ifc 
 


 
 
 
Cui Bono? 
 
 OR, AN 
 
 INQUIRY, 
 
 WHAT 
 
 BENEFITS CAN ARISE 
 
 EITHER TO T H E 
 
 ENGLISH OR THE AMERICANS, 
 
 THE 
 
 FRENCH, SPANIARDS, OR DUTCH, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 GREATEST VICTORIES, OR SUCCESSES, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 PRESENT WAR? 
 
 BEING A 
 
 SERIES OF LET T E R S, 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 M O N S I E U R NE C K E R, 
 
 . 
 
 LATE CONTROLLER GENERAL OF THE FINANCES OF FRANCE, 
 
 BY JO SI AH TUCKER, D. D. 
 DEAN O F G L O C E S T E R. 
 
 GLOC ESTER: 
 PRINTED BY R. RAIKES, 
 
 FOJI T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND; 
 
 SOLD ALSO BY EVANS AND HAZELJL, 
 
 IN GLOCESTER. 
 
- 
 
t 
 LETTER*!. 
 
 To M O N S I E U R N E C K E R. 
 
 Cut Bono ? 
 
 S I R, 
 
 A Man who has diftinguiflied himfelf 
 in fuch critical Times as the pre- 
 fent, in the difficult and envied Station of 
 Controller-General of the Finances of 
 France, is certain of being,, attacked, and 
 as fure of being defended, ^.Multitudes of 
 Writers. You have experienced the Ef- 
 feels of both Parties ; and are, perhaps, 
 by this Time, fufficiently cloyed with the 
 Flattery of the one, and grown callous to 
 the Cenfures of the other. Therefore it is 
 natural for you to conclude, that when any 
 other Writer is bringing your Name again 
 before the Public, he is only repeating 
 what you have fo often heard. But if 
 
 * 
 
 you, Sir, will honour thefe Letters with 
 A 2 a care- 
 
 321885 
 
4 C U I B O N O? 
 
 a careful Peruial. you will find hardly 
 one Thing in them fimilar to what you 
 have read before, and yet many of them, 
 perhaps, not unworthy of your ferious At- 
 tention. 
 
 As I wifh to treat you with all the 
 Refpect due to your diftinguifhed Charac- 
 ter; and as my Aim, in the Profecution 
 of my Subject, is entirely the Good of 
 Mankind ; I prefume it is unneceffary, 
 as a Stranger to your Perfon, to apologize 
 for the Liberty I take in thus addreffing 
 you. And here allow me to obferve, that 
 I was favoured with theCorrefpondence of 
 your Predeceffor, Monf. TURGOT, both 
 during the Time he was in Office, and 
 after his Refignation ; and that I am the 
 fame Perfon, of whofe Writings Monf. 
 NECKER himfelf has fometimes conde- 
 fcendcd to make mention; and more par- 
 ticularly at that Juncture, when the idle 
 Project of invading England, became the 
 
 general 
 
OR, AN IN Q,U I R Y, &e. 5 
 general Topic of Converfation throughout 
 all Europe. 
 
 SETTING, therefore, all Apologies a- 
 fide, and endeavouring to divert myfelf of 
 national Partialities, and local Prejudices, 
 to the utmoft of my Power, I now enter 
 on the Work propofed, not as an Englifh- 
 man, but as a Citizen of the World ; not 
 as having an inbred Antipathy againft 
 France, but as the Friend of the whole 
 human Species. 
 
 WHATEVER were your private Views, 
 either of Intereft, or of Honour, in pub- 
 lifhing your Compte Rendu, the Example 
 you have fet deferves univerfal Commen- 
 dation. And it is greatly to be wiihed, 
 that it were made a fundamental Law in 
 all arbitrary Governments, that each Mi- 
 nifter, in the grand Departments of Truft 
 and Power, (houldpublifli annual Accounts 
 of his refpedtive Adminiflration; Ac- 
 
 counts 
 
6 C U I BON O ? 
 
 counts I mean, which could ftand the Teft 
 of an open and impartial Scrutiny, free 
 from thofe falfe Colourings, and wilful 
 Mifreprefentations, with which yours 
 have been fo frequently and exprefsly 
 charged ; and from which I fear you have 
 not yet been able to clear yourfelf to gene- 
 ral Satisfaction. 
 
 Bur waving every Thing of this Na- 
 ture* [becaufe I do not intend to be either 
 your Advocate, or Accufer] and taking for 
 granted, what you do not wi(h to conceal, 
 that the grand Deiign of the Government, 
 under which you live, in ordering your 
 Account to be made Public, was to fhew 
 the World, that France had fo many Re- 
 fources ftill remaining, as would exhauft 
 and ruin England in the Progrefs of this 
 war ; I will here fuppofc, for Argu- 
 ment Sake, that every Thing has fucceed- 
 ed, or fhall fucceed according to the 
 warmeft Wifhes of the moft bigotted 
 
 Frenchman. 
 
OR, A N I N dU I R Y, &c. 7 
 
 Frenchman. Poor England is no morel 
 Afo# #/0dk delenda, fed penitus dele t a eft^Car- 
 thago ! In {hort, the Lillies of France^ 
 like the Eagles of Rome, are every where 
 triumphant ! 
 
 WELL, my good Sir, after all this Ex- 
 pence and Trouble, after fo much Hurry 
 and Confufion in fubduing this devoted 
 Ifland, after fuch repeated Victories, and 
 immortal Fame, will you permit us to 
 reft a while, and to take -Breath ? And 
 fmce the French have now raifed their 
 Nation to this Pinnacle of Glory, let us 
 paufe a little, to view the extended Prof- 
 pedt: fo far below us ? This is all the 
 Boon I afk, and in granting this, I hope 
 we (hall be induced to think in the next 
 Place, [for we have not yet thought upon 
 the Matter] what would be the inevitable 
 Confequences of thefe mighty Revolu- 
 tions, now fo ardently defired by every 
 
 Frenchman 
 
S GUI BONO? 
 
 Frenchman, were Providence to permit 
 them to come to pafs. 
 
 SUCH a Subject is furely of Importance, 
 to the Welfare and Happinefs of Man- 
 kind. And this is the Subjedl I propofe 
 for the enfuing Letter. In the mean 
 Time, I own I am under a ftrong Temp- 
 tation to add a few Words concerning 
 the infatuated Condud of my own Coun- 
 try-men, the Englijh, in the former War, 
 as a Warning and Memento to future 
 Politicians. 
 
 ALMOST thirty Years ago, when our 
 Colonifts in America were at leaft 
 fifty to one more in Number than the 
 Handful of Men, who could have in- 
 vaded them from Canada, I fay, when 
 thefe fifty undaunted Heroes, of the true 
 Eng/tfli Breed, pretended to be afraid of 
 one Frenchman Common Senfe might 
 
 have 
 
OR, AN IN Q,U I R Y> &c. 9 
 have taught us to have fufpedted the 
 Truth of fuch pretended Fears j Com- 
 mon Senfe alfo might have fuggefted the 
 Expediency of paufing a while, and of 
 examining into Facts, particularly relat* 
 ing to the Fur-trade, before we rufhed 
 into Hoftilities on fuch weak and frivo- 
 lous Pretences : Laftly> Common Senfe 
 might have told us that it would be bad 
 Policy to put thefe turbulent and factious 
 Colonies above all Controul, [if we really 
 thought them worth the keeping] and of 
 placing them in that very State of Inde- 
 pendance, which they had ever wifhed 
 for, and had been conftantly aiming at, 
 I fay, Common Senfe might have fug- 
 gefted all thefe Things> if we had not 
 difdained to alk the Advice of fuch a 
 Counfellor. Nay more ; there was a 
 Man at that very Time, who remonftrated 
 fhongly againft the Abfurdity, not to fay 
 Injuftice of fuch Proceedings. He (hew- 
 ed, with an Evidence not attempted to 
 B be 
 
io C U I B O N Q ? 
 
 be invalidated, that the Americans had 
 not affi-gned a fufficient Caufe for going to 
 War for their Sakesj and that their 
 pretended Dangers either of being driven 
 into the Sea, or of being put between 
 two Fires [the conftant Cry, and Clamour 
 at that Jundlure in all our Public Papers] 
 were mere Imposture, and Grimace. 
 And what is beyond all, he offered to 
 prove from the Englijh Cijftom-Houfe 
 Books of Entries or Imports, that the 
 Quantity of Furs brought into England 
 from America was almoft double to what 
 it had been in former Times, initead of 
 being monopolized (as was afierted) by 
 the French : Though I muft own, that 
 had this, really been the Cafe, it would 
 have been fomething new in the Annals 
 of the World, that a great Nation, and a 
 civilized People had made War on ano- 
 thdr... Nation, becaufs the latter had 
 bought -more Skins of Cats, Foxes, Bad- 
 gers, and of fuch Sort of Vermin, than 
 
 the 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, &c. n 
 the former had been able to do. Laftly, 
 the fame Perfon ventured to foretel in the 
 moft direct Terms, that the driving of 
 the French from the Englijh back Settle- 
 ments would be the Signal to the Colo- 
 nies, to meditate a general Revolt. But 
 alas ! he was preaching to the Winds 
 and Waves: Some would not voucfo- 
 fafe an Anfwer to his Letters; 
 others were pleafed to tell him, that 
 the American Colonifts were better 
 Judges of their own Dangers, than he 
 had any Right to pretend to be ; and 
 that the Reflections caft upon them for 
 harbouring thoughts of Independance, 
 and of planning Schemes of Rebellion, 
 were bafe and fcandalous, and utterly 
 void of Foundation. Moreover, not afety 
 plainly declared, that whofoever mould 
 attempt to raife fuch Sufpicions againft 
 the bed of loyal Subjects, the faithful 
 Americans, could be no other than a Spy 
 in Difguife, and a Penfioner to France. 
 B 2 [You, 
 
12 GUI BONO? 
 
 [You, Sir, who fo juftly complain, that 
 the fever al Penfions on the French Lift 
 amount to the enormous Sum of Twenty- 
 eight Millions of Livres, or about 
 .1,272,727. Sterling; you, I fay, can 
 beft tell, whether you have met with the 
 Name of TUCKER among the long Roll 
 of Englifh Mock Patriots, and French 
 Penfioners.] 
 
 Now, as we have fuch a recent Example 
 before our Eyes of thofe fatal Confe- 
 quences, which might have been prevent- 
 ed by a cool and timely Reflection ; it is 
 to be hoped, that the like blind, infa- 
 tuated Part will not be adted over again ; 
 but that the Powers at War will take 
 Warning by the paft, and confider, 'ere it 
 be too late, what would be the Effedls 
 of the prefcnt furious Contefts, were they 
 even to be crowned with all that Brilliancy 
 and Succeis, which their own fond Hearts 
 can wifli, or defire. 
 
 WITH 
 
OR, AN IN Q^U I R Y, esfr. 13 
 
 WITH thefe Sentiments, and with juft 
 Efteem for your great Talents, I have the 
 Honour to be, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your moft obedient, 
 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 LET- 
 
14 C U I B O NO? 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To MONSIEUR NICKER. 
 
 Cui Bono? 
 
 S I R, 
 
 TH E former Letter being only an 
 Introduction, we are now coming 
 to the main Subject. Poor England is 
 filbdiled by the combined Forces of 
 France and her Allies. Perhaps, indeed, 
 me may not be fo abfolutely conquered, 
 as to be annexed as a Province to the 
 French Empire, neverthelefs fo totally 
 ruined as to become a Bankrupt, and to 
 make a moft defpicable Figure both in the 
 political and commercial World. Or, if 
 you would chufe an abfolute Subjedion 
 rather than a partial one, the Difference 
 between the one Condition and the other 
 is not fo very material, but that this alfo 
 may be granted for Argument's Sake. 
 d therefore is no longer an inde- 
 
 pendant 
 
O R, A N I N Q. U I R Y, &c. 15 
 pendant State, but a Province to France, 
 and to be governed by a Vice Roy of 'the 
 grand Monarch ! Can you afk for more ? 
 
 WHAT then is to be the Confequenes 
 of this mighty Change ? -And what Ef- 
 feds are to follow, in the Courfe of 
 Trade, and in the Syftem of Politics, 
 from this grand Revolution ? Refpedl- 
 ing Trade, it is evident to a Demonftra- 
 tion, that were a Tradefman, or a Shop- 
 keeper to be afked, whether it is his In- 
 tereft, that his richeft Cuftomers and beft 
 Paymafters fhould become Bankrupts and 
 Beggars ? he would give you a very fhort 
 Anfwer. Perhaps likewife he would be 
 tempted to afk in his Turn, " Do you 
 " mean, Sir, to infult my Underftanding. 
 " or to exprefs your own Ignorance by 
 " afking fuch a foolifh Queftion ?" But 
 it feems, public trading Nations are to 
 proceed by oppofite Methods, and by 
 Maxims of Trade and Commerce, quite 
 
 contrary 
 
16 GUI BONO? 
 
 contrary to thofe of Individuals. Bodies 
 Politic are to ufe every Effort in their 
 Power to beggar their Cuftomers firft, 
 and to trade with them afterwards, as 
 the wifeft Courfe : So that what would 
 have been the Height of Folly and Ab- 
 furdity in the one Cafe, not to fay, Wick- 
 ednefs and Immorality,- is to be confi- 
 dered in the other as the Depth of Pru- 
 dence, Fore-fight, Sagacity, Penetration^ 
 or whnt you pleafe. Here therefore, let 
 us begin our Accounts, and open our 
 Books Debtor and Creditor between one 
 commercial Nation and another. 
 
 THE Englifh, when a great and rich 
 People, bought vaft Quantities of the 
 choiceft Wines and Brandies which 
 France could produce; and they were 
 known to be the beft of Cuftomers by 
 paying for them in ready Money, and evea 
 by advancing Sums aforehand ! But 
 when thefe Dealers fliall be reduced to 
 
 the 
 
OR, AN INQUIRY, &c. 17 
 
 the loweft Ebb of Want and Indigence, 
 they will buy more Wines and Bran- 
 dies than ever they did, and become better 
 Cuftomers than they were before. This 
 is Penetration ! this is Sagacity ! 
 
