully millakcn, to fay no worfc. \^ they want the fmcothing of education, they have, it leall, ill common with other men, a feel-' nig of injuries and oporelTions, and lo exj^iiite ua one ot Oratitude, diat they would fight, as if all heart for a commander, who Ihnuld'ufe them with duetendernefs and humanity, whilil thry have fo right a plain natural fcnfc, tliat they would dclpifc their oflicers for ^m fami- iiaiity, that would mifbecomc their 'ilation, or ^ -i W i r 23 ] or tend to derogate from their authority j they inftindively, it may be faidjdiftinguifli between the expedience of difcipline, and the wanton- nefs of tyranny, more damping than even the example of cowardice itfelf, which by the bye it fcarce ever but impHes. It may aUb be worth conlideration, how tender, how nice" a point our fuperiority at fea is : how liable to be loft even in one feafon, after having pre- ferved it for ages. The French, fenfibic at length of the infinite importance of a power on that element, have for fome years paft, ftrcnuoufly applied to the improvement of their marine ; they have fucceeded according- ly. Their naval architedure is not a whit in- ferior to ours : they begin to work their (l^'ips as well ; and have made valuable alterations in their fea-artillery, by cncreafing their wcigtit of metal, and leliening the number of their ^uns : in fhort, they have taken fuch effedual pains, as might convince us they are in earneft to contend with us fur that dominion of the Main, of which we iiave been fo long in pof- ielTion. Even the Spaniards, even the Nea- politans, even the Gcnocfc, begin to be touch- ed with the fame emulation. Can it then be too ftrongly the care of the Englidi to keep up their greateO dillinition ? could any thing befal them worfe, than for them to lofe that afcendant they have hitherto had over all other rations, in that point fo important to their honor, and even to their fclf-prciervati( , an U txrVi inn thofc [ 24 ] thofe who are poffeft of it, the vidlojy by dint of prefuming it, as much, perhaps, as by any thing elfe ;^ an afcendant, in fhort, which, tho' foon loft, is rarely if ever recover'd. ^ There was a time when the French, Spa- niards, and indeed Europe in general aifeded to diltinguifh the Englidi and Dutch by the term of maritime powers. What is become . of the pretenfions of the Dutch to that title, every one fees, and themfelves will probably feel when it is too late : and furely it would make the heart of an Englifliman bleed to think, tho' barely but as of a contingency, what a wretched, precarious, difhonorable fi- gure, this once great, noble, and refpeded nation would be reduced to, when it ihould have loft its power by fea efpecially. Nei- ther is it but within the nicmory of man, that we ftiould have heard of the jundion of the French and Spanifli navies, with the ut- moft unconcern, fafe in the fuperiority of fins^ly our own, and well grounded to look on their fliips, fpreading the ocean, rather as pledges to U'^ of their good behaviour, tlian with dv\ eye ot fear or jealoufy j alas I is it fo now ? As to the public funds, it is devoutly to be wiHicd, that thofe double-refined politicians, who have been advocates for over-building, and raifmg the national debt to that enormous and totterfomc height, at which it is now feen, and perhaps felt, upon the hypothclis of the conftitution being the ftrongcr for it, from its enfTarnilP- thf ar<-,Uf r in«''»-^>A C.- «.U^ r... <. c that f 25 ] that government under which it wl contra(5l. ed may find their fyftem verified in thecoune of this war, and confequently give the lie tothofe luperficial pretenders to a 'knowledge of the h^man heart, who imagine that even the great- eft fears for one's property, are by no means of a nature to infpire in any proportion the courage to defend it, or, what is ftranger yet, the fpt iit to contribute a competent part of it, thouk towards faving the whole, the burden of which is ever, as far as pofTible, even in times of the greateft exigency, fhifted off to the commo- . nalty, which is the leaft able to bear it, whofe interefts are ever the leaft regarded, and which has the leaft to lofe by fmifter events. What fort of defence then may be hoped from the Haves of intereft, will eafily occur, on figuring to one felf an army compofed of Stock-job- bers, jews, pedlars, brokers, ufurers, and the luie; from whofe non-fighting turn, which is the very nature of their breeding, and pro- feflion, if no great matter of military prowefs js ever expedcd, infinitely lefs yet muft be the dependence, either in camp or cabinet, for perfgnal, or political courage, on thofe wretches, who, without the excufe of fuch callings, have adopted their fpirit, or to fpeak more properly their no-fpirit, and have opened fhop, in the higheft places, refolving every thing into a fordid traffic, and fimplifying every thing into money j which they as ftupidly as fldfcTy, to the deft^rudion of public welfare, as well as i)f all focial happincfs, make the common ^ meafurc 1 26 ] mealure of even things that are forever by their nature beyond the reach of pecuniary influence, fuch as patriotifm, honor, efteem, friendihip, love, natural affeaion, all the invaluable points, in fhort, which not only rank amongft the firfl duties in life,buttoatruetafte conftitute its moll exalted pleafures. In the exploding, however, of which, and fubftituting this fingle dirty Paf- fion of intereft, and that too not underftood, its miferable miflioners hug thenifelves, as if this was a wonderful refinement of the times. Yet when this infamous principle (hall have pervaded the whole mafs of the nation, (and how far is it from it ?) what vigor, or fundions of life can be expelled from fuch a nation, any more than from an human body, eat up with the fcurvy, or putrifying alive? confi- dering then the daflardlinefs and poverty of fpirlt^ conftitutional to the money-mad, and the not impoflible disjeaion of the