 AGAIN, the Englijh, when in great 
 Prrfperity, and over flowing with Riches, 
 were remarkably vain and oftentatious : 
 And their Females in particular, (as it was 
 natural for the Sex) vied with each other 
 in all the Parade of Finery. Hence they 
 were induced, and by their Wealth they 
 were enabled to buy the richeft Silks and 
 Velvets, and the moft elegant Gold and Sil- 
 ver Laces, that could be wrought in France: 
 For nothing was thought to be too coftly, 
 provided it came from your Country. In 
 fhort, French Fafhions were the Stan- 
 dards for Drefsj French Cooks taught 
 the Laws of Eating $ and French Milli- 
 ners, Taylors, Frizeurs, and Dancing- 
 Mafters prefcribed the Rules of Good- 
 Breeding and Politenefs. But when thofe 
 
 C happy, 
 
 
18 GUI BONO? 
 
 happy, wifhed-for Times fhall come, 
 when England is to be ftripped of all its 
 Riches, then thefe quondam good Cufto- 
 mers will buy more Silks, more Brocades, 
 more Gold and Silver Lace, and more 
 
 k 
 
 every Thing than ever they did before, 
 becaufe they will have nothing to pay : 
 And the whole Tribe of Cooks, Milli- 
 ners, Taylors, Frizeurs,, Perfumers, &c. 
 &c. will think thernfelves fuperlatively 
 happy in working gratis for the beggared 
 Englifti.^ >This again is another Speci- 
 men of confummate Wifdom, and deep 
 Penetration ! 
 
 ONCE more, and I have done. ---- You 
 obferve in your * Compte Rendu, that Fo- 
 reigners travelling into France import an- 
 nually no lefs a Sum than thirty Millions 
 of Livres, equal to 1,363,636!. fterling : 
 , And this you confider as fo great an Ac- 
 
 * Page 96, of the Original, and 99 
 Translation. 
 
 of 
 
OR, AN IN Q.U I R Y, fcr*. 19 
 
 quifition to the Riches of France [I own, 
 I think differently] that you exultingly 
 tell the King, your Mafter, that the Mo- 
 ney expended by thefe Travellers is one of 
 the mofl profitable Branches of Commerce 
 in his Kingdom. Whether it be fo, or nut, 
 oneThingis certain, that One-half at leaft, 
 if not Two-thirds of this enormous Sum 
 isEng/ifh Money, fpent by that Race of Be- 
 ings, whom you in France Rile Milords Ang- 
 lois, et Miladies Angloijes. Therefore, when 
 thefe new-eredted Lords and Ladies, who 
 have at prefent more Money than Wit, 
 fhall be reduced fo low, as not to have one 
 Sous in their Pockets, I leave you to guefs 
 how far the French Politefle, either at Pa- 
 ris, or in the Provinces, will be extended 
 towards them ; and whether fuch penny- 
 lefs Strangers will be welcome Guefts. 
 Much more might be added ; but furely I 
 have faid enough, as far as Trade or Com- 
 merce is concerned. 1 will therefore 
 
 now proceed to another Subject, that of 
 
 Politics. For the Blefllngs which are to 
 
 attend this grand, and intended Revolu- 
 
 C 2 tion, 
 
20 GUI BONO? 
 
 tion, whenever it fhall happen, will pro- 
 bably be as fignal in the political World, 
 as in the commercial. 
 
 THE great Grievance of the Colonies, 
 and their bitter Complaints againft the 
 Mother- Country were, that they were 
 not governed a la Monfr. LOCKE. For, 
 to give them their Due, they hardly made 
 an Objeftion to any Thing befides. They 
 did not pretend to fay, that the Half-pen- 
 ny Tax on News-Papers at firft, or the 
 Three-penny Duty on Teas afterwards, 
 were intolerable Burdens in themfelves; 
 but all the Grievance was, that the Par- 
 liament of Great-Britain, and not the 
 Affemblies of America, had legalized 
 them, and ordered them to be colle^ed. 
 " For Man, every Man, every human Mo- 
 " ral Being, according to the immutable 
 <f Laws of GOD, and the genuine Voice 
 " of Nature, is born free, and ought 
 " fo to remain, as long as he pleafes, be- 
 " caufe he is the Subject of no Govern- 
 
 " ment 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, &c. 21 
 " ment whatever, 'till he himfelf {hall 
 " chufe that particular Society, to which 
 " he intends to belong. Therefore he has 
 " an UNALIENABLE Right to be Self-* 
 " taxed, Self-governed, and Self-con- 
 " trolled. And to affert the contrary, is 
 " to be an Advocate for Tyranny, and to 
 " be a declared Enemy to the Liberties of 
 " Mankind." 
 
 Now, Sir, as you know, that this is 
 the Language of Mr. LOCKE, and of all 
 his Difciples, more efpecially the Ameri- 
 cans, fy^jT who have made thefe very Max- 
 ims the Ground of the prefent War, and 
 of all the Miferies confequent thereupon ; 
 I afk in the Name of Common Senfe, 
 what are you about? And do you really 
 wifh, that thefe levelling definitive 
 Principles fhould be made the Standard of 
 the Politics of France ? If fo, What be- 
 comes of the Title of your reigning 
 Prince? And what Right has LEWIS 
 XVI. to any one Province in his Domini- 
 ons ? 
 
22 C U I BONO? 
 
 ons ? Belides, if French- Men, -I fhould 
 rather have faid French-Women [for the 
 Ladies are the Sovereign Judges of what 
 is right, or wrong, in the Politics of 
 France, notwithstanding your Salique 
 Law 5 and I am informed, that Republica- 
 nifm is now the TON], therefore I fay, 
 if thofe fprightly Females, who lead the 
 Fafhion, fhould learn from their good Al- 
 lies, the Americans, the edifying Leflbn, 
 that all Taxes are free Gifts, which may 
 be with-held at Pleafure, and that no 
 Law is binding, to which the People 
 have not confented,- nay, that every Indi- 
 vidual hath a natural unalienable Right 
 to infift on the Reiteration of thefe 
 Privileges, and to inflict exemplary 
 Vengeance on the Offenders ; what 
 have you to fay for yourfelf ? And 
 how can you efcape this general Indig- 
 nation ? You, who have paid fo many 
 Compliments to the Monarch, which 
 ought to have been addreiled to his Maf- 
 ters, the People 3 and have infinuated, 
 
 and 
 
O R, A N IN Q_U I R Y, & f . 23 
 
 and more than infinuated, that whatever 
 Reformations you propofed to make, 
 ought to be moft thankfully received by 
 the Subjects, as Matters of Grace and 
 Favour, and not as what they had a 
 Right to demand, and to COMPEL their 
 Prince to perform. Moreover, you your- 
 felf have acknowledged, that the Syftem 
 of Taxation, which you have been con- 
 fidering, is a very bad one, is amazingly 
 abfurd, and very impoveriihing ; and 
 that hardly any one Part thereof is wliat 
 it ought to be either in the Manner of 
 afleffing, or of collecting, or in the vari- 
 ous Ways of expending the fame. Now, 
 after this frank Confeffion, with what 
 Face can Monfieur NECKER, or can any 
 of the Minifters of France, who have 
 countenanced Dr. FRANKLIN, and fup- 
 ported his Caufe, object to the bittereft 
 Remonftances of the French Parliaments, 
 or to the moll violent Outrages of the 
 People, even were they to break forth 
 into open Rebellion ? Or will you pre- 
 tend 
 
24 GUI BONO? 
 
 tend to fay, that Frenchmen have not at 
 leaft as juft a Right to threw off thofe 
 Loads of numerous and abfurdly com- 
 plicated Taxes, under which they have 
 fo long groaned, as the Americans had 
 for revolting from under the Britifh Go- 
 vernment on Account of an Half-penny 
 Stamp on a News-Paper, or a Three- 
 Penny Tax on a Foreign Luxury. 
 Perhaps indeed you will fay, and I think 
 it is the only Thing that can be faid 
 with any Appearance of Truth, that it is 
 of little Confequence what political Opi- 
 nions the French Nation fhall imbibe in 
 Theory, provided there are 200,000 Bay- 
 onets ready pointed at their Breafts to 
 make them renounce them all in Practice. 
 Be it fo. But this, after all, is a moft 
 cruel Infult on an injured People, who 
 dare not refent ; inflead of being any 
 Apology to them for fuch a Conduct. 
 And indeed, firft to teach Men the Prin- 
 ciples of Rebellion, and then to condemn 
 them, if they fhould offer to rebel, is 
 
 chara<5ta- 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I fc Y, &e. 25 
 charadteriftical of the worft of Beings, 
 whofe Employment is faid to be, firft to 
 tempt, and then to punifh. Befides, Sir, 
 the moft refined Politicians of you all 
 'may be miftaken, as to the final Event of 
 thofe Things. For Statefmen ought to 
 have remembered, that there are critical 
 jundtures, even in the moft defpotic 
 Countries, when Government muft yield 
 to popular Clamour, and give up the fup- 
 pofed Delinquents, as Victims to appeafe 
 an enraged MOB, or fall a Sacrifice itfelf. 
 This being the Cafe, what can be the 
 prefent Intention of the French Cabinet in 
 efpoufing the Caufe of the Americans? 
 And, now that there are fo many Com- 
 buftibles already heaped together in every 
 Part of France, are you really refolved 
 to fet Fire to the Pile, and to blow the 
 Flames, in order to fhew, how dexte- 
 roufly you can extinguifli them ? A 
 ftrange Proceedure this. 
 
 i * 
 
 But even fuppoiing, that no Rebellion, 
 D or 
 
26 GUI BONO? 
 
 or public Difturbances fliould enfue from 
 thole enthuiiaflic Notions concerning the 
 NatureofGoverment,whichtheFm///Mi- 
 niftry have every where diffeminated; 1H11 
 there is another Evil to be apprehended, 
 of which you and the Miniflers fcem at 
 prefent to be totally ignorant : The Evil 
 I mean, is that perpetual Lofs, and con- 
 tinual Emigration of French Subjects to 
 America, which will certainly take Place 
 in Confequence of the flattering Invita- 
 tions they fhall .receive from thence. 
 When the common People of any Coun- 
 try in Europe fhall be told, that they may 
 have Land \nAmerica for nothing, and 
 be their own Landlords; that there they 
 will be free from VafTalage and Services 
 of every Kind, having neither Tithes, nor 
 Rents', nor Taxes, to: pay -, but to be at 
 Liberty to do almoit as they pleafe, [which 
 was very nearly the Cafe before the pre- 
 fent war] Is it to be wondered at, that 
 Numbers fhould migrate to fuch a Coun- 
 try ? And in Proportion, as a freer Com- 
 munication 
 
O R, A N I N Q. U I R Y, &c. 27 
 munication is opened with it, by the daily 
 Arrival of French, and American Ships in 
 each others Ports, and by their continual 
 Intercourfe, Can it be expected, that 
 your new Allies will not decoy, under 
 one Pretence or another, Numbers of the 
 moft ufeful Hands in France to cultivate 
 their Waftes ? Or is there any one Inftance 
 of their defifting from thofe Artifices, 
 when they had the Power and Oppor- 
 tunity of putting them in Practice ? 
 Name it, if you can. But befides ill this, 
 when we farther contemplate the un- 
 fettled Difpofition of the French Nation, 
 the moft prone of any to migrate in fearch 
 of Adventures ; Surely, it muft be In- 
 fatuation in you all, or fomething worfe, 
 to encourage that Difpofition in your Peo- 
 ple, which was too ftrong before, by 
 throwing Baits in their Way, to forfake 
 their own Country, and to fettle in Ame- 
 rica. Yet this is refined Wifdom ! This 
 is found Policy ! How unhappy am I, 
 that I do not underfcand a Tittle of it ! . 
 D 2 HOWEVER, 
 
28 GUI BONO? 
 
 HOWEVER, Sir, there is one Circum- 
 ftance in your Compte Rendu, which de- 
 ferves the Thanks of every honeft Man, 
 and real Patriot, French, or Englifh. It 
 is the faithful Pidure you exhibit in your 
 two Charts, or Maps of the Revenues of 
 France, and of the arbitrary, partial, and 
 .unequal Modes of afleffing and collecting 
 them, and of your own honeft, tho' unfuc- 
 cefsful Endeavours, to correct thofe Evils 
 which refult from their deftruftive Tenden- 
 cy. An Englijhman could hardly have had an 
 Idea that fuch glaring Abfurdities could ex- 
 ift,asaVingtieme, or Five per Cent. Tax on 
 the Profits of Induftry and Labour, on the 
 one Hand or a Land-Tax and Capitation 
 on the other, left loofe to arbitrary Will 
 aiid Pleafure, without any xt Standard 
 for regulating the fame : An Engli/hman, 
 could have no Notion, that the Guftom- 
 Houje Duties on Goods and Merchandifeon 
 one Side of a Mountain, a River, a Brook, 
 a Trench, a Wall, a Road, or a Row of 
 frees, {hould be totally different from 
 
 thofe 
 
OR, AN IN ClU I R Y, &c. 29 
 thofe on the other Side, within the fame 
 Kingdom : An Englifliman would think 
 it very ftrange, that the fat Sheep and Cat- 
 tle deftined for the Ufe of the Capital, 
 muft firft be brought to fome neigh- 
 bouring Town, there to be excifed, before 
 Permiffion could be granted for flaughter- 
 ing, and bringing them to Market : But 
 above all, he would be fhocked at the 
 very Thought, that the Price of Salt [that 
 great Neceffary of Life, which can hardly 
 ever be mifapplied > therefore no Luxury] 
 mould be more than THIRTY Times 
 dearer at one Place, and in one County 
 (perhaps a bordering one) than in another, 
 owing to the great Inequality of therefpec- 
 tive Tax. Thefe Things, an Engltfhma^ 
 could not have conceived ;- nor could he 
 have imagined, that fo many Thoufands of 
 Perfons mould be imployed as inland Cuf- 
 tom-Houfe Officers, throughout every 
 Part of France, to prevent Smuggling 
 from one County to another, on Account 
 
 of this Difference of Taxation 3 whereas 
 
 '>' 
 
 an 
 
3 o C U I BONO? 
 
 an equal, and impartial Tax, every where 
 alike, [as here in England] would have fu- 
 perfeded the Neceffity of imploying a fin- 
 
 gle Man. 1 own, Sir, T was never 
 
 able (tho' I often endeavoured) to make 
 my Countrymen feel the happy Difference 
 between their Condition, and that of their 
 Neighbours, the French, in the great Ar- 
 ticle of Taxation, 'till your Compte Rendu 
 enabled me to do it : To you, therefore, 
 I moft willingly refer them for further 
 Satisfaction. 
 
 LASTLY, as you have like wife obferved, 
 that thefe barbarous Parts of the French 
 Conflitution [your own Words] cannot 
 be altered or amended, 'till the Arrival of 
 Peace, I fincerely join in your moft fer- 
 vent Wifhes, that thofe peaceable Times 
 were immediately come. Nay more, I 
 will add, what perhaps you do not expect, 
 that I hope to be able to prove in my next 
 Letter* that it is as much the real Intereft 
 of Great Britain, that France fhould be 
 
 a rich 
 
OR, AN IN Q^U I R Y, fc?<r. 31 
 a rich Country, and not a poor one, as I 
 have already proved, that the great 
 Riches of England are beneficial to 
 
 France. 
 
 IN the mean Time, I have the Honour 
 to be, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your moft obedient, 
 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 J.T. 
 