paper-fabric of the funds, by the fliock of a flate-quake, it is furely paying a government no very great compliment, 'to place amongil its props, fo wretched and fo crazy a one. In the mean time, a true hiftory of the firft rife, and un- meafurable growth of the public debt, would doubtlefs exhibit a curious and inftruaive view of jobs, temporary expedients, and finefles, not forgetting that pleafant method of dif- couraging, that almoft univerlal paflion of Coaming, by working with it, and clawing its itch, lo as to make it tax itfelf, in the lotteries that are opened for its contributions, and i i I!, i i i ^v hich, ' their lence, iihip, loints, efirft smoll vever, jrPaf- ftood, , as if times. [ have , (and idions lation, eat up confi- ertv of d, and -fabric quake, y great )ps, fo I mean nd un- would :ru6live [inefles, of dif- lion of ving its lotteries s, and ^vhich, [ 27 ] which, befides the notable influence they have on trade, and induflry, are fine money-traps for the lower fort of people in general, who greedily fnap at the bait of the prizes, and part with the bone in their mouths, the ac- quifition, perhaps, of long and hard labor, for an overgrown imaginary fhadow. From the funds then, to the American co- lonies, is no very forced tranfition, as the public is fo deeply concerned in them. With refped to thefe, it may juftly be thought, that if the meafures taken for their fuccor, are tardy, or in the leaft fliort of the exigence, it would have been full as well, or better by all the expence, that would then have been faved, to have taken none at all, r ad have left things there to their courfe : as there is not perhaps a more ruinous, or a more ill-judged parcimony, than not furnidiing full fupplies, or than dribbling them, at times, unferviceably, though perhaps, in the end to as great an amount, as would be efFedual if contributed at one heat. Such a pradticc is like the folly of the phyfician, adminiflring a medicine in drops, where the intention of cure requires a whole draught. One would think too, that in this occafion efpecially, thofe colonies, fe- paratc as they now are in diftindt provinces, might, without the leafl infringement of their refpedive privileges, have been timeoufly united, and compadted, under one common fupream governor fent from hence, fo as to have brought them beneficially into an unity E 2 of « [ 28 1 of concert and adlioa againfl: the common enemy. What has been given for a reafor, why this has not been done before, is fo ridi- culous, fo faife an one, that there is no be- lieving it was ever ferioufly advanced ; and that is, a jealoufy of this their mother-country, of fuch a meafure being pofTible to be abufed, into their fliaking off tlieir dependence upon it. Whoever knows any thing of thofe colo- nies, of the genius, fpirit, and interefl of them, aggregately or feverally confidered, muft eafily know, that nothing could equal the injuflice of fuch a luggeflion, except indeed the ftupi- dity of it. But the truth is, that unhappily there was too long wanting, either an inclination or a capacity amongft the men of power, to bring the whole body of the Briti(h dominions, (in- cluding efpecially Ireland byname, for itsjuft pre-eminence,), into one great colledive point of view, (o as to make all parts of them, without preferentid favour or affedion, co- operative, and infervient to each other's wel- fare and profperity, inftcad of confidering, and treating them fcparately, and coniequently to the wcikening of the whole, in petty pro- vincial lights, even down fo low, as to the making borough-interefts diftindlobjeas.- In the mean time, under ail the difcomfort of a fituation not fo pregnant as might be willied, vyith the promife of a fuccell^ful war, at leaft, if the inaufpicious outfet of it may be ailov;ed any iufluencc in the prognoftic, and ai^rding [29] afFordIng noprofpedtof its terminating foon,uh- lefs in what would be yet infinitely worfe, an ignominious infecure peace, that to the cruel circumftance of receiving law from an infolent enemy, would add the infamy of deferving fuch a fate ; ftiU under all thefe gloomy (and may they prove vain !) apprehenfions, it muft be a great fatisfadlion to think, that the difaf- trous pafs to which affairs are brought, was ian unavoidable fatality, or their courfe 'mufl have been diverted by the vigilance, and abi- hties of thofe men of power, under whofe gracious protedion affairs at prefent are ; no human means having been omitted, that found policy, joined to the molt fervent patriotifm, could fuggeft, as may appear upon a candid review of the times and circumftances, which have immediately led to the i)refent flate of things. , From the obvious p onderat ioa. that nothing can more effedtually contribute to the confirm- ing of old alliances, or to the forming and cementing of new ones, than the ftationing ableminiilers in the foreign courts, whereinfig- nificant ones mufl be fitter to expofe a nation, than to reprefent it, and to hurt than to ad- vance its interefts, fuch a choice was accor- dingly made, 'as might amaze the world at their inJifferent fuccefs, confidering their known capacity and penetration, their con- fummatc knowledge of affairs, and of man- kind, their polite addrefs, their dignity, the command of the earlieft inteMirrenrf- <^..a ^n the J I [ 30 ] the talents in (hort requifite for negotiation. To feled inftances might be invidious, but thofe who know them beft, mull be mod fur- prized at their lucceeding no better, in attach- ing the refpeaive Courts, in which they (hined away, to that nation, of which they were however lefs the reprefentatives than of the miniftry which made choice of them, and of which they were doubtlefs intended as the living tranfcripts, and confequently muft dif- fufe abroad the higheft idea of it. Thus fuch notable care having been taken of the condudl of affairs abroad, thofe at home were carried on with equal fpirit, tho' unhap- pily