 LET- 
 
3* C U I BONO? 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To MONSIEUR NECKER, 
 
 Cut Bono? 
 S I R, 
 
 I AM not willing to make fo bad a Com- 
 pliment to Monfieur NECKER'S good 
 Senfe, as to fuppofe him not convinced, 
 that it is the true Intereft of France to have 
 Great-Britain a rich Cuftomer, and not a 
 poor one. We are now to reverfe the 
 Scene, and to confider France as a Cuf- 
 tomer to Great-Britain. And if an equal 
 Degree of Evidence fhould appear in Fa- 
 vour of this Side the Queftion," as there 
 did on the other, furely nothing lefs than 
 national Infanity can account for the pre- 
 fent Antipathy between two Nations, 
 whofe real and true Interefts are infepara- 
 bly the fame. 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
OR, AN INQJJIRY, Vc. 33 
 
 ENGLAND therefore, according to the 
 prefent Hypothecs, is to be fuppofed to 
 be victorious every where. Her Fleets 
 ride triumphant on the Seas, ' and her 
 Land Armies are crowned with Laurels. 
 Whereas a Train of Misfortunes, or Mif- 
 conduct, and a Series of bad Difcipline, 
 or bad Generalfhip, Cowardice, or Blun- 
 ders, or whatever you pleafe, have reduced 
 France to the lo weft. Ebb. [Many in- 
 deed here in England would greatly re- 
 joice at Tuch an Event, and think it the 
 happy './Era, from which to date their 
 National Grandeur, and Profperity. For 
 every Country abounds in Smatterers, 
 who have great Zeal, with little Know- 
 ledge ; and England in particular contains 
 a Soil and Climate more peculiarly adapt- 
 ed to the Propagation of fhallow, half- 
 thinking Politicians, than almoft any 
 other upon Earth.] 
 
 
 
 AMONG the various Errors, which have 
 " difturbed the Intellects, and perverted the 
 
 E Judgment 
 
34 CUIBONO? 
 
 Judgment of a great Part of Mankind, 
 none have been more fatal to the Peace 
 and Happinefs of the World, than the 
 Glory of Conqucfl, and the Jealoufy of 
 Trade. With the Firft of thefe Notions 
 I fhall not meddle at prefent, becaufe I 
 have already defcanted freely upon it in 
 various Parts of my Publications, and may 
 probably touch on it again, before I con- 
 clude the prefent Treatife. The Jealoufy 
 of Trade is therefore the great Object now 
 before us. France and England 'are Rivab 
 in Trade ; and England is Jealous. What 
 therefore is to be done in fuch an unhappy 
 Situation? And. how is this tormenting 
 Pillion to be either indulged, or retrained? 
 Shall it be gratified at the Expence of 
 the Peace and Happinefs of Mankind? 
 Or fhall it be fo direded and con- 
 dufted, as to be made fubfervient to the 
 Public Good ? 
 
 AFTER considering, and re-confidering 
 this Matter, I can think but of three 
 
 Things, 
 
OK, AN IN Q.U I R Y, fcfc. 35 
 
 Things, which can be made applicable 
 to the prefent Cafe; The Firft is, to 
 gratify this definitive Paffion to the ut- 
 moft, by knocking every Frenchman on 
 the Head, wherever he can be met with, 
 by Sea or Land, for the unpardonable 
 Crime of making Goods better, or felling 
 them cheaper than the Englifh : The 
 iecond is a Confequence of the former, 
 namely, to knock all Cuftomers on the 
 Head, Natives or Foreigners, who fhall 
 dare td buy fuch Goods, inftead of pur- 
 chafing every Thing at the Englifh Shop* 
 The third is, to make better Goods our- 
 felves, and to fell them cheaper j as a 
 Means of attracting a general Courfe of 
 Trade to ourfelves, without doing Vio-* 
 lence to our Neighbours. 
 
 THE two Firft of thefe, are what n0 
 People upon the Face of the Globe will 
 dare openly to avow. Yet, it is much to 
 be feared, that Motives not altogether 
 unlike them, have a fecret Influence on 
 
 E a the 
 
36 C U I B O NT O ? 
 
 the Conduct of Mankind, both nationally, 
 and individually, could they be feen in 
 their proper Colours, without Artifice or 
 Dilguife. 
 
 BUT happily for the Peace of the 
 World, fuch Motives are not only too 
 bad, to be publicly avowed ; but are al- 
 fo too dangerous to be attempted in a 
 general Way ; becaufe they would cer- 
 tainly end in the Deftruction of the De- 
 ftroyers. The 3d Propofal therefore is 
 the only one, which ought to be reduced 
 to Practice ; namely, to endeavour to make 
 our own Goods better, and to fell them 
 cheaper than our Rivals. Now, Sir, this 
 is not only what we EnglifJi ought to do, 
 but I aver that it is, what we actually do 
 perform in various Inftances; as I mall 
 prefently fet forth : And therefore our 
 National Jealoufy againft France is fo 
 much the more unreafonable and ab- 
 furd. 
 
 MY 
 
OR, AN IN <^U I R Y V &V. 37 
 MY firft 'Proof (hall be brought from 
 your own Country, Switzerland itfelf. 
 For there, if any where, the Manufactures 
 of France may be fuppofed to have an Ad- 
 vantage over the Englifh, by Means of the 
 Vicinity of the two Countries to each 
 other, without any Sea, and indeed with 
 hardly any Land to intervene. And yet, 
 Sir, you know very well, that in all the 
 Branches of the Metal Trade, viz. Lead 
 and Tin, Copper and Brafs, Iron and 
 Steel, the, Englijh have an univerfal Supe- 
 riority : Alfo that in many Articles of 
 Woollens, of Worfteds, of mixt Stuffs, 
 Cottons, and Cotton Velvets, Camblets, 
 &c. &c. the Englifh are more than a 
 Match for the French in every Market from 
 the Lake of Geneva to the Lake of Con- 
 Jlance, and to Bajil on the Rhine. More- 
 over, as to Chintzes, Callicoes, and all 
 Kinds of Eajl India Goods, alfo Paper 
 Hangings, and fome Sort of Furniture, 
 fome Kinds of Toys or Trinkets, and all 
 Kinds of mathematical Apparatufles, and 
 
 Chirurgical 
 
3 S GUI BONO? 
 
 Chirurgical Inftruments, the French can 
 hardly pretend to vie with the Englijh in 
 the Goodnefs, and Cheapnefs of thefe 
 Things. This, Sir, is my firft Proof ^ 
 and furely you will allow, that, as far as 
 it goes, it carries Conviction along 
 with it. 
 
 Bur 2cfly. I will adduce America it&\f>. 
 and compel it to be an unwilling Witnefs 
 to the fame EfFeft. Long before our 
 trufty and well-beloved Colonies had open- 
 ly declared for Independance, they were 
 fecretly preparing for this grand Event. 
 From Year to Year they were laying in 
 larger Stores of fuch Goods as were not of 
 a perifhable Nature, but might be ware- 
 * houfed without Loft or Wafte : And du- 
 ring the two Years immediately preceding 
 their famous Non -importation Scheme, 
 they ftrained every Nerve, and ftretched 
 their .Credit to the utmoft, in order to ac- 
 cumulate the greateft Quantities of all 
 Sorts of Englijh Manufactures. Unhap- 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, &c. 39 
 
 pily for this credulous Country, they fuc- 
 ceeded but too well in all their Devices, 
 and contracted Debts to the Amount of 
 4,000,000!. Sterling. Then they pulled 
 ff the Maik, and threatened immediate 
 DeftruCtion to our very Being, as a trading 
 Nation, if we dared to require them to 
 contribute to the general Expence, which 
 they had 'occafioned. " The Trade of 
 * the Colonies, Sir, was, the Trade of 
 " Trades. For all others were nothing, 
 " and lefs than nothing, in Comparifon 
 " thereto. Poor England would be ruin- 
 " ed j the Ports of London, Briftol, Li- 
 " verpool, Glafgow, &c. &c. &c. would 
 ** become mere Deferts, were it not for 
 " the Colonies : All our Manufactures 
 " at Birmingham, Woherhampton, Man* 
 " chefler, Leeds, Halifax, and in all the 
 " Cloathing Counties, would be entirely 
 " at a Stand, and Grafs would grow in our 
 " Streets." Thefe Calamities would cer- 
 tainly befall us, unlefs the Colonifts mould 
 ftill enjoy the fam$ Privileges as ourfelves, 
 
 with 
 
4 o GUI BONO? 
 
 with many additional ones ; and unlefs 
 they fhould have their Property flill de- 
 fended, their Battles fought both by Land 
 and Sea, and their Wars maintained, with- 
 out bein'g obliged 16 '^j a fingle Sixpence 
 towards any of r them, '"'$& more than 
 they themfelves fhoald chufe to give* 
 
 THE Americans having thus eofitra&ed 
 a Debt of Four Millions Sterling, due to 
 our Merchants, and having at the fame 
 Time involved the Mother-Country in a 
 new national -Debt of upwards of Fifty 
 Million-Si incurred in their Defence, be- 
 gan to acT: their Parts with lefs- Referve. 
 Their next Scheme was, to fet up Manu- 
 factures of their own, in Oppoiition to 
 ours, and alfo to import Manufactures 
 from, France, from Holland, and every 
 other Country, in order to fuperfede the 
 Ufe of ours. And then our Doom was 
 fixed for ever! We were ioft-and un- 
 done ! 
 
 " 
 
 WELL, 
 
OR, AN I N Q_U I R Y, Vc. 4' 
 WELL, Sir, all thefe Schemes having 
 been tried, and tried again, what was the 
 Confequence ? Almoft every one of them 
 has failed : And Trade, after fome In- 
 terruption, has, for the moft Part, re- 
 turned into its former Channel, Nay, 
 French Ships, and other neutral Bottoms 
 [as long as the Farce of Neutrality could 
 poffibly be afted] were employed in car- 
 rying BritiJJi Manufactures to her rebelli- 
 ous Colonies. So that thefe our quondam 
 Customers, now become moft bitter Ene- 
 mies, inftead of being able to fupply them- 
 felvesout of their own Stores, or to pro- 
 cure Supplies from other Countries, were 
 obliged, for their own Sakes, to have Re- 
 courfe again to the Manufactures of Eng- 
 land; And that too at an Expence of at 
 leaft Forty per Cent, dearer than they 
 might have purchafed the fame, had they 
 continued in their Allegiance, and had 
 known when they were well. 
 
 F AFTER 
 
42 GUI BONO? 
 
 AFTER thefe Examples, both of Swit- 
 zerland, and of the Colonies, I hope you 
 do not exped: any other Proofs in Confir- 
 mation of this Point ; nay, I flatter my- 
 felf, that both French) and Englifh Readers 
 are by this Time perfectly convinced, that 
 there are feveral Species of Englifli Manu- 
 fadhires both much cheaper, and much 
 more defirable in themfelves, than thofe 
 of France : Confequently, that we ought 
 not to be frighted with that Bugbear any 
 more, viz. of the French under-felling 
 us in Foreign Markets ; I mean in fuch 
 Articles as thefe above-mentioned. 
 
 THIS being the Cafe, it is furely by no 
 Means incredible, that the Englifli Mahu- 
 faftures mould find a Vent in France, 
 or that the French Nation fhould have 
 
 a peculiar Fondnefs for them.- * 
 
 That thefe Manufactures are much 
 cheaper, hath been proved already by a 
 Series of Evidence not to be refilled : 
 And that they are alfo more defirable in 
 
 themfelves, 
 
O R, A N I N Q. U I R Y, &fc. 43 
 
 themfelves, that is, better made, more 
 convenient for Ufe, neater, more elegant- 
 ly finifhed, and in general, better ena- 
 melled, or poliilied, is confeffed by all, 
 and more efpecially by our own ungrateful 
 Colonifts, who would have been thelaft 
 of all Men living, to have given a Pre- 
 ference to EngHJh Manufactures, if they 
 could have known where to have got better. 
 
 THE Principles both of Cheapnefs, and 
 intrinjic Goodnefs being thus eftablifhed, 
 Motives very fufficient in themfelves to re- 
 commead the Ufe of Englifli Manufac- 
 tures to any People, if not too poor to 
 buy them, I will now add another In- 
 ducement, which operates on the French 
 Nation with uncommon Force and Energy; 
 and that is, Novelty, Variety, and Shew. 
 The Paffion of wifhing to be diftin- 
 guifiied is indeed univerfally implanted in 
 Human Nature; and may be madefubfer- 
 vicnt bothtogcod, and bad Purpofes, ac- 
 cording as it is applied* But I think it 
 F 2 muft 
 
44 GUI BONO? 
 
 muft be allowed, that the French Nation 
 poflcfs it in an higher Degree than moft 
 others. Hence it follows, that as feveral 
 Species of Englifli Manufactures are not 
 only cheaper, and better, than what can 
 be procured elfewhere, but have like- 
 wife this farther Advantage, when they 
 enter France, that they are foreign, 
 therefore novel,* and therefore afford 
 greater Varuty y they have this addi- 
 tional Recommendation, that they attratt 
 the Notice of the Beholders more ftrongly 
 than French Manufa&ures of the fame Kind 
 can be fuppofed to do. Indeed we often 
 find, that this Paffion for Variety, and for 
 being diftinguifhed thereby, operates fo 
 powerfully as to fuperfede moft other Con- 
 fiderations. Were it not fo, how can 
 you account for that ardent Defire in 
 many French Ladies to be dreffecl in 
 Englifh Silks, and to wear EngliJJi Rib- 
 bons, Engllfli Gloves, &c. &c. &c. 
 whilft our Englifh Ladies are equally un- 
 happy, unlefs they can appear in French ? 
 
 Nay, 
 
OR, AN IN dU 1 R Y, &c. 45 
 Nay, What elfe can account for that 
 Cuftom in the Royal Palaces of France, 
 which appears fo ftrange in our Eyes, 
 and fo repugnant to our Ideas ? I mean 
 the permitting very confiderable Quanti- 
 ties of Englifli Jewels, and various Toys 
 and Trinkets [Bijouterie d'Angleterre} 
 to be fold openly, and avowedly as Englifh, 
 at the Palais Royal in Paris, alfo at 
 Verfaillesy Fontainbleau, &c. &c. even 
 within the Hearing of the King, if his 
 Majefty fhould happen to be paffing by. 
 That this is, or at leait, that this was 
 the Fa6t," I appeal to yourfelf, I appeal 
 to all the World. But I have done. For 
 furely this Part of the Subje<fl requires 
 no farther Illuftration. 
 