with equal fuccefs. And yet, if the great- nefb and happinefs of a people, according to an univerfally received axiom in politics, de- pend on the great pofts of power and influence, being officiated by men of a capacity to fill tliem, what nation has fuch a fet of picked ones to boaft of as ours ? the wonder is where, and horn what quarters could be afTembled fuch an allbrtment of hving rarities, efpecially con- iidering what delicacy, what acutenefs of dif- ccrnment prevail at prefent, in the choice of fubjeas, whofe exalted talents are feen at once, equally to fupport, and to adorn the, ilate. • For it Is not now, as in former times, when no claim to the greatcil employ was fo fure to fucceed, as precifely that of not being qua- liikd for the lead. V/hen minifters were jea- lous of all men of merit, as their competitors for ■ 1 31 1 for power, with a jufter title than theirs, dreaded them as their judges, or hated them as being implicitly a reproach to them. They cheri{hed, they loved, they promoted no crea- tures but their compeers in imbecility, or whofe tafte, congenial to their own, could facrifice that true fublime of life, that exqui- fite fenfation of pleafure, the confcioufnefs of deferving well of ones country, to fueh filly, fordid trafli-confiderations, as would rather turn the flomach, than corrupt the heart of any man, who had fo much as the leaft pre- tenfion to truth, and dignity of tafte : whilft too they had the impudence to treat, as bub- bles to antiquated and exploded principles, fuch as did not appear to make their only idol of felf-intereft, themfelves all the while moft lamentably ignorant of the capital points, in which rue lelf-intereft muil for ever eflen- tially confift. In the whole circle of employs then, in that inglorious period, there was not perhaps a fingle inftance to be produced of merely merit being confulted in their difpo- fal. No ! they dreaded even the fhadow of it, and the very reverfe of that fpirit which dictated Alexander's bequeathment of his crown, conftantly took place, and the dcittr hjdigniori was literally and religioufly adhered to in practice, as an indifpenfablc ftate maxim j not however, without a great and due colk- teral regard to coufin-hood, to borough-in- tereft, or to recommendations from men of power, of creatures, if pomble, as worthlefs as themfelves. It I [32 ] It muft not have been, in thofe times, an undiverting fcene, though rather of the loweft droll kind, to have attended one of your little. men of power's levy, to have noted the figure and air of thofe animalcules who were plyers at it : to have feen wretches of birth, and fortune, without the plea of want, and valuing themfelves only according to the price they propofed fetching at that infamous market, paying their court to one perhaps their inferior in every point, except that of power, which too was a fcandal to themfelves, as he might never have got into it, but for their abjedtion and fupine remiffnefs in leaving that field open to him, of which they w^re afterwards mean enough to cringe to him for any httle fhare of the harveft, he would pleafe to allot them, on their felling themfelves and country to obtain it. One fees, methinks ! one of thofe illuftrious idlers, daubed over with embroidery, and perhaps betaudered with a ribbon, em- phatically expreffing, by his addrefs, his hun- ger for a place or penlion, fomewhat in the manner of Plautus his fycophant. Nunc Ji ridiculum hominem queer it qulfpiam^ Venalis ego jum cum ornament is oninlbia^ Inanimentis explementuni quarito. Yet out of the fpiritlefs beggars of this ftamp, vacancies of employs were often, if th'.y could not, properly fpeaking, be cafled filled, at lead fo abulively bellowed, as to ex- clude thofe much worthier fiibjecfts who dif- dained \ r 3? ] darned to follicit for what, in all good policv to accept. Whilft the groveling mob of de pendents, and fubalte. ^ could- natural be" no more d.fpleafed at feeing power and profit run ,„ thofe muddy channefs/than a ^0^41 at not feeing the ftreets clean, who is to Jt h.s Iwehhood by the dirt of them. The com panfon may be low j but can it be lower thTn the objea of its application ? for whTt could be more favorable to fuch as they, Than to fee places of the moft national importance wkW^ the reach of every thing but merit, tl,at greaieft reqmfite, and therefore'the fureft of eilufio„! and now become even the fport, as it were of chance or caprice, dealing them out at random, to lome, for having perfunftorily difcharged a provincial office without any affinity to public aifairs, or any converfancy of theirs in them ; to others for the empty found-fake of fomc name, once of account, but which nature never meant them to fill, or for fome trivial inficr. nificant circumftance, of no more relation %r proportion to the general fyftem of things, than the (hooting of London-bridge, or taking a weft-country barge with a man of war^ boat s-crew, would be to the dircdion in chief of the Navy. Thus a mean, frivolous, and falfe tafte uni- verfally prevailing, the times themfelves being men for the fervice of their country, one might, amongft the eminent poI]:-lollers of ^ thofe [ 34 1 thofc times, have poi-ited out, more than one fecretary of flate that could not write, and embafTadors that could not fpeak. The empty forms of bufinefs then compofed the whole fubdance of it, though to no more efFedt, than artificial eyes, flucjc in the or- bits of real ones, which may indeed re- reprefent the natural organs of vilion, but can never fupply their fundion. Servilely then plodding on in an old rote, for want of courage to venture into new tracks, however flrongly conjundures might require it, and fo unca- pable of benefiting even by their own expe- rience, that no number of years could turn them out lefs novices than when they began ; thefe men who affeded to controul the ftate, were themfelves no better than the flaveSj or vidlims of events, from