 LET us therefore now confider, Whe- 
 ther it be the Intereft of Great Britain 
 to reduce fuch a Kingdom, and fo difpofed 
 towards the Ufe of our Manufactures, to 
 Want and Beggary, had me really the 
 Power of effecting fuch a Cataflrophe ? 
 On the contrary, Whether it be not 
 
 our 
 
46 GUI BONO? 
 
 our true Intereft to promote the Profpe- 
 rity of France by all jufl and honourable 
 Means, for the very fame Reafon, that 
 we ought to promote our own ? One, or 
 other of thefe Alternatives muft be Right, 
 and the other Wrong. If France mould 
 grow poorer, fhe muft be fo much the 
 worfe Cuftomer to England-, if richer, 
 probably fo much the better. This is 
 fa plain a Cafe, that one would think, 
 national Prejudice itfelf could not be able 
 to prevent fuch an evident Truth from 
 being univerfally acknowledged, and af* 
 fented to. But as this Demon, the Jea- 
 loujy of Trade, puts on various Shapes in 
 order to haunt, and terrify Mankind 
 wkh dreadful Panics, and groundlefs 
 Fears, I will endeavour to purfue him 
 throughout all his Forms, in or- 
 der to convince the World, if I can, 
 that Providence never defigned us to be 
 Beafts of Prey, to bite and devour one 
 another ; but on the contrary, that 
 whatever is a iocial Duty in a moral 
 
 Senfe. 
 
OR, AN INQUIRY, -& t . 47 
 Senfe, was likewife intended by our 
 wife, and gracious Creator, to be our 
 real, lafting, and national Intereft in a 
 commercial. And in the Profecution of 
 an Undertaking of this Nature, I can- 
 not doubt of the warmeft Wifhes of 
 every Lover of Mankind, and real Pa- 
 triot, French, or Englifh ; more efpeci- 
 ally of the benevolent MonfieurNECKEiu 
 I therefore here beg his Acceptance of 
 my belt Thanks for giving me an Op- 
 portunity of purfuing this favourite Sub- 
 jedt; and that he would believe me to 
 be, 
 
 His obliged, 
 
 And devoted humble Servant, 
 
 J. T. 
 
 LET- 
 
4* GUI BONO? 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 further Confederations on the Unreafona- 
 blenefs of the Jealoujy of Trade, when 
 attempting to exclude Rivals, and of the 
 Inefficacy of it toward the attaining of 
 any good End whatever. 
 
 To MONSIEUR NECKER. 
 
 Cui Bono? 
 
 SIR, 
 
 FROM the Days of HESIOD to the 
 prefent Hour, it has been obferved, 
 that two of a Trade can never agree. The 
 Catalogue which HESIOD gives of thefe 
 Contenders is in Part fo ludicrous, that 
 I cannot fuppofe that Beggars and Ballad- 
 Singers were armedbyany Legiflaturewith 
 monopolizing, and exclufive Privileges. 
 Nay, I think it may be inferred from the 
 
 Poet's 
 
OR, AN INQJJIRY, &c. 49 
 
 Poet's own Words, that all Trades were 
 once free > elfe, why fhould he declare, 
 that an Emulation among Tradefmen 
 was for the Public Good ? Why, I fay, 
 unlefs that Emulation was permitted to 
 operate ? 
 
 BUT whether there were exclufive 
 Companies of Trades fubfifting at that 
 Jundlure, or not, we know that in Pro- 
 cefs of Time the monopolizing Spirit pre- 
 vailed almoft every where; fo that no 
 Opportunity was omitted of eftablifhing 
 Companies of Reftraint and Exclulion 
 under one Pretence or other. 
 
 IN my late Anfwer to Mr. LOCKE'S 
 Theory of Government, I have fhewn 
 [Page 310] that the firft Charters given 
 to Tradefmen by Gothic Princes, and 
 their feudal Barons, were Charters of 
 meer Protection. Theie were greatly 
 wanted, and very neceflary in a barbarous 
 Age, when all Europe was over-run with 
 G armed 
 
5 o C U I B O N O ? 
 
 armed Men, who were in fadt no better 
 than Banditti, and who thought they had 
 a Right to feize on thofe, and on their 
 Property, as lawful Plunder, who were 
 not protected. But when a Set of perfe- 
 cuted Artificers were once collected toge- 
 ther, by Means of a Charter, into a Place 
 of Strength and Safety, and near fome 
 great Caftle, they were fecured frtfhi far* 
 ther Infults ; fo that neither the Free- 
 booters of the Prince, nor of the Barons, 
 dared to moleft them. Alfo being im- 
 powered to eleft their own Magiftrates, 
 and to make By-laws For their better Go- 
 vernment, they had the Advantage of 
 having their Differences decided among 
 themfelves, arid Juftice adminiftered at 
 their own Doors. Now all this was right 
 and proper ; and had thefe Mechanics pro- 
 ceeded no farther in the Affair of Incor- . 
 poration, and their Define of Proteaian, 
 they would have done a firiguhr Service 
 both to themfelves, and to Mankind. 
 But unhappily for the Public, and in the 
 
 End 
 
O R, AN I N Q^U I R Y* &c. 51 
 
 End for themfelves, this would not con- 
 tent them : For they were no fooner fe- 
 cured in their own Property, and per- 
 mitted to enjoy the Fruits of their Induftry. 
 and Labour, than they began to invade 
 the Property of others ; and from being 
 perfecuted, they commenced violent 
 Perfectnors. Under Pretence of making 
 Regulations for the Good of Trade, and 
 cf keeping up the Credit of Manufac- 
 tures, they introduced Monopolies and 
 Exclufions without Number ; fo that 
 were a Collection to be made of all the 
 Tricks, Artifices, and Difguifes which 
 thefe Men introduced under the Mafk of 
 Zeal for the public Good, but in Reality 
 to difcourage Emulation, and to prevent 
 Rivals in their refpe<live Tra.des, per- 
 haps it would exhibit one of the moft 
 curious Figures of human Knavery 
 blended with human Folly, that ever 
 appeared. 
 
 But indeed, Sir, you in France have 
 G 2 rendered 
 
52 C U I BONO? 
 
 rendered this Exhibition unneceflary on 
 our Part , confequently all that we have to 
 do, is to add a few Touches to your capital 
 Piece. Your Predeceflbr, Monfieur TUR- 
 GOT, had amaffed together fuch Heaps 
 of Abfurdities, copied from the By-laws, 
 and exclufive Restrictions of your feveral 
 Companies of Trades, in order to expofe 
 both their Knavery, ana their Folly, that 
 I really thought, when he had obtained 
 a folemn Bed of Juftice from his Royal 
 Matter at Verf allies, I2th March 1776, 
 for the Abolition of them, Impudence 
 itfeli would not have been able to have 
 withftood the Force of fuch complicated 
 Evidence. And I congratulated the Mi- 
 nifter, who had honoured me with a 
 printed Copy of the Proceeding, on the 
 great Victory he had gained over the 
 greater! Enemies of France* Ignorance, 
 Idlene/s, and Fraud; Victories of more 
 real Confequence to the Grandeur and 
 Profperity of any Kingdom, than all 
 the Battles won by her moil auguft So- 
 vereigns, 
 
OR, AN IN Q,U I R Y, &c. 53 
 
 vereigns, or ableft Generals. But alas ! 
 his Triumph was but fhort j a fine 
 Dream [beau Reve] as he expreffed it 
 in a fubfequent Letter, a Phantom, and 
 no Reality. And the Reward he, re- 
 ceived, for attempting to do his Country 
 fuch eminent Service, was to be dif- 
 carded. 
 
 Sir, in thefc Particulars, [that is, in 
 the demolifhing exclufive Charters] you 
 muft allow, that England enjoys a mani- 
 feft Superiority over France. Our exclu- 
 five Corporations, and Companies of 
 Trades in Towns and Cities, have at pre- 
 fent very little Power of doing Mifchief, 
 compared with what they formerly had. 
 For Men's Eyes begin to be opened every 
 where : And the flourifhing State of thofe 
 great manufacturing Places in England 
 [the greateft perhaps in the known World, 
 certainly the greateft in Europe} where 
 every Man enjoys. PERFECT FREEDOM to 
 follow that Courfe of Trade, to which his 
 
 Genius 
 
54- GUI BONO? 
 
 Genius or Circumffonces are beft fuited ; 
 * I fay, this flourishing State has made 
 the dtilkjl of us to fee/, that Induftry and 
 Ingenuity are beft excited by conftant 
 Emulation j and that no Man ought to 
 be armed with the Power of a Law, or 
 with an exclufive Privilege, to crufh his 
 Rival. Nay, we can go farther : For we 
 not only fee/, but alfo reafon a little on 
 this Kead : I fay, a little \ for alas ! it 
 is not much. May our reafoning Facul- 
 ties daily gather Strength, fo that good 
 Serife and real Patriottfm may every where 
 prevail ! However, we can even now dif- 
 cerri clearly enough, that the Schemes of 
 fhort-fighted Tradefmen, in excluding 
 their Brother-Tradefmen from being their 
 Rivals, muft end in their own Lofs and 
 Difappointment ; becaufe fuch Devices 
 are no other than palpable Cheats put 
 upon themfelves. Take for Inflancc the 
 following Illuftration. A Set of Mecha- 
 nics, or common Tradefmen, a Baker, a 
 Butcher, a Shoe-maker, a Carpenter, a 
 
 Shop-keeper, 
 
OR, AN IN Q.U I R Y, Vc. 55 
 Shop-keeper, and a Taylor,' being met 
 together in deep Confultation, refclve to 
 exclude all thofc Interlopers, who not 
 having ferved regular Apprenticeships, 
 dare to manufacture Goods, or not being 
 free of Companies and Corporations, 
 dare to vend them. Filled with the pa- 
 triotic Refolutioh of promoting the Good 
 of Trade (as their cant Phrafe is) the 
 Baker opens the Affair. He obferves 
 with great Sagacity, that Butchers, Shoe- 
 makers, Carpenters, Shop-keepers, Tay- 
 lors, &c. &c. whether free, or not free, 
 and whether regularly bred to their re- 
 fpeclive Trades, or not, all alike eat 
 Bread. Therefore he has no Objection 
 again ft Numbers of fuch Tradefmen fet- 
 tling near him, in order that they may 
 eat his Bread : But as to that impudent, 
 interloping Fellow [pointing at the poor, 
 Non-Freeman Baker] who has fet up a 
 Shop in his Neighbourhood to take away 
 his Cuftomers, he is refolved to punifh 
 him, as a Terror to others. The Butcher 
 
 comes 
 
56 C U I BONO? 
 
 comes next; and he follows the Baker 
 in the fame Strain ; and fo on, till the 
 Farce has quite gone round. And then 
 at the Foot of the Account thefe wife 
 Schemers have difcovered, that they 
 have gained, juft nothing at all; but on 
 the contrary, that by their mutual Exclu- 
 fions, they have damped the Spirit of In- 
 duftry and Emulation both in them- 
 felves, and others. 
 
 THUS, Sir, we reafon in England: 
 And what is mi\ch better, in many 
 Cafes thus we act. For though in fuch 
 a Conftitution as ours, it is dangerous to 
 meddle with antient Charters, even where 
 their Faults are very apparent, yet we 
 frequently correct their bad Effects, with- 
 out feeming to touch the Foundation, 
 The Liberty of Trade granted by Acts of 
 Parliament to Perfons of a certain De- 
 fcription [which Privilege is now ex- 
 tended to all who ferve in the Militia,] 
 goes a great Way towards defeating the 
 
 Projects, 
 
O R, A N IN Q_U I R Y, tft. 57 
 Projects, and preventing the monopo- 
 lizing Mifchiefs of ignorant, fliert- 
 fighted Tradefmen. But above all, our 
 Courts of Juftice do, for the moft Part, 
 favour the general Liberty of the Sub- 
 jedt, wherever they can ; for when 
 any Caufe of this Nature is brought 
 before them, the Judges, as well as the 
 Council, hardly ever fail to obferve, in 
 fumming up the Evidence, that the 
 Ground of Complaint furnifhes the 
 ftrongeft Evidence againft the Juftice of 
 the Complainant's Cafe. " Had the 
 " perfecuted Defendant, fay they, been 
 " an unthrifty, improvident, or unfkil- 
 " ful Man ; had he fold his Goods 
 " dearer, or made them worfe than the 
 " Plaintiffs ; thefe People would have 
 " taken no Notice of him for fuch 
 " Mifdemeanors, notwithftanding their 
 " Boafts for the Good of Trade, and 
 " for fupporting the Credit of Manu- 
 <c failures^ but would have permitted 
 " him to be ruined in his own Way. 
 H " Whereas 
 
$8 C U 1 B O N O ? 
 
 " Whereas the 'real Objection of his 
 " Profecutors is plainly this ; he is more 
 " careful, more frugal, more dexterous, 
 " and ingenious than they are : And 
 *' this is the unpardonable Crime, which 
 " they are now profecuting, and wifliing 
 " to puniih." 
 