their inability to form fyflems tha^ fliould have commanded them. Inftead of which they kept o^ in a lelf-con- tented infufficiency, hugely pleafed, and hold- ing themfelves abundantly acquitted by their common-place meafures, like the fchool-boys of the lower clafies, wi.h their nonfenfe vcrfcs, in which, Co they keep but quantity and mea- lure, they are excufed any meaning. If it fometimes happened that men of fu- perior abilities, either feduced through human infirmity, or in the hopes at le-ft of hindering harm, deigned to mingle with their mafs, into which however they were never but reludant- adqiitted ; they foon grew fick of their pieces j they foon faw that they muil either ;r'"» all undue I 35] undue lengths with them, or quit, which iome were heartily glad to do, if but to regain the pleafure of breathing frefh air, out of the peftilential precincfls of folly and dulnefs. But whilft: the ruling band proceeded very folemnly, making ^apital points of trifles, and trifles of capital points 3 tho' one would have hardly thought them very tempting models of imitation , the times themfelves look too flrong a tincture of their worthleiTnefs. All the liberal arts and fciences, whether of peace, or war, with their eflential train of de- pendences, fell into negled, and difregard, whilfl they were fo induftrioufly cultivated in a neighboring nation (whofc fellies alone were thought worthy of imitation, an3 that a moft aukward pne indeed !) and whofe vices, though to the full as great, and as rife as any where elfe, are however dignified, if that were pof- fible, by fome tafle, and compenfated by fomc virtues. Even the old manly Britifli eloquence, was not proof againfl the epidemical enervity, and degenerated into fufl:ian rants, puerile conceits, and thofe witticifms, which may more pro- perly be efteemed florifliing the point than pufliing it. The moft: celebrated harangues, prefented an image of fquibs, crackers and artificial fireworks, bouncing and burfting into a thoufand little fparks, the falfe glare of which rather created 1 momentary dazzle, than threw a fl:eady light upon the point in debate. The petulance of eroundlefs Drefumo- F 2 tion I [ 36 ] tion, an Intemperance of acrimony, and above all, aparty-rpirited o^iatrety, difgraced, and vulganz'd the oratory of the contending par- ties, who, hke mere attornies, maintained their cue of talking eternally ol one fide of the queftion, without knowing the value of mak- ing the fe fair conceffions, thofe occafional ac- knowledgments of right, even in their oppo- nents, which are fo great a grace, and form fuch favorable prepofTeffions of the candor and vvifdom of the party who makes them. The prevalence of the chiefs of the parties, more than any concern for the public, engrofled the attention, and zeal of the humble herds of their refpedive followers, whilfl: fome lay perdue, in rc^r.dincfs to fide with the conquer- or, as foon as it fhould be decided. ^iis nemoriimperitct, qiicm tot a armentafequantur Yet, ^ven in that wretched period, it is but fair to remark, that it was too often the cruel and unjuft pradice to accufe men in great em- ploys, of difhonefly and corruption, whereas they were in truth, rather objeds of the greateft pity. Merc want of parts, or intellec- tual difabili;^ after all, are misfortunes, aod Jiever crimeO^Even that blindnefs of the mofl worthlefs to ' their own infufficiency, that blindncfs, which feeyr^s the tender reparation of nature for her unkind treatment of them, in the dillribution of her choiceft gifts, ac- quits them in all equity of any intc.tional c^uilt m that rage of theirs, of grafping fo te- , JiUWiUUliV [37] nacioully thofe pofts, of their being fo deplo- rably difqualified for which, they were thus invincibly ignorant. It muft not then have been very furprizing, to fee them full of their falfe importance, form'd into a kind of confedera- cy for their mutual fupport againft their com- mon enemies, thofe of a fuperior merit, of which by a kind of paradox of felf-love, they had a fort of inftindive unaccountable apprc- henfion, without any light from their under- ftanding -, for to fee the great man in another, one mufl have fomething of it in one felf. Such a confederacy then, founded upon their common fears, and but the Wronger for the hearty contempt of all the members of it for one another, having juft knic enough to dif- cern one another's weakncfs, which each in- dividual looked upon as his own fecurity from rivalfliip, or favorable to his fchemes of fup- plantment, might, l^om fide, imagine that the Palladium of Britain fpecifically confifted in the nation's being under the proteftion of their wtfdom! Confequently they viewing them- felves in this precious light, might very con- fidently, wifh the loyaleft intentions, ufe all means to keep their hold of power, either on terms of compofition, often grievoufly difap- proved of by thcmfelves, or by kffening their maftcr, in prcfcribing to him their continuance Jn his Icrvice, as if the circumflance alone of their continuing in his fervicc, did not in all confcience tend to make him little enough • whether one confiders the ill done to affairs from [38] from the faint, enervate executioii of^ thefe ilate-eunuchs, or the good their jealoufy hin- d -led, by keening more capable fubjeifls out of office. Yet as thefe poor men probably did the befl they could ; (and what more, in any fente, could be expeded from them ?) and were only inflindtively fond of pov/er, as children are of play-things, tho* they break and fpoil them, nothing could more deferve compaffioa than they did, unlefs perhaps that difgracefully ruined nation, which fliould have been paffive enough to be thus fribble -ridden by them. But the woift of the jeft, and the mod ferious of its conkq'Tences wuild be, that fuch perfo- na^^es, aduatcj i,y that little low cunning, which makes them perfue their petty interefls, in picjudice to thofe much