 Now, Sir, as thefe Arguments are jult 
 and right ; and as in all theie Proceed- 
 ings- we prove otirfelves to be much more 
 enlightened than you are in France [I 
 fpeak of y6ur practical Knowledge, not 
 of your 'theoretical;] furely one might 
 have A peeled, that we mould have been 
 able to have extended to fh Cafe of 
 rival Nations, the fame Train of reafon- 
 ing, which we had fo judicioufly applied 
 to the Cafe of 'rival Individuals. But 
 a! is ! I know r.ot how it is, here our 
 reafoning Fr j;,ies 3 (where moft wanted) 
 totally f:, ti us : And l^ere we feein to be 
 arrivwQ at our Ne plus ultra : For our 
 Zeal is fo blinded, that we cannot allow* 
 
 the 
 
O R, A N I N Q. U I R Y, fcV. 59 
 
 the fame Maxims to be as conclufive in 
 the one Cafe, as in the other, though 
 they certainly are. " What ? fays the 
 " honeil Englijhman, ought we not to 
 " be jealous of the Increafe of the 
 " Trade of France, which is our Rival? 
 " Ought we not to prevent her from 
 " growing rich, if we poflibly can ? 
 " Surely we ought ; becauie her Riches 
 " are our Poverty; and her Poverty is 
 " our Riches. We are therefore the 
 " natural, and neceflary Enemies to 
 " each other ; and fo muft remain till 
 " the End of 
 
 THOUSANDS, Sir, and Tens of Thou- 
 lands, implicitly admit thefe Pofitions, 
 without Examination : Nay, many are 
 fo credulous, as to make them a Part of 
 their political, and commercial Creeds, 
 though notorious. Unbelievers m Things 
 of a better Nature. For my Part, I 
 never was, and probably never fhaii be 
 a Convert to iiich Doctrines. The 
 H 2 Multitude, 
 
60 GUI BONO? 
 
 Multitude may believe what they pleafe ; 
 but I hope I am a Proteftant of a more 
 confiftent Texture, than to afcribe Infal- 
 libility to any human Beings whatever. 
 After having rejeded the Pretenfions of 
 the Pope and his Conclave, it is hard, 
 if it fhould be expe&ed, that I fhould 
 blindly, fubmit to the idle Decifions of 
 Ale-houfe Politicians, or, what is (till 
 worfe, to the venal Declamations of 
 Party-Scribblers. Could it Indeed be 
 made to appear, that the Supreme Being 
 is not able, or if able, is not willing^ to 
 govern two fuch large Diftri&s as France 
 and England, with as much Wifdom and 
 Goodnefs, as our earthly Governors can 
 make the feemingly clafhing Interefts of 
 different Cities, Towns, or Individuals, 
 within their own Dominions, to harmo- 
 nize together for the Good of the Whole; 
 I fhould then be inclined to believe, 
 that national Antipathies ought to be 
 encouraged, and that frequent Wars, as 
 a Confequence thereof, ought to be pro- 
 
 fecuted 
 
OR, AN I 'N a u I R Y, &V. 6r 
 fecuted with unrelenting Vengeance. 
 But I hope, I have made the contrary to 
 appear with an Evidence not eafily to be 
 fhaken, much lefs confuted, 
 
 HOWEVER, I have not yet exhaufted 
 my Subjedl : For, in Addition to every 
 Thing which hath been already advanced, 
 I now beg Leave to obferve, that even the 
 Pretences for national Jealoulies between 
 France and England, are much lefs plaujibk 
 than thofe w r hich might have arifen be- 
 tween ariy two neighbouring Countries on 
 the Globe. Thus, for Example, the 
 Genius of a Frenchman, nationally confi- 
 dered, is quick and lively, rapid and de- 
 fultory ; that of an Englifliman penetrating 
 and thoughtful, methodical and eorreft. 
 In the one Fancy is predominant, in the 
 other Judgment. The Frenchman's bril- 
 liant Fancy leads him to excell in almoft 
 all the Works of Ornament and Shew : 
 The Englishman's folid Judgment may be 
 traced in the Manufacture of fuch Goods 
 
 as 
 
62 GUI BONO? 
 
 as are fitteft for general Ufe and Conve- 
 nience. A Frenchman wifties to ftrike 
 the, Eye. of the. .Spectator at the firft 
 Glance; an EngliJIiman ftrivesto call forth 
 his Attention to examine the Goodnefs of 
 the Work, and the Skill and Contrivance 
 of the Workman. Thefc Obfervations 
 have been often made: Indeed they are 
 very obvious. Why then is not the pro- 
 per Inference deduced from them ? An 
 Inference of fo much Confequence to the 
 Peace and Happinefs of Mankind ? 
 Namely, that fuch different Talents and 
 Capacities cannot, properly fpeaking, be 
 Rivals to each other ; for they act in dif- 
 ferent Spheres, and tend to different Ends 
 and Ufes. Therefore there is fo much 
 the lefs colourable Pretext for national 
 Jealoufy between France and England, re- 
 fpe&ing Trade, inafmuch as there can 
 hardly be a national Competition between 
 them. 
 
 MOREOVER, as the Matter which we 
 
 are 
 
OR, A tf IN Q_U I R Y, & f . 63 
 are now upon, is of fuch vaft Importance 
 to the Peace and Happinefs of Society, 
 I muft yet confider it in another Point of 
 View. The Illuftration of the Subjed: 
 hiay perhaps appear to fome Readers to be 
 too ludicrous : But as the Obfervations are 
 juft, and the Confequence very momen- 
 tous, I fhall be lefs anxious refpe&ing any 
 Cenfure on that Head. Hce Nugce Jeria 
 ducunt. 
 
 THE Province of Monfaur le Valet * 
 and of Monf. le Frizeur and of Mada- 
 ftioifelle Id Coifeufe, &c. is to fabricate 
 \vith their own Fingers, thofe pretty Be- 
 ings, called Beaux and Belles ; Things, 
 Which for the moft Part owe their Ex- 
 iftence to a lively Conception, and a 
 fprightly undefinable ye ne fcai quoL 
 Confequently no Syftem of Machines, pro- 
 perly fpeaking, can be ufed, in the For- 
 Ination of fuch Animalculae, and in giving 
 them the finifhed Grace. For all depends 
 on the prefent Fancy, Tafte, or Ton. 
 
 In 
 
64 C U I , B O N O ? 
 
 In a Word, the Mode, or Faihion is, the 
 great Empire, in which France has 
 reigned, and probably will always reign 
 without a Rival. The Cafe of the plod- 
 ding "Englishman is of a quite different 
 Completion. He excells in the Diflri- 
 bution of Labour into diftinct Portions, 
 and of adjufting each Portion to the Skill, 
 and Strength, and Age, and Sex of the 
 Perfon to be employed. Moreover he has 
 hardly his Equal in the Conftrudion of 
 Machines for the various Purpofes of dif- 
 ferent Manufactures.- But lie cannot adapt 
 the Coggs of his Wheels, his Screws, his 
 Pullies, or his Levers, his Wind, his 
 Water, or his Fire-Engines to the Fabri- 
 cation, of Beaux and Belles. This is an 
 
 ..; 
 
 Affair quite diftincl;, and will ever fo re- 
 main : Confequently in thefe Things he 
 is neceiTarily deficient. Indeed, had it 
 been poffible for him to have applied his 
 mechanic Genius,, and commercial Ma- 
 chines to fuch Purpofcs, there is no 
 Doubt to be made but the Britifh Manu- 
 factures 
 
OR, A N I N Q_U I R Y, &c. 65 
 fa&ures of Beaux and Belles would have 
 been the belt, and cheapeft, and the moft 
 exquifitely polifhed upon Earth. 
 
 HENCE therefore it feems to follow, 
 that both the French and the Englijh ought 
 to be content with their refpeftive Talents, 
 and not to attempt thofe Things, in the 
 Execution of which they will, for the 
 molt Part, be fure to fail. And if this 
 Inference be a juft one, it will alfo follow, 
 that were the two Nations to enjoy afolid 
 Peace, [which they hardly evejr will do, 
 while this Fiend, the Jealoujy of "Trade is 
 fo wing Difcord between them] they would 
 be much the richer, and if the richer, fo 
 much the better Cuftomers to each other. 
 In fuch a Cafe, as France encreafed in 
 Wealth, the Frenchman would wiih to en- 
 joy fundry Articles of Ufe and Conveni- 
 ence, .which he never would have thought 
 of in his poor Eltate : And therefore he 
 would purchafe them (either mediately, 
 or immediately) at the Englifli Market; 
 
 I becaufe 
 
66 C U 1 BONO? 
 
 becaufe there is the greateft Choice and 
 Variety, and becaufe there alfo he will 
 find almoft all Kinds of Manufactures 
 made the beft, and fold the cheapeft. On 
 the other Hand, in Proportion as England 
 grew richer, the Englifli of both Sexes 
 would wifh to diftinguiih themfelves in 
 French Modes and Fafhions, a^id to im- 
 prove, as Lord CHESTERFIELD phrafes 
 it, in thofe Graces, which are not the 
 Growth of this Country. 
 
 HERE then I alk, Is there any Thing 
 unnatural in fuch Proceedings ? Any 
 Thing, on either Side diftionourable or 
 bafe ? Why therefore fuch an Outcry 
 about the Lofs of Trade ? And what Rea- 
 fon can be afligned for harbouring national 
 Antipathies againft each other ? Nay, I 
 Avill go farther : Suppoiing that both 
 Sides kept within certain Limits* which it 
 is the Bufinefs of every wife Legiflature to 
 regulate, and prefcribe ; and fuppofing, 
 that they did not run into Exce/s, what is 
 
 there, 
 
OR, AN INQ.U-IR-Y, &c. 67 
 there, which the ftridleft Moralift could 
 cenfure, or the wifeft Statefman, and moft 
 enlightened Patriot could wifh to alter in 
 the Conduct of either Nation ? Much 
 more might have been added ; but truly I 
 have faid enough. At leail, if by this 
 Time you, and others will not acknow- 
 ledge yourfelves Converts to my Dodlrine, 
 I am fully perfuaded, that you will give 
 me fome Credit for the Goodnefs of my 
 Intention, though at the Expence of my 
 Underftanding. Better pleafed with fuch 
 a Compliment, than with a contrary one, 
 
 I have the Honour to be, 
 Your obliged, 
 
 And devoted humble Servant, 
 
 J. T. 
 
 I 2 LET- 
 
68 C U I BONO? 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 The Cafejlated between England and Ame- 
 rica, fuppoftng England to be victorious, 
 and the Americans vanquiflied in this 
 Difpute. 
 
 To MONSIEUR N E C K E R. 
 
 Cut Bono ? 
 
 SIR, 
 
 1CNGLAND and America are at War, 
 and have been fo for a feries of Years. 
 Immenfe Treafures have been fpent, Tor- 
 rents of Blood fpilt, numberlefs Lives 
 loft, befides thofe who fell in Battle ; and 
 Confufion, and all Kinds of evil Works 
 have every where prevailed, in order to 
 obtain, What ? England fays, that ihe 
 fights to recover the Allegiance of her 
 revolted Colonies : And America, that 
 fhe fights for Independance. 
 
 I DO 
 
OR, AN IN Q^U I R Y, 69 
 
 I DO not here enter into the QuefHon, 
 which Side was originally, or is now to 
 blame, according to the Terms of the 
 Englijh Conftitution j Who are in the 
 Right, and who in the Wrong in this 
 unhappy Difpute ? That is a diftincT:- 
 Confideration, foreign to the Subject now 
 before us. My prefent Bufinefs is fim- 
 ply this : To enquire, What Benefits or 
 Advantages are to be obtained by Suc- 
 celTes on either Side, iuppoiing either 
 Side to be vi<ftorious ? > 
 
 AND firft, as to England's recovering 
 America. England therefore is fuppofed 
 to prevail ; and the Rebellion to be 
 fupprefled. Nay, that we may not do 
 Things by Halves, we will fuppofe far- 
 ther, that an Union as complete, and a 
 Reconciliation as cordial have at laft 
 taken Place, as ever did. Therefore 
 Cui Bono? And what Benefits, when 
 Accounts are fairly balanced, is England 
 
 to 
 
70 C U I BONO? 
 
 to receive from this Return of American 
 
 Allegiance ? 
 
 THREE Things are faid to be the End 
 and Object of our prefent unremitting 
 Endeavours. 
 
 FIRST, We propofe to recover our loft 
 Trade with the Colonies : 
 
 SECONDLY, We hope, that when a 
 Reconciliation fliall take Place, the Ame- 
 ricans will be perfuaded (though not com- 
 pelledj to bear fome Share in the general 
 Expences of the Empire. 
 
 AND thirdly, We conceive, that by 
 their Submiffion and Obedience we fhall 
 recover our wonted Renown and national 
 Glory. 
 
 Thefe are all the Motives real or pre- 
 tended, which can be affigned for the 
 
 Continuance 
 
OR, AN IN a^ I R Y, Vc. 71 
 Continuance of the prefent War. Let 
 us therefore examine each of them fe~ 
 parately; and then we may the better 
 
 attend to their collective Force. 
 
 AND 'firft we propofe the Recovery 
 of our Trade. Trade, Sir, is a very 
 vague Term ; and may ftand for any 
 commercial Intercourfe between Nation 
 and Nation, or between Man and Man, 
 however carried on. But, in the Place 
 before us, the Term muft fignify the Ex- 
 portation of Britijh Manufactures into 
 America, and the Importation of Ame- 
 ikan Produce into Britain. This Ex- 
 portation, and this Importation, it feems, 
 we have loft : And War and Vidlory are 
 propofed as the propereft of -all Meafures 
 for the Reparation of our Loffes. Now 
 it happens very unluckily for the Advo- 
 cates for the prefent War, that both 
 thefe Proportions are egregioufly falfe ; 
 Falfe, I mean, in the Senfe by then* 
 intended. For we have no otherwife 
 
 loft 
 
72 GUI BONO? 
 
 loft our Trade with America, than as 
 both the Americans, and ourfelves are 
 become much the poorer, and there- 
 fore fo much the worfe Cuftcmers to 
 each other, by Reafori of thofe enormous 
 Expenccs, which the War has occafioned: 
 - At the fame Time, that the Price of 
 the Goods an,d Commodities of the refpec- 
 tive Countries is prodigioufly enhanced to 
 the Confumers ; enhanced, I fay, on ac- 
 count of higher Freights, higher Infuran- 
 ces, and greater Rifques; and above all on 
 account of thofe vajft Profits which Foreign- 
 ers with their neutral Bottoms gain at pre- 
 fent, by being* they fole Agents, Factors, 
 and Carriers between the two Countries. 
 
 THIS being the Cafe, and fuch the Dif- 
 advantages on both Sides, is it to be won- 
 dered at, that the Trade" between England 
 and America mould not be at prefent in a 
 flourifhing " Condition ? Flow indeed 
 could it have been otherwife in fuch a State 
 of Things ? 'At the fame Time, it is pro- 
 per 
 
OR, AN INQJJIRY, fcJV. 73 
 
 per to afk, Will the Continuance of the 
 War, and thofe mutual Beggaries and 
 Bankruptcies confequent thereupon ; 
 Will thefe Things be a Means of reviving 
 our Trade, and of making either Side the 
 richer, or the better Cuftomers ? -The 
 Man whochufes to maintain fuch a Para- 
 dox, is not to be envied on account of his 
 Logic. He may fay what he pleafes. 
 
 HERETOFORE it was a Kind of unpar- 
 donable Offence to endeavour to convince 
 the Englifhy that their Manufactures had a 
 Preference to thofe of other Nations in 
 point of Cheapnefs. For the Engli/h have 
 a moft unaccountable Propenfity towards 
 the gloomy and the difmal in their Prof- 
 peds concerning Trade. And nothing 
 feems to pleafe them better, as the cele- 
 brated Lord CHESTERFIELD ufed to fay, 
 than gravely to be told, that they are 
 ruined and undone. Therefore his Friend 
 Lord BOLING BROKE grounded all his 
 K patriotic 
 
74 C U I B O N O? 
 
 patriotic Differtations on this very Balis; 
 For which worthy .Deeds he, and his 
 B.rpther Patriots were held in-fuch high 
 Efteem by the good People of England du~ 
 ring the long, pacific, and. wealth-creating 
 Reign [if I might ufe fuch a Term j of Sir 
 R. W^LPOLE, , as, .approached almoft to 
 Adoration. Indeed, long before them, 
 ruined and undone ,was the Burden of the 
 Song. An Author of fome Repute, one 
 JOSH.U-A GEE, ,was fo. poiTefTed with this 
 defponding Notion, that he undertook to 
 
 1 O , . , 
 
 dernonflrate by Figures, and Tables of 
 Accounts, that the Balances of Trade were 
 almoft every where prodigioufly againil us : 
 So that according to this comfortable De- 
 monftration, there \yould not have re- 
 mained One Shilling in Great-Britain for 
 thefe 60 Years Jaft paft. Yet Sir, we 
 
 i '.. ! Wl 
 
 have fpent and laviflied away, fince that 
 Period, chiefly in unneceffary and unprofi- 
 table Wars, upwards of i co,ooo,oool. 
 
 i ' 
 fterling : A fure Proof that he was mife- 
 
 ' 
 
 rably 
 
OR, AN I N Q_U I R V, &c. 75 
 
 rably deceived in his Calculations; tho* a 
 moil melancholly Reflection on our own 
 Prudence. 
 
 HOWEVER, that, which Reafon and Ar- 
 gument could not do, refpeding Trade, 
 Experience itfelf has at laft effected. For 
 now the Englijh Merchants and Manu- 
 facturers find and feel, that their Goods at 
 an American Market (notwithstanding all 
 the prefent Di fad vantages they labour un- 
 der) are allowed to be better, and cheaper, 
 than the like Articles of other Nations, 
 the Americans themfelves being Judges. 
 This is a happy Omen, which may tend 
 to many good Confequences, if properly 
 improved. For from hence it undeniably 
 follows, that the Americans will buy our 
 Goods, when it is their Infereft, and 
 when they are able fo to do, notwithstand- 
 ing the bittereft Antipathy they can con- 
 ceive againft us. And I defy any Man to 
 prove, that they ever did buy our Goods, 
 contrary to their own Interefts, even du- 
 K 2 ring 
 
76 C U I BONO? 
 
 ring the moft flattering Periods of their 
 Friendfhip. [One Thing however I 
 muft confefs, that heretofore they fre- 
 quently bought Englijh Merchandife, 
 when they knew they were not able, and 
 never intended to pay for them. And with 
 thpfe very Capitals purchafed Eftates, or 
 carried on a Trade to the Spanijh Main. 
 Therefore if this be meant by the Com- 
 plainants, when they lament the Lofs of 
 the American Trade, I hope we fhall 
 never recover fuch a Trade for the future : 
 That is, never truft them to the fame 
 Amount. The bad Debts of the Ame- 
 ricans to this Country, long before the pre- 
 fent Difturbances, were great beyond Ima- 
 gination \ much greater than the Sums 
 owing to England from all the World be- 
 ficies.] 
 
 MOREOVER we now fee, and know, 
 that the be.ft Produce of America can 
 find it's Way into England, if we give the 
 beft Price, notwithstanding thofe Obfta- 
 
 cles, 
 
OR, AN IN Q^U IR Y, M. 77 
 
 cles, which Civil Wars, and national 
 Animofities, accompanied with every 
 other Difficulty and Difcouragement, can 
 throw in the Way* The Tobacco of 
 thofe revolted Colonies, Maryland, and- 
 Virginia, with the valuable Productions 
 of other Colonies, are now bought and: 
 fold as openly and avowedly, even at. 
 public Audions, in all our great Sea- 
 ports, as before the War, Therefore 
 after fuch Proofs, what is it, which we 
 can wifli for, or defire more ? And if this 
 be not fufficient to convince us, that the 
 Conqueft of America, fuppofing it ever 
 fo feaiible, can be of no Manner of Ufe 
 in a mercantile View, I Humid be glad 
 to know,, what Kind of Proof will, OF 
 can be thought fufficient ? In a Word, 
 if daily Experience, and Matters of Fat 
 are not able to bring us to a Confeffion, 
 that our Plan is totally wrong, I know 
 not what elfe to have recourfe to, but to 
 declare openly and without Referve, that 
 we are determined to aft both againft 
 
 Conviction 
 
78 C U f BONO? 
 
 Conviftion and againft our own Intereft. 
 : Non perfuadebis, etiam/i perfuaveris. 
 
 BUT we are toM in .the fecond Place, 
 t That the Reduction of America would 
 be a Means of perfuading the People on 
 that Side of the Atlantic to bear fome 
 Share, and to contribute fomething to- 
 wards our heavy, national Expences." 
 Good ! And then the Argument will 
 run fbmewhat to the following Effect * 
 though not in the fame Words, 
 
 -*' After we have for many Years en- 
 " deavoured to fubdue the Bodies of the 
 " Americans by the Force of Arms, we 
 <<r will for the future difclaim all fuch 
 " Methods ; becaufe we intend to fub- 
 ** jugate their Minds by the fuperior 
 " Power of our enchanting Eloquence. 
 " We will tell them, and they will cer- 
 " tainly believe us, that we have not a 
 " Wifh to employ compulfive Meafures 
 " any more. We now renounce, deteft, 
 
 " and 
 
O R, . A N IN Q_U I R Y, &V. . 79 
 
 44 and abjure all Authority and Jurif- 
 44 didion over them. They fhall enjoy 
 " their unalienable Rights, betheywhat- 
 44 ever they may. They fhall make 
 " their own Laws, and be their ovm 
 44 Mafters in every Thing ; And if they 
 ' chufe to pay any Taxes, for that 
 " fhaU be entirely left to their own.Dif- 
 " cretipa, -they hall' tax themfelves. 
 " But then, after we have made them 
 " believe all thefe fine Things, we will 
 pour upon, them fuch an Army of 
 well-chofen Tropes and Metaphors, 
 as they fhall not be able to withftand; 
 notwithftanding they ha\e fo long 
 withftood our Guns and Bayonets. 
 Nay more, though in the Times of 
 " their Profperity, when they were 
 both rich and able, they did not 
 <c vouchfafe to defray one-half of their 
 " own civil and military^ Expences, 
 " much lefs to contribute a fingle Shil- 
 " ling towards the Support of ours ; 
 4 * yet when they fhall become Bankrupts 
 
 <{ and 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 
 
So C U I B O N O? 
 
 <c and Paupers, not able to fubfift them- 
 " felves, then we will perfuade them to 
 " give and grant, out f the Abundance 
 " of their Poverty, rich Supplies both 
 " for their Ufes, and for ours too. And 
 *' as this is fo promifing a Scheme, and 
 " fo fure of Succefs, we will perfevere 
 " in it, and maintain the War, Year af- 
 " ter .Year, coft what it will, till we 
 " have accomplifhed it." 
 
 I 
 
 SIR, in my younger : Days,. -I had the 
 Honour of being acquainted with a very 
 great Man, an original Genius in the 
 learned World. " 4 He ufed to fay, that the 
 reafoning Faculties of human Beings were 
 of a Nature fo precarious, that it was 
 impoffible to ehfure the Enjoyment of 
 them, in all Rejpetfs, even for a Day. 
 A Phrenfy, or fdme other Species of 
 - Infanity, might deprive a Man of the 
 Ufe and Excrcife of them, either in 
 Whole, <or in Part> for a fhorter or a 
 longer Time, and perhaps for ever. 
 
 If 
 
OR, A N I N Q.U I R Y, &c. Si 
 
 If fo, fays he, may we not extend the 
 Obfervation a little farther; and conclude, 
 from Analogy, that whole Bodies of 
 Men, large Societies, and even Nations, 
 may be fubjecft, in fome Refpefts, to fimi- 
 lar Maladies, and Fits of Folly ? No- 
 thing lefs than fome fuch Suppofition can 
 account for half the glaring Ablurdities, 
 and thofe Inconfiflencies of Character and 
 Condud:, which are to be met with in 
 Hiftory, and which we find in the 
 World. 
 
 I WILL not take upon me to defend 
 this eminent Prelate's Mode of account- 
 ing for thofe public Inconfiflencies, and 
 Contradiftions of Character, with a Nar- 
 ration of which Hiftory every where a- 
 bounds j but one Thing I will be bold to 
 fay, That were theEngliJfi, the French, the 
 Americans, the Spaniards, and the Dutch, 
 to be afflifted with a Deprivation of their 
 Senfes, refpedting the Subjeft now before 
 us, they could not give ftronger Speci^ 
 L rnens 
 
S2 C U 1 BONO? 
 
 mens of national Infanity, than they give 
 at prefent, by peffevering in a Series of 
 abfurd and ruinous Schemes, fo very re- 
 pugnant to every Principle of Reafon, and 
 fo diametrically oppofite to their own ef- 
 fential Interefts. 
 
 THE laft Motive affigned for perfifting 
 in our expeniive Schemes towards the 
 Recovery of America, is, in order to re- 
 cover our antient Glory. 
 
 GLORY, Sir, as far as concerns the 
 prefent Cafe, may be confidered in a 
 two-fold View : Firft, The Glory, or 
 Honour of having an immenfely extended 
 Empire : And fecondly, the Glory or 
 Character of being brave and courageous* 
 
 IF the former of thefe fhould be 
 here meant, then there is a mofl impor- 
 tant Queftion firft to be determined : 
 Namely, Whether it be for our real In- 
 tereft and national Advantage, to have 
 
 fuch 
 
O K, AN INQUIRY, &T<r. 83 
 fuch an immenfely extended Empire, as 
 we now have, or lately had ? And whe- 
 ther any Man will undertake to prove, 
 that the Englijh Nation is, or will be 
 the happier, the richer, the wifer, or 
 the ftronger, by having fuch an unma- 
 nageable Empire ? I fay, all thefe Things 
 muft be previouily proved. And then it 
 will be Time enough for us to confider, 
 how far our Glory is concerned in the 
 Recovery of a nominal Sovereignty over 
 thofe immenfe and diftant Regions :< 
 I fay, a nominal one ; for at beft it was 
 no other, even when we were fighting 
 their Battles, and fpending our beft 
 Blood and Treafure in their Caufe : 
 fcO? 3 Even then we were not permitted to 
 prefs a fingle American on Shore, though 
 our Ships of War in their Harbours 
 were filled with EngliJIi Sailors preffed for 
 their Defence. The late Governor 
 Hutchinfon affured me of this Faclv He 
 faid, he never would allow a Prefs-War- 
 rant to be executed in the Town of Bofton, 
 L 2 except 
 
84 GUI BONO? 
 
 except for apprehending Englifh Deferters : 
 And he believed the fame Rule prevailed 
 all over America. Yet this was the Man, 
 whofe Houfe the Bo/lonians demolifhed, 
 before the War broke out, and whom Dr. 
 Franklin and others perfecuted with un- 
 remitting Rage, for being too complai- 
 fant to the Englijh Government. Surely, 
 furely, our Glory is deeply concerned in 
 maintaining or recovering fuch a Sove- 
 reignty as this ! It is much to our Ho- 
 nour ! 
 
 BUT it feems, the Rules of national 
 Honour and Glory are different from all 
 other Rules, and muft not be judged of 
 by the Principles of Reafon and Common 
 Senfe. The Doge of Venice, for Instance, 
 proceeds annually in great State and 
 Pomp, to marry the Adriatic Sea. And 
 to be fure, a glorious Sight it is to the 
 Venetians, to fee their Sovereign married 
 to a Spoufe, fo very trad-able, and fo full 
 of Complaifance : They muft think 
 
 themfelves 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, 85 
 
 themfelves much the better, the richer, 
 the wifer, and the ftronger, by Means of 
 this happy Match, However as Cuftom 
 has given aSanftion to the Ceremony; let 
 it pafs : The Populace of Venice expedt 
 it, as their annual Holiday. Neverthelefs* 
 were his Highnefs to proceed ftill far- 
 ther ; were he to fail down the Adri- 
 atic* and all the Length of the Mediter- 
 ranean in his gilded VefTel of State, with 
 filken Sails and painted Streamers j 
 were he to pafs the S freights of Gi- 
 braltar^ and to fail into the Midft of 
 the great Atlantic Ocean, in order to 
 marry another Wife, ftill more gentle, 
 more governable and fubmiffive : What 
 would the World ; nay, what would 
 even faz- Venetians fay to this Expence of 
 additional Pomp and Ceremony ? The 
 Application is obvious. 
 
 As to the fecond Senfe of Glory, per- 
 mit me to afk, who doth, or who can 
 accufe our Forces either by Land, of 
 
 Sea, 
 
86 GUI BONO? 
 
 Sea, of the Want of Valour, and national 
 Courage ? Indeed on this Head there is 
 no Need, that we fhould be very lavifh 
 in our own Praifes. In aWaroffuch 
 Length as the prefent, there is no Doubt 
 to be made, but that the Englijh have 
 given fome Inftances of bad Conducl : 
 Nay, perhaps,. I might add, that we did 
 not always feel bold any more than our 
 Neighbours. But who is to throw the 
 firft Stone at us on that Account ? Surely 
 not the Americans : And if your own 
 [French] Relations of fome late Engage- 
 ments, efpecialiy by Sea, can be depended 
 on, not the French. And as to the Dutch, 
 and Spaniards, when they fhall call our 
 Bravery or Courage in Que'ftion. (which, 
 they do not feem at all diipofed to do) it 
 will be foon enough then to retort the 
 Accufation, and to vindicate our Honour. 
 In the mean Time, let it be obferved, 
 that fo far from accufing us of national 
 Timidity or the Want of Courage*." all 
 the Nations in Europe unanimoufly blame 
 
 us 
 
OR, AN IN (XU I R Y, &V. 87 
 us for our great Obftinacy, and ftubborn 
 Perfeverance in this unequal Conteft. 
 They do not reproach us as being Cowards, 
 but as Don-^uixottes, who are determined 
 to encounter Windmills, in order to dif- 
 play our Valour. 
 
 UPON the whole, and in every View, 
 whether commercial, or fifcal, or even in 
 point of national Honour, there is not the 
 Shadow of an Argument to be alledged 
 for our prefent Conduct. Were America 
 this Moment to lay herfelf at our Feet, 
 and to fubmit to a Carte blanch, provided 
 we would take her again into Favour^ 
 it is evidently our Interefl not to accept of 
 fuch a Prefent. Unlefs indeed we will 
 adopt Dr. FRANKLIN'S Notion, which he 
 very often publicly maintained, namely, 
 That it is the Intereft of the Inhabitants 
 of this Country to migrate to America. 9 
 and to let this Ifland become a Defert, or 
 at leaflet 7 Province to that great Empire. 
 