greater ones, which the f^ake they have in their country muft infeparably connedt with its welfire, they would take all the mcafures poffible to beg, and engrofs their future patron, to be- leaguer him with their creatures, who fhould hebetate or jnfpire him with all their own lirtlcnefs of charader, contradlednefs of no- tions, and taftclcfnefs for all that is great, no- ble, and elevated, fo as tc» form a hopeful lit- tle mailer after their own heads, and hearts, whilft to countenance their procedure, to quiet their poiTeffion, and to drown the murmurs of thofe v.ho would wifli him better, they would think their mcck-loyalty abundantly ialved, by crying out in chorus, with great folcmnity of face, God fave kin^ Lo^: ! their whole t 39 ] ' whole little drift would then be to eftablifli .vhat Sir Philip Sidney, fo properly calls, ' the worji kind of OLIGARCHY, that isy when ' men indeed are governed by a few, and yet ' are not taught to know what thofe few be, ' whom they Jhould obey. For they having the * power of kings, but 7iot the nature cf kings, ' life ^ the authority, as men do their farms, of * which they fee within a year thy fiall go out : ' making the ki?2gs fword frike whom they ' hated, the kings purfe reward whom they ' loved, and (which is worjl of all) maki,ig the * royal countenance Jerve to under jnine the royal * authority.^' Such a conduct then might confiftently enough be prefumed of underflandings narrow enough, to imagine, through an inverted po- licy, that they could not found their own greatnefs, better than on their mailer's little- nefs, apes of a Richelieu's ambition, witliout a grain of his genius. But thofe days are palpably over, and it is now full furiiciently feen, that the prefent ilate-manngers, even for the fake of their ov/ri interefl, to (ay nothing of that of their country, in which their fortune and fituation give them a part too confiderable not to be fuppuicd to have fome little regard for it, feek out for men of talents, and abilities to alTifl them in their fevcral departments, and to co-operate with them for the more efFcdtual fervicc of the public. So far are they then from being fillily jealous of fuch fubjedls, that they are fcniible [4o] fcnfible both from hiftory, and even the know- ledge of their own times, that amongft the many miferable miftakes that fools in power commit, one of the very grofleft, is that of choofing fools for their inftruments or fup- porters : fuch a choice too being far from carrying with it all that fafety from rivalfhip they vulgarly imagine. For, befides their making the worft leaning-ftocks in the world, fure as they are to fink under the leaft: weight, or ftrefs laid upon them, and apt to hurt even where they mean to ferve ; befides, their difhonoring the judgment of thofe who employ them, as nothing can be a furer mark of lit- tlencfs than, in that point, the making a little choice, they aimoft ever repay it with ingra- titude : nothing in nature being fo felfidi, fo unfatiable, or fo ungovernable, as efpecially that fort of them the half-witted, whofe in- gredient of fool in their charadter, is never in fo fmall a quantity, as to hinder them from over-rating their own importance, from think- ing they are not a whit lefs deferving than their employers, and from confequently ufing all their little art to fupplant them, as occafioii offers, that thus kicking off their trammels of fubordination, they may let up for themlelves. Thcfe fubalteins too are ever the foremoft, upon any of thofe ill confequences, which naturally follow weak mcafures, to throw the blame upon their patrons, and to join the cry agaiuu liicai. Yet [ 41 J Yet the melioration of management did not advance to the point in^ which we fee it at prefent, but by degrees.^^'»It may be obferved, that in a late conflid^of embattled parties, thofe unmeaning cant-words, his majeftys fervice, and th^ good of the country, which uied to be fo falfely and undecently treated as dif- tinc'l points, and fo emphatically refounded on each fide, worn out as they were to windowed raggednefs, were at lad honeftly dropped. A new aera now opened : a more fair, if not a more modeft fyftem, took place of thofe ftale, and tranfparent impofitions, by which the public had been fo long amuled, and late, but at length, ceafed to be blinded. , I t wa s now "then to be braved,, and the feiders of the conflidling parties put their diffenfions openly and avowedly on the foot of perfonal preten- tion to power. Court and Country were equal- ly out of the queftion : nor was there any other matter for wrangling, fo much as pre- tended, than whether John-a-Nokes or Tom- I a-Styles fliould be the pay-mafter, and of j courfe, implicitly the general of the mcrcena- I ries ; which, by the by, was a matter at bottom of about as much importance to the public, as which ideot of a horfe-fancier fhould 1 have won the la(l race at Newmarket; to that j public I fay, whom ^ fovcly experience had I long fatisfied, that power might change hands, without changing maxims or meafmes ; and that it was lliil the fame dull flate-farce, with perhaps fome little alteration in the calt of parts.