 THIS, 
 
88 GUI BONO? 
 
 THIS, Sir, recalls to my Mind a Cafe 
 not altogether diffimilar to the Point now 
 before us. Our former Princes, our ED- 
 WARDS and our HENRYS, fet up a Claim 
 to the Throne of France : They wifhed 
 to be Kings of that fine Country, as well 
 as of England. And, what is at this Time 
 of Day a Matter of Wonder and Amaze- 
 ment, the Englifh themfelves, inftead of 
 oppofing fo ruinous a Syftem, were fo in- 
 fatuated, as to engage in it with all their 
 Might, as if they had been contending for 
 the Prefervation of their own Lives and 
 Properties. Happily for our Country, 
 happily, I fay, for Old England, your 
 female Commander, JOAN d'ARC, refcued 
 us at laft from the Danger of being victo- 
 rious, that is, in other Words, from 
 being the Authors of our own Ruin, 
 Has that illuftrious Heroine left no De- 
 fcendants behind her ? And cannot you 
 find one JOAN d'ARC in modern Days to 
 command his moft Chriftian Majefty's 
 Fleets and Armies, in order to drive us 
 
 back 
 
OR, AN INQJJIRY, &c. 89 
 
 back into our own Ifland ? Your prefent 
 Commanders, with all their great Superi- 
 ority of Forces, together with the Ameri- 
 cans, feem unequal to the Tafk. What 
 Idea this conveys of your fuper-excel- 
 lent Courage, or Conduit, if compared 
 with ours, is not my Province to deter- 
 mine. Rather therefore let me clofe the 
 whole with an Obfervation much more 
 important in itfelf, and more pertinent to 
 my prefent Subject. There was a period 
 in our Annals, when the Englifh thought 
 themfelves the moft unfortunate of Men, 
 by being driven out of France, becaufe 
 they fuppofed that fuch Lofles . were irre- 
 trievable. However Time and Refledion 
 have reconciled them to their Fate : And 
 they have learnt by Experience (what 
 they would not learn from Reafon) that 
 they were happy in being defeated ; be- 
 caufe they were, during all their former 
 Contefts, catching at the Shadow, and 
 lofing the Subftance: Sacrificing the 
 real Interefts of their own Country to the 
 M empty 
 
9 o C U I B O N O? 
 
 empty Name of foreign Acquifitions. 
 Yet, Sir, France was not 3000 Miles off; 
 nor could the Healthinefs, the Pleafant- 
 nefs, the Soil, the Climate, the Pro- 
 dudtion, the Genius of the People, their 
 Tempers, Numbers, or the Riches of the 
 two Countries, France and America, bear 
 a Comparifon with each other. 
 
 IN thefe laft Sentiments, I am very 
 litre, that Monfieur NECKER, and every 
 Frenchman, indeed every impartial Man, 
 will entirely concur with, 
 
 S I R, 
 
 Your moft obedient, 
 
 Humble Servant, 
 
 . T - 
 
 L E T- 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, &c. 9* 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 An Inquiry, 'what Benefits will accrue to 
 America, (uppofing her to obtain her 
 utmoft Wijhes of Independance in the 
 Profecution of the prefent War. 
 
 To MONSIEUR NECKER. 
 
 Cui Bono? 
 SIR, 
 
 AFTER having Ibewn, that Eng- 
 land could not poffibly be a Gainer, 
 but muft neceflarily be a Lofer by the 
 Reduction, or Conqueft, or Recovery, or 
 Submiffion of America [call it by what 
 Name you pleafe] we are now to reverie 
 the Scene, and to fuppofe, that America, 
 with the^.ffiftance of her great and good 
 Allies, (hall reduce England to the moft 
 abjed State' of Poverty and Want. Ame- 
 rica, grateful America, triumphs over her 
 M 2 former 
 
92 GUI BONO? 
 
 former Protetfrefs, and exults on her 
 Ruins. She is a rifing Empire, without 
 Bifhops ! without Nobles ! without Kings: 
 This, Sir, you know is the Language of 
 that celebrated Republican Dr. Price. 
 But perhaps you have never yet been 
 told the Name of the original Author 
 of that prophetic Sentence : It was your 
 own PredecefTor, the late Monfieur 
 ITuRGOT. [Now he is dead, I am at Li- 
 berty to declare it]. In a Letter of his 
 dated Paris i8th of February 1777, and 
 fent to Glocejler, under a mo/i patriotic 
 Cover, he fays, Je fais ^des Vceux pour 
 la Libert e des Americains, parceque ce 
 fera k Premier Exemple d'un grand Peuple, 
 que nait ni Rois, ni Nobleffe [What In- 
 fatuation ! He himfelf being, as I am 
 informed, of a noble Family, of antient 
 Extraction.] But however that may be, 
 as Dr. PRICE, when he went to Paris, 
 converfed with Monsieur TURGOT, it is 
 probable, that he learnt this excellent 
 Aphorifm from him. For in his famous 
 
 Pamphlet 
 
OR, AN IN Q,U I R Y, &c. 93 
 
 Pamphlet in Favour of America, he 
 adopted this very Expreflion, with a 
 little Embellishment of his own, without 
 Bifhops. [Though, as Bifhops and Pref- 
 byters are fometimes ufed in Scripture, 
 as fynonimous Terms, Quere, Doth Dr. 
 Price really mean to difapprove of all 
 Kinds, or of every Kind of Juperint ending 
 Care, however limited, as inconfiftent 
 with the Liberties of the Chriftian 
 Church ? This by the by,] But to re- 
 turn : England being thus laid low, and 
 humbled to the Duft, and the American 
 Stripes interlaced with the Lillies of 
 France, every where triumphant; What 
 is next to come to pafs? Why truly, 
 after this TOTAL SEPARATION, the Mafs 
 of the People on the other Side of the 
 Atlantic, will begin to awake out of 
 their Golden Dream, and refleQ: on their 
 prefent Situation, by comparing it with 
 the paft. They will do this the fooner, 
 becaufe all their Fears and Dreads about 
 that fell Monfter, the tyrannical Power 
 
 of 
 
94 GUI BONO? 
 
 of England, .will then be at an End; and 
 the Hob-gobling Stories of Racks and 
 Chains, and Tortures, and Deaths, and 
 raw Heads, and bloody Bones, will af- 
 fright no longer. Confequently being 
 totally at Eafe from that Quarter, they 
 will turn their Eyes to another, and will 
 not fail to recoiled: the fine Things that 
 had been promifed them by their artful 
 Leaders, in order to engage them in this 
 Quarrel, 
 
 GREAT indeed, and glorious were the 
 Things that had been promifed ! They 
 were to be the happieft of all happy Peo- 
 ple, provided they would fhake off the 
 galling Yoke of Britain, and affert their 
 unalienable Birthrights, their native Inde- 
 pendance. When that happy Day fhould 
 come, all Grievances, and all Complaints 
 would ceafe for ever. The People of 
 America were to be blefled with a Lockian 
 Government, the only juit one, the only 
 free one upon Earth : Confequently the 
 
 only 
 
OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, &c. 95 
 
 only cne fit and proper for a free People, 
 fuch as the Americans, to make Choice of: 
 Becanfe every Man would be his own Le- 
 giflator, his own Judge, and his own Di- 
 redtor, in fuch an equal, and free Re- 
 public : And then no Man would be 
 compelled to pay more Taxes, or other 
 Taxes, than he himfelf fhould previoufly 
 agree to. In a Word, all Jealoufies, and 
 Difcords, and Faftions, would be ba- 
 nifhed from fuch a State ; and Harmony 
 and Concord, Peace and Friendfliip, every 
 
 where prevail.- Thefe Honours and 
 
 Bleffings were referved for America ! 
 
 * 
 WELL, the heavy Yoke of Britain 
 
 being thus thrown off [Oh may Britons 
 have the Wifdom, and the Fortitude never 
 to yoke with the Americans again as Fel- 
 low- Subjects, on any Terms whatever] it 
 is natural to alk, What have thefe Re- 
 volters gained by their long- wifhed- for 
 Change, after fo much Parade and Blufter? 
 They have gained, what neceflarily fol- 
 lows, 
 
96 C U I BONO? 
 
 lows, the Breach of Prornifes never in- 
 tended to be fulfilled (if indeed fuch Ac- 
 quifitions can be called Gains,) they have 
 gained a general Difappointment, mixt 
 with Anger and Indignation. For now 
 they find, that all the fine Speeches and 
 alluring Promifes of their patriotic Lea- 
 ders, meant nothing at all, but to a- 
 mufe, and to deceive. Now they feel, 
 that the little Fingers of their new- 
 fangled Republican Governors are heavier 
 than the whole Body of the limited, 
 and mild Conftitution of Old England: 
 And as they defpifed and rejected [like 
 the Frogs in the Fable] the Government 
 of one King Log, they are now obliged to 
 fubmit to the Tyranny of an hundred 
 King Storks. 
 
 HENCE Difcontents, Complaints, and 
 Clamours will, and muft arife from every 
 Quarter, as long as the Difappointed have 
 Tongues to fpeak, or Voices to be heard. 
 And as the Example of the former Mal- 
 contents, 
 
OR, AN INQUIRY, &c. 97 
 
 contents, when under the Englijh Govern- 
 ment, with their pretended Lift of 
 Grievances, will be frefh in their Memo- 
 ries ; they will avail themfelves of fuch 
 Precedents, by turning their own Artil- 
 lery upon them, and attacking them with 
 their own Weapons. Indeed nothing can 
 be more juft, than fuch a Species of Re- ' 
 crimination j efpecially when it is far- 
 ther confidered, that the Provocation in 
 this latter Cafe, will be, on all Accounts, 
 infinitely greater than in the former j for 
 make the moft of the Evils, which the 
 Americans fuffered when under the Englifh 
 Government, and caricature them as much 
 as you pleafe, ftill, what were they ? - 
 Mere Dwarfs and Pigmies in Comparifon 
 to thofe Tyrannies and Opprefiions> of a 
 gigantic Size, which the Mafs of the Peo- 
 ple have already felt, and will continue 
 to feel under their new Mafters. And 
 the Reflection, that the very Men, who 
 formerly pretended to be their Deliverers 
 and Defenders, have pulled 0ff the Mafk, 
 
 N and 
 
98 C U I B O N O ? 
 
 and are at laft become their real Tyrants 
 and Oppreffors, will add a peculiar Sting 
 to this general Indignation. 
 
 HENCE we may juftly conclude, that 
 the American patriotic Orators, who are 
 to figure away in future Times at their 
 Liberty- Trees, and other Places of public 
 Rendezvous, will declaim, and exclaim 
 moft vehemently (and indeed moft juftly) 
 fomewhat to the following Effect. 
 
 " WHEN this devoted Country was un- 
 " der the Protection of England, A Pro- 
 " te&ion alas! never to be obtained any 
 <c more,' our Governments were as free 
 " as the Nature of Man, and our peculiar 
 " Situations would admit. We had no 
 " Reftraints laid on us, but fuch as our 
 " Parent State thought to be unavoida- 
 " ble, fuch as me deemed neceffary > by 
 " Way of compeniating in fome Degree 
 ** for thofe manifold Benefits, Favours, 
 " and Protections, we received from her, 
 
 " without 
 
OR, AN I N Q,U I R Y, tf<r. 99 
 " without our contributing a Farthing to- 
 " wards the general Charge. Nay more, 
 " the Reftraints themfelves were chiefly 
 " nominal : For you all know, that we con- 
 " tinually evaded them, when it was our 
 " Intereft fo to do : And our indulgent 
 " Mother-Country kindly winked at thefe 
 " Evafions ; fo that in Reality they were 
 " no Reftraints to us. But now, Oh 
 " fad R,everfe, how are we changed ! And 
 " what are we now come to ! We are ac- 
 " tually become the Slaves of our Fellow* 
 " Subjedts, who have duped and cheated 
 " us moftegregioufly, and now laugh at our 
 " Credulity, They now rule us with a 
 " Rod of Iron, and make us know and 
 *' feel, that their Reftraints, Orders, and 
 " Regulations, are not like the former 
 " ones, to be difpenfed with at Pleafure, 
 " or to be evaded with Impunity, but to 
 " bt rigoroufly enforced, and punctually 
 ". obeyed, Woe be to the Man whofhall 
 " tranfgrefs': Fines,, and Imprifonments, 
 " corporal Puniftmients, and even Death 
 N 2 itfelf 
 
ioo C U 1 BONO? 
 
 *' itfelf may be his Portion. As to the 
 " Promifcs of a free and equal Republic, 
 '* and the Bleffings of a Lockian Com- 
 " men- Wealth ; they are all forgot, and 
 " on of Date : Indeed it no\v plainly ap- 
 f * pear?, that they were never intended to 
 be remembered any longer, than whilft 
 " they might ferve as Footftools to our 
 ** prefent Rulers, to mount into Power. 
 " For now we are gravely told, that the 
 " Times will not bear fo lax a Syftem, as 
 " that every Man fhould be his^own Le- 
 " giflator, Governor, and Controller. 
 *' The Times require, that the Reins of 
 " Government fhould be held with a 
 <c tighter, and a ftronger Hand than here- 
 t toiorl 1 : And that v^hofoever fhall pre- 
 " fume to take undue Liberties with thefe 
 " riling States, mall find to his Coft, that 
 <c thty bear not the Sword in Vain. 
 
 " HENCE it comes to pafs, that we 
 now hear from them for the fir/i Time, 
 " that it is our Duty to refpect the Go- 
 
 << vernment 
 
OR, AN IN Q,U I Y, esfr, iof 
 " vernment under which we live j and 
 " that neither the Liberty of the Prefs, 
 " nor the Liberty of Speech fhall be in- 
 " dulged to that Degree, as to be inju- 
 " rious to the public Safety ; meaning 
 " thereby, their own Power and Dignity. 
 " Thus do thefe Men, who heretofore 
 " never ceafed to fpeak Evil of Digni- 
 " ties, and to invent and propagate 
 " thoufands of Lies and Calumnies, a- 
 " gainft the beft and mildeft of Govern- 
 " ments ; thus do they now refufe us 
 the poor Confolation of corriplaining 
 < againft their unjufi and tyranjaical Pro- 
 * c ceedings. The Word, inimical to A- 
 *' merica, fo often in their Mouths, and 
 <e in the Mouths of 'their Runners and 
 " Informers, is a new-coined Word, un- 
 " known to our antient Laws, and ut- 
 * s terly unknown to us, till the black 
 Reign of thefe Republican Inquifitors. 
 ** They indeed, after the Example of 
 ?* their bloody Predeceflbrs, the Inquifi- 
 ** tors of Spain, have erected it into a 
 
 " Kind 
 
iqz C HI I B ON O? 
 
 " Kind of STATE-HERESY, which is to 
 ** fignify whatever they pleafej andthere- 
 *' fore to ferve them as a commodious 
 " Engine for wrecking their Malice on 
 " all, who dare to oppofe, or even to 
 " cenfure their wicked Deeds. 
 