^' > Q Buf 1 42 ] But though the interefl of the nation was now no longer ufed, no, not lb much as for a pretence, that did not however fave it from flill being a facrifice, according to antient cuftom. It was flill to the befl bidder, at the expence of it, that power was often put up at audion, and often feen, Hke the Deyrtiip of A ^'^^rs, the prize of the mod noily or tur- bu.wit mutineer. For whenever fufficiently galled, and haraffed out by the worrying of ,fuch as took the (tale, but commonly fuccefsful method of ranting, and bullying themfelvcs up to a proper pitch for being taken off, the head-manager was brought to purchafe his pea-ie, by coming to a compolition with them, it was ever, and that cavalierly enough, at the •cod: of the public welfare V the ^bafis of .their treaty being their giving up fome juftly popular point, or their acquiefcence in fome unbritifli meafure ; and even that mcafure per- .haps fo lamentably unjudicious, and uncon- fcquential, as to be lefs adapted to promote, than to defeat every end propotcd by it. . To evince then the poffibilitv of this lafl •being the cafe, it may be fufficicnt to flate one fuppofition, of whiU, it is to be hoptd, never has been, nor ever will be, in exigence. Jf then minillers, as infenfiblc of their incapacity for puwer, as they are tenac ous of it, (liould, confillently enough with luch a charadcr, be content to hold it of a good, and gracious mafter, who, on being graHficd in his two •ivoiiic ^i;iiiio, Ox iiiuiicy, ajiQ IJ , Ihouid indilitrcntly t 43 ] indifferently enough abandon all the reft to them, would it not be in its confequences the moft perfidious ingratitude, the falieft fervice, the moft ruinous procedure to their country, and themfelves, not to reprefent effedually the obvious impolicy of facrificing the fum of things to fo partial a difpofition ? draining a country, and plunging it into inextricable debt, may be the means of momentary gain to par- ticular perfons ; but muft inevitably, a little fooner or later, ftrain even to breaking, all the ftrings of credit. But certainly not the moft inveterate enemies, or maligners of H , could fuggeft a furer expedient for endangering its fccurity and weFare, than the too vifible a preference of it to a nation, to which the treating it as a principal, not as an accefibry, is not a lefs monftrous difproportion in weight than in meafure. The concentering then to that fpot the whole attention of the ftate, and the whole open drift, or (liallow fub- tendency of its operations and alliances, would only ferve to place that doating-piece of domi- nion in an invidious point of light to the nation which fliould think itfelf flighted for it, or its intercfts at beft but fecondarily or fubordinatc- ly thereto, confidered and managed as It were by a father-in-law ; fuch a jealoufy, even if unjuft, and no more than warranted by ap- pearances, V ..uld be natural: but if well- grounded, the confequences of it would be infinitely worfe, than even that jealoufy. Meafures fo impolitic, and fo diiproportion- G 2 ably I [44] ably partial, could not fail of detrimentally affeaing the great and capital interefts of ths fuperior nation, of wounding its dignity, and and in fhort of Icffening its power, even if it did not its inclination, to proted: fuch a foreign province ; nor could fuch a fituation but ul- timately kindle the national refentment againft thofe weak enough not to have forefeen, or having forfeen, not to have done their duty in preventing it, or at leaf!:, in not lending their miniftry towards it. Nay ! even H— itlelf would have no great reafon to be obliged to fuch a predileftion, which could but ferve to mark it out to the ene- mies of Br— , for being like Achilles his heel, the only r m in which it was vulnerable, at lead whurt it held the dominion of the fea ; of the great and nature' barrier of which, if its connexion with H feems to deprive it, and bid it be no longer an ifland, that dilad- vantage is, however, in fome meafure compen- fated by the proteftion Br— now receives from It. The notion then, of the interefl of H — being the ruling paiTion here, and the vulvar report diffufed of a hoard there of real (not paper) fpecie, pointing it out as the eligible objea of attack, or menace ; no wonder all thole powers, of which it is not abfolutely cut of reach, (hould on any quarrel with ^/ > Single that out as their fairell game, if but to put the nation into the grievous di- lemma, either of the fhame of defertino- it, when obvioully in danger upon their acconnt! or [45] or of great inconveniencies in taking its de- fence upon them, to which lafl nothing could fo much difaffecfl the people, as the imagina- tion of that incumberance having been in- curred unneceffarily, and injurioufly to them- felves. For otherwife, fhould a more en- larged, and true fyftem of policy have pre- vailed, fhould this nation, by a due and v/lCc preference of it, have been kept up to its priftine genuine pitch of greatnefs and power, is there a doubt to be made, but that in point of honor and gratitude, it would have looked on the protection of a country, dear to the uthor of fuch bleflings, as even an indifpen- fable duty ? would there have been fo much as a murmur at any mcafures to have been taken for its defence ? they know very little the generofity of the nation, or do great in- jufticf^ to it, who can think it might not have been very (iifely trufted, in that point : a na- tion which has been very often feen, even ob- trulively to lavifh its blood and treafures in in quarrels of lefs concern to it. Befides that its ftrength would have implicitly been the bulwark of a country connedled to it, and few would have been the foreign powers, that would not have thought twice before they had ventured to attack it, whilft fo refpedably allied. So that giving it the firfl: place, muft have been a prepofterous policy, more adapted to do irreparable damage to the whole, than to fave a part, or rather particle of it. It would be like felling the health of the whole body [46 ] body for the fi^ke of a little finger, which too could not, in tlie end, efcape fliaring its fate. Nothing can then be plainer, without the leaft paradox or forced inference, than that preferring the intereft of H to that of this nation, would have been, in efFcdt, hurt- ing of both, and at once betraying k and El , and efpeci ''y injurious to the dura- tion of power, in fuch as however fond of it, could not, if they had the lead grain of com- mon fenfe, have expeded to keep it long af- ter tlieir klTening fo cryingly that of their country. Nor, in truth, even for their own fake ought they to have wiflied for fuch a continuance. Could they pofTibly but have been fenfible how much their remaining in places^ elTcntially requiring to be filled, and only the emptier for thtir being in them, mull contribute to fink any nation to the bot- tom, of which fuch as they were at the head, they would have been frightned at their own wei._ht. They would have hearkened in time to the piercing cries and groans of their proC- tiate bleeding country, pointing to the wounds received in her vitals, through their means, or for want of their more effe'itual defence, and conjuring them to leave her, before her cafe I'hould become utterly defperate, to the care of more lldlful hands. They might Jiave thought, if of thinking they had been capa- ble, fuch a removal, even no bad bargain for theinfeives, as it might give thofe amongfl: them who had property, rather agreatcrchance of [ 47 ] of preferving what muft be fo unfecure under no better guardianfliip than theirs. They could hardly too envy their fuccelTors in em- ploy, the fcarce not defperate tafk of repairing thofe breaches themfelves had made, and fet open in the public fyflem, for that deftruc- tion to enter in at, not to all appearance fo re- mote as for them to be very fure that things would laft their time, the expedation however of which feemed to have conflituted the not lefs execrable than fooliOily falfe bottom of their whole policy. But fhould that expecta- tion of theirs fail, (and could it either from hiftorical experience, or adual conjundures, be pronounced impoHiMe that it (hould fail?) it would have been worth their while, for their own fakes, to afk themfelves, in time, what, in fuch cafe might poflibly become of their luxury without tafte, of their pride without even the idea amongft them, of dignity, pub- lic or private, or of all their featb'^r of dull lifelefs (late, that has fomevvhat the air of plumes on a herfe, nodding over a corpfe. But, alas ! there is no reafoning with, or proving any thing to infenfibility. To paint then to fuch as they the moving diftrefs of a perilling couni- y, and their own concern in it, would be equally vain. Nor is that cha- raderiftic entirely an unhappinefs to them : or what muft be the cutting felf-contempt, with which they otherwife could not but review thofe fenfelefs delights, they had millaken for Zkii^ uK^axUiw, iiiv.xi pr.;iwi wjiCe vji uuiiiiiuiv, lO folid [48] foHd and permanent inteieRs, and all thofe fri- volous points of parade, on which they had been fo humble as to reft their whole pretence to merit, or dilrindtion, and to which they had facrificed every thing that was intrinficaily great, and noble, like thofe filly negroes, who barter away their moft valuable cort^nodities, for fhells, glafs beads, and fuch like baubles ? from the fame conftitutional unfeelingnefs too, they not only remain calloufly proof againft the confcioufnefs of thofe calamities, being imputable to them, which, by the by would not deferve the name of calamities, if thef afFeded none but them ; but are ever ready, without compuncftion, to throw the blame of their own faults upon the broad back of in- nocent fate, and efpecially upon one another, in fhort, upon any thing, or any other than dear felf. Should they too ever be involved in a general ruin, when none would be better off than thole who had leaft to lofe, if they could not well expedl more pity from their country, than themrelves had (liewn to it, they would at leaft have a ridicule the lefs, in being no longer fo glaring and fo crying a proach to fortune, with rcfped to the lituation of which, were they to be brought down to a level with the loweft vulgar, it would be no more than they had eve;' been in every point, but thofe which are never but amongft the loweft vulgar received as very material dif- ti^ions from it. Ever [ 49 ] Ever true howeyer to their charadler, when the dangers to be feared from their mif-con- du(5t were, furely without the lead pretence to oracle-ihip, or conjuring, long before pre- dicted to them, inftead of the better fenfe of avaiHng themfelves of thofe falutary premoni- tions, their filly dhVegard, or felf-fufficient elufion of their force, turned on fuch objec- tions, as thofe of their coming, either from competitors for their pods, or what was yet infinitely more improbal \ from their envicrs, as if there could, in nr!:ure, have exifted, rational beings of an order low enough to envy them. Sometimes indeed they, or thofe noifome infedls, their pick-thank dependents, for them, affeded an air of contempt, which became them if polTible yet worfe, treating thofe warning-pieces as if difcharged at them from the fcribbling-lofts of hacney-writers, who earned their bread and cheefe by abufing them: as if it fignified five farthings whether felf- evident and confequently felf-authorized truths, upon a juft occafion, came from a fenator, in a robe of ftate, or from a beggar in a ikewered blanket. In what too, could the rank of thofe difgraces to any rank h'^, in the public opinion, a jot fupcrior to the wretchedeft fcribbler ? foi -after all, and at the word, even writing non- fenfe can hardly be lower than living it, more efpecially too, ir. a fphcre, of which the emi- nence but expofes them the more, and of which 'the importance, is but an additional H reafon [so] reafon for treating them with difdain ; for the greater mifchief arifing to the whole commu* nity, from their influence on its welfare, as weeds are but the more obnoxious, the more floriftiing they are, and the choicer the fpot is they fpoil. To fay nothing of that ridicule of which the tranfition is but too natural, and too pernicious, from their perfons to their pofts, titles, or dignities, which are thus de- graded by its, being feen pofllble for them to fall fo low as to their fhare, a ridicule, in lliort, hard to be wiped off by their iefs worth- lefs ficceffors. In this how diametrically op- pofite to the genius of an Epaminondas, who piqued himfelf upon raifing a low ftation, .committed to him, to the confideration of a high one, folely by his perfonal merit, and dignity of adminiftration ! furcly too, bid ftatefmen, or negotiators been hr..ted . h) jails, or prefll'd out of garrets, the) jou.d not well have done less than thofe anti-j^i ..affes, who only furnifhed with every requifite for power, and adion, difpofing of the fupream authority, to|;cther with all the trealare, credit, and forces or the nation, made no ufe of thofe ^advantages, but to prove by doing no more than they did, or rather by undoing fo much, that, in the human intellectuals, there may exift prodigies of littiencfs^ as well a.s of great- nefs. It is however but fair to acknowledge, that they were exceedingly obliging to thofe who had not fupprcft that opinion, which? it murt ' have 1 f 51 ] have been perfedlly innocent, becaufe impoffi- ble for common fenfe not to entertain, of their meafures ; lirft in that diftindtion of them for their difcountenance, fo infinitely preferable, in point of honor, and of tafle, to their friend- fhip or favor ; and next lu taking upon them- felves, beyond what the mofl heated imagina- tion could have prefumed, the talk of verifying every conclufion againft them, more efFedually by their condudt, than what the moft able orators of the bar could fairly refute ; by the whole force of a proflituted rhetoric, or offi- cioufly crufli with the hard hand of the law, fliould it, inconfiflcntly with reafon, fufFer itfelf to be perverted into the protection of nonfenfe and follies, to which it would be doing much too great an honor to take notice of them, if they were not unhappily pregnant with the worft of confequences to a conftitution founded on the law, and to which it mufl: in all reafon be dear, fince the law itfelf would hardly furvive it. With what grace too could they complain, that by lefs refped been fliewn to them, than to the fuffering dignity of a whole nation, the fanduary of government was vio- lated, which themfelves were all the while polluting or pullingdown, under the impudcnt- efl of all pretences in them, thai of palling for its pillars ? Surely too, of all the abfurdities that could enter even into fuch conceptions as theirs, no- thing could equal that of imputing fuch at- tacks to Jacobites, or per fons difaffedted to the 1:1 2 con- [52] eonflitutlon, with which they would fo ab- Airdly make a common caufe, as if fun- ihine itfelf could be clearer than that a zeal tor the conftitution, and a difdain of them (for deteilation is too ferious a term for the futility ^ of that tribe) were fo far from contradidlory lentiments, that they naturally implied one another. If the enemies of the prefent efta- bhfhment had been to form a prayer favorable to their wishes, muft it not have been that fuch might continue in power, as were inca- pable of fervice to it, and who \Vere (o likely by their enervity and mifcondua, to deftroy it as efFecftually, as the worfl of men by treafon prepenfe ? could it then be ftiled impudence or prefumption, for fuch as exercifcd their hberty of reafoning upon thofe great objeds of every fubjed's concern, by which every fubjed is liable in fome degree to be affeded, to fpurn un imputation of difloyalty, from thoie on whom it might with more flicw of reafon have been ftrongly retorted, if, with any ihadow orjuflicc, they could have been accufed of any meaning ? We arc now however, let it once more be obferved, for our comfort, to imagine that the wretched and inglorious times of their fway are happily over, and that the prefent men of power, whether a new let, or the old one (if happily miracles are not ceafed) made ne^v by apolitical regeneration, or in virtue of infpira- tion willchangethe whole face of things. They have at leafl before their eyes admirably inflruc- tive 'I I ' \ t S3 ] tive fpecificatlons of what they have ta avoid, in that woeful Teries of paft blunders, of whi(^h, as the recapitulation would make one fick, fo isthe dilguftful talk unnecelTary from their nptoriety. It is then to be hoped they will exert them- felves in earned, and efFeftually for I'ctrieving the honor and interefts of the nation, now re- duced to a pafs which it would be as hard not to fee, as nor to be afflided for it. fNlycA were thofe great - .^folutions which havefo often/ faved nations on the brink of the precipice J more neceflary than now. Firm,, and high-fpiJ rited meafures, and thofe alone, planned with coolnels, and executed w .ch fire, may yet re- pair that recent lofs and diflionor, for which thoufands of fuch worthlefs lives as his,CwIiofc crime in it, is more immediately in lighf, can be but a paltry atonement to a nation fo deeo- ' ly injured, and fo juftly incenfedj^; whilft pro- bably thofe who were in a gryt meafure, and ' primarily the occafion of it, would not be i forry to fee the people opening in full cry, and \ hunting the change, till they had run their re- fentment out of breath, or evaporated it upon I that pitiful ohjed. ** ^ — J ' '"Tjrit:iin then colleded and reconcentered in herfelf; has yet refources enough to make herfclf once more dreaded, or courted, when ftjadily conducted by men, who, from the merit of capable iicads, joined to that of clear hearts, fhall defcrve the confidence of the public, without which nothing effedlual can be ex- pcded. For as the national llrcngth princi- 1^. '» f54] pally^tcfidcs in the bulk of the people, the appreh^nfion of their ruin coming prccifely from ^^he^e their remedy (hould be, would fink them into a fatal torpor, or indolence of defpair, Very unfavorable to the contribution? of their powers towards faving their finkingf country. May they then have the fatisfadidn of feeing the British fyftem in charge with • thofe men who are the cap.ableft of doing juf- tice to that great and facred truft ! may all falfe, fclfifh, or party-conliderations be drowned in that (ingle one of fuperior merit to ferve the nation : which if not the hope, muft at leaft be the wi(h of every true Briton ! ^* FINIS. 4 i i