 " Formerly it was pretended, that 
 " we fhould have had no Factions and 
 ** Divifions among us, were it not for 
 ** thofe falfe Brethren, who were con^ 
 *' tinually endeavouring to enflave us 
 
 with the Chains of- England. Thofe 
 " Chains are broken afunder; never to 
 " be joined again. But are our Animo 7 
 * fities therefore at an End ? And are 
 " there no Fadliorjs and Jealoufies reign- 
 " ing among us at this Juncture ? So 
 " far from it, that the evil Spirit of 
 '* Difcord was never fo rife, as it is at 
 " prefent. It has infe&ed every Part of" 
 " America from one End to the other. 
 " We for Inftance, the Subje&s forfooth, 
 " of this free and equal Republic, have 
 
 " juft 
 
 " 
 
C 
 
 OR, AN IN Q_U I R Y, 103 
 juft Caufe to complain : Becaufe we 
 have been cheated, bubbled, and be- 
 trayed. But as to our imperious 
 Mafters, the Authors of our Ruin, 
 what Kind of Complacency, or Con- 
 cord do they enjoy among themfelves ? 
 None at all : For we know, that they 
 " are jealous of each other's Power : We 
 " know, that they are planning Schemes 
 * s to fupplant, and circumvent : And 
 " that they make Ufe of every Engine 
 ** whether of Force or Fraud, of Bri- 
 ** bery or Terror, if practicable, in or- 
 " der to compafs their Ends, and crufh 
 " their Rivals. And as to that ill-blood, 
 " and thofe Antipathies which formerly 
 " fubfifted between the Northern, and 
 ** the Southern Colonies : Are they 
 ** cooled ? Are they aflwaged and mode- 
 < derated fmce our late Revolution ? No, 
 c they are not : On the contrary all for- 
 <s mer Diflikes and Arerlions are fo 
 * heightened and inflamed, by this very 
 * Meafure, and by Criminations, and 
 
 < Recri- 
 
C U I B O N O? 
 " Recriminations in Confequence there* 3 * 
 " of, as to threaten a Civil War. Nay 
 " more, it is well known, that moft of 
 " our States had fome Claims upon each 
 <c other, and that they frequently com- 
 " plained of mutual Encroachments, 
 " and reciprocal Ufurpations (which 
 " neverthelefs were retrained within 
 c Bounds, and prevented from breaking 
 " out into open Violence, by the Awe 
 " of the Mother-Country ) ; There- 
 *' fore how is the Cafe at prefent ? 
 " Why truly, Now that fuch Reftraints 
 " are removed, thefe dormant Claims 
 *' have broken out afreih, and every Re- 
 " proach is renewed with redoubled Ran- 
 " cour, and a greater Thirft of Revenge : 
 " So that in fa<5t, we are little better 
 " than in a State of War, though we 
 " feemingly wear the Appearances of 
 " Peace. 
 
 :.** IN fhort, our Native Country is by 
 ( no Means become defirable even to our- 
 
 * " felves 
 
OR,' AN I N Q_U I R Y, ; 6V. 105 
 <f felves, much lefs to others. It was 
 " once an Afylum to the reft of the 
 " World. But now it is not a Place of 
 " Safety even to its natural-born Inhabi- 
 V taats. Already great Numberis have 
 " left it, to return to Europe, the Coun- 
 " try of .their Fore-fathers : And ftill 
 " greater haye rrngrated into the diftant 
 " back Countries, bordering on the 
 " Lakes ; there to commence new Settle* 
 " ments, and new Governments. This 
 " they fay, they have as good a Right to 
 " do, as we had to break loofe from the 
 " Government of England, which had fo 
 " long protected and defended us : Yes, 
 " they add, and much better, on account 
 " of thofe fuperior Obligations, which 
 " we had been under to the rnildeft and 
 " moft beneficent Government upon 
 " Earth. And to (hew that they are in 
 " Earneft, they fet us at Defiance > and 
 " even threaten to invade us (according 
 " as an Englijh Patriot had long ago fore- 
 " told) with a numerous Body of-.Ca- 
 O c valry, 
 
io6 C U I BONO? 
 
 , 
 
 " valry, after the Manner of the Afiatk 
 " and European Tartars : -Well knowing 
 " that we are not able to invade them. 
 
 " AMONG the many Bleffings. we for- 
 " merly enjoyed, one was, that we might 
 ( fleep peaceably in our Beds, without 
 * c Fear of being prefled either to the 
 " Land, or Sea Service $ even in De- 
 " fence of our own Country againft the 
 ce Forces of France or Spain, or any other 
 * ( foreign Power : The Parent State 
 " having kindly undertaken to do all thefe 
 " Things :f or us, at an Expence of Blood 
 " and Treafure, really aftonifhing. So 
 " that unlefs a Military Life was our own 
 ** Choice, and agreeable to our own In- 
 ** clinations, not a Man of us was com- 
 " pelledto leave his Fann, his Trade, his 
 " Fifheries^ or his Merchandise, to com- 
 f mence a Sailor, bra Soldier, for the 
 " Public Service. But now we maft be 
 
 .. V 
 
 " enrolledin the Militia, whether we will 
 
 " or no ^ and take thd Field at'the Word 
 
 O 
 
O F, A N IN Q_U I R Y, &c. 107 
 
 " of Command. The fame Hardships 
 " attend us in the Sea Service : We are 
 " no longer our own Mafters even in our 
 " own Houfes, and in our own Beds. 
 '* The Language now is, that each Re- 
 " public muft provide a proportionate 
 " Number of Ships of War, Frigates, 
 ** Cruifers, and Guarda-Coftas for its own 
 " Protection. Thefe are new Dodhines 
 " to us Americans : We never heard them 
 " before theie blefled Times. 
 
 " THE Freedom and Encouragement 
 " of Trade was another grand Pretence 
 " for engaging us in the late Revolt. In 
 " this Affair, as in dl others, we were 
 " made to believe ftrange Things, which 
 " Experience now tells us had no Foun- 
 <f dation: For now we know and feel, 
 " when it is too late, that the parent 
 <e State was fo far from planning Schemes 
 " for our Impoverishment, that, on the 
 " contrary, fhe was continually devifing 
 " Ways and Means for our Enrichment, 
 O 2 " even 
 
io8 GUI BONO? 
 
 " even fometimes to her own Lofs, 
 " by granting us feveral Monopolies a- 
 " gainft herfelf. For Example, ihe laid 
 " heavy Duties on the Iron of other 
 "Countries (though a raw, and necdf- 
 " fary Material for her Manufactures) 
 " and exempted American from paying 
 " any. She did the fame by Foreign 
 " Hemp, and even added a very great 
 *' Bounty for the Growth and Importa- 
 " tion of ours. The fame Courfe fhe 
 <f took refpetting our Pitch and Tar, 
 " and Indico, and Lumber, and feveral 
 " other Articles : So that whilft Foreign 
 " Materials were loaded and difcouraged 
 ** with heavy Duties, ours were fed and 
 " nurfed by generous and great Bounties. 
 " And as to Tobacco, fhe granted fuch 
 <c an abfolute Monopoly of it to America, 
 " as not only to prohibit the Tobaccos 
 " of Foreign Growths, but even to for- 
 " bid the Cultivation of Tobacco at 
 "< Home. Moreover, in regaru to our 
 " Filheries, and all the Produce thereof, 
 
 " ihe 
 
OR, A N I N Q_U I R Y, &c. ^09 
 
 '* c fhe granted us almoft .every Favour 
 " and Indulgence, which fhe had granted 
 " to her own People;- and, if fhe had 
 " confidered our advantageous Situation, 
 " perhaps more than fhe herfelf would 
 " have intended. But to fay the Truth 
 " at once, when we were united to her, 
 " fhe regarded us as her favourite Chil- 
 " dren, for whom fhe thought fhe could 
 (C never do enough, and therefore treated 
 <c us with a peculiar, and diftinguifhed 
 " Fondnefs, becaufe we were fo diftant 
 " from her. In one Word, in almoft 
 " every Inftance, where the Interefts of 
 " England y and of America feemed to 
 ' clafh, fhe g^ve America the Prefe- 
 " rence. 
 
 " YET, my fellow Citizens of Ame- 
 " rica 9 this was the Tyrant, the bloody 
 " and cruel Tyrant, whom we were 
 " taught to regard, as plotting our Ruin 
 " and Deftru&ioa : This was fhe, who 
 " was reprefented to us under the moft 
 
 " odious 
 
iio C tJ I BONO? 
 
 " odious Colours, and in the worfc of 
 " Characters. How fatal have been 
 " our Miftakes! and what Punifhment do 
 " thefe Men deferve for leading us into 
 " them ! They never let us know the 
 Truth of Fa<fts, till it was too late : 
 " But ufed us as Tools to ftab our beft 
 tc Friend and Benefadtrefs, becaufe fhe 
 * flood in the Way of their ufurping 
 " Greatnefs : And alas ! in being Tools 
 *' to them, we have committed a Kind 
 of Self-Murder on ourfelves ! 
 
 " WILL our great and good Allies the 
 " French now compenfate for thefe 
 4t Wrongs and Lofles ? Will they give 
 <c Bounties and Draw-backs, exclufivc 
 " Privileges, and Monopolies in our Fa- 
 " vour, and to their own Hurt ? No, 
 " they will not. For now their own 
 " Ends are anfvvered, in demolifhing the 
 f Power of England, .by our Affiftance, 
 -*. they have no farther Need of our Help 
 ** and Service. And we may fhitt for 
 
 " ourfelves, 
 
OR, AN I N Q.U I R Y, to*, in 
 
 ** ourfelves, as well as we can. In fhprt, 
 " they now turn the Tables on us, and 
 " ferve us as we ferved the Engltjh. By 
 " their Inuendoes they give us plainly 
 V to underitand, that though they loved 
 " the Treafon, they hated the Traitor. 
 
 " NAY farther, we were taught to be- 
 " lieve, that when we had once gained cur 
 " favourite Object, Indtpendance* we 
 " fhould be enabled both to buy, andT/^7 
 ** to much greater Advantage than we did, 
 <4 or could do before. O ye Americans^ 
 " tell if you can, Is this now the Fact ? 
 " And after we have tried every Market in 
 " Europe, are we not obliged to return 
 " to the EngliJIi again for every ufeful Ar- 
 " tide [tho* not for Gewgaws and Bau- 
 " bles] as to our laft Refource ? We 
 " now find by Experience, that they fell 
 " better, and cheaper Goods ; and that 
 " they can give longer Credit. In regard 
 " to this laft Article, long Credit* there 
 " was a Time, when it might be truly 
 
 " faid, 
 
C U I B O NO? 
 
 faid, that all America traded on the 
 Credit of Englijh Capitals. ' Our Mer- 
 " chants bought Englijh Go'ods on long 
 " Credit: And if Remittances : were made 
 " to England within twelve' Months, it 
 <f was deerhed good Pay -, ^if within two 
 " Years, not very bad : And many 
 * c relied on the 'Patience of 'their Eng- 
 " lifh Creditors, fo far as to make no 
 " Payment before three Years'were ex- 
 f< pired, [Not to mention thofe who 
 " never intended any Payment at all.] In 
 ** the mean Time, when thefe Goods 
 <c were difpofed of in America, to what 
 " Ufe was the Money there arifing, gene- 
 " rally applied by our 'American Adven- 
 ** turers ? -It was lent out at an Intereft 
 " of Eight per Cent.; or it was em- 
 (e ployed in carrying on a Trafic to the 
 (< Spanijh Main/ where the Gains were 
 <c Twenty per Cent.; or in the Purchafe 
 " of landed Eftates in our o\vn Provinces ; 
 *' fo that all this while, our American 
 " Adventurers \Vere growing rich' and 
 
 " great 
 
OR, AN INQUIRY, &c. 113 
 " great, at the Expence of their Englifh 
 " Creditors. But how are the Times al- 
 " tered within a few Years ? Our Euro- 
 " pcan Correfpondents both in France, 
 " and in other Countries, now expert, 
 " that we fhould truft them, inftead of 
 " their trufting us : And it is looked 
 <c upon, as a peculiar Indulgence, when 
 " they condefcend to allow us fix Months 
 " Credit, inftead of 18 Months, or two 
 " Years. On the other Hand, we find 
 " alfo by dear-bought Experience, that 
 " the Englifh gave a better Price for our 
 " American Produce of every Kind, than 
 " we can obtain [in Times of Peace] any 
 <* where elfe ; and that their Pay was in- 
 " finitely better, being indeed frequently 
 " advanced, before the Goods arrived in 
 " England. Yet thefe generous Corre- 
 " fpondents, and kind Benefactors, were 
 (S the very People, whom our prefent 
 *' Rulers reprefented to us, as the moft 
 " knaviih, the moft perfidious, over- 
 P " reaching 
 
114 C U I B O N O? 
 
 " reaching, and diilioneft Traders in the 
 " mercantile World. O may we never 
 " meet with worfe Pay - matters, or more 
 " difhoiieft Dealers than they have been ! 
 
 ** BUT above all, o,ur TAXES ! Yes, our 
 ".TAXES, For the. -EngUjh Legiflature 
 ** laid on us a moft exorbitant, .and 
 ". grievous Tax of 3 do on a Pound. of Tea, 
 " and of an Halfpenny Stamp on a News- 
 " Paper: Tiiio, to be fure was a moft 
 *' intolerable Bu.denj-^-a very fufficient 
 " Caufe for revolting from under the Pref- 
 " fure of fuch a Yoke ! But now, What 
 " is it we pay? Nay rather, What 
 
 " is it we do w^-.pay.?:: Alas ! there is 
 
 " hardly one Article either of live, or dead 
 " Stock, or of the Produce of the Earth 
 " and Waters, or the Refult of our Iri- 
 " duftry and Labour/ that is exempt from 
 " the Fangs of thefe devouring Locufts ? 
 "" They tax every Thing; and yet they 
 " fay, that all this i$ not enough ; and 
 
 " thajt 
 
O R, A N IN Q_U I R Y, fcfc. 115 
 (e that more muft ftill be laid on : In 
 " fhort, America is mortgaged for Ages 
 " to come, with a Debt of Millions upon 
 " Millions, in order to obtain, What ? 
 " Why truly, that a Set of ungrateful 
 " UPSTARTS might be exalted into 
 " Power, to infult their Betters, and to 
 " become the Princes, and PrincefTes of 
 " this once free Country." 
 
 MUCH more, Sir, might have been 
 added to the fame Effect : And many of 
 the prefent Heads might have been greatly 
 enlarged upon. But lam perfuaded, that 
 you will think this Specimen to be fuffi- 
 cient for proving, and illuftrating my 
 grand Subject, namely, That the Ame- 
 ricans 9 as well as the other Powers, are 
 acting directly contrary to their own In- 
 terefts in the prefent Conteft. They are 
 purfuing their own Ruin, by attempting 
 our Downfall and Deftrudtion. So that 
 if they {hall fucceed, we fhall be the 
 P 2 Gainers, 
 
n6 C U 1 BONO? 
 
 Gainers, and they the Lofers. A itrange 
 Metamorphofis this, wherein every Thing 
 is inverted. Antipodes undoubtedly there 
 are in the natural World ! But Antipodes 
 in the moral, political, and commercial, 
 is a new Phenomenon, referved for the 
 Statesmen and Politicians of the prefent 
 Age. In regard to the Truths of the 
 Fads, which are advanced in the above 
 future American* patriotic Speech [as far 
 as the Favours and Bounties of England 
 are concerned] thf y are indifputable, and 
 cannot be controverted. Refpefting the 
 little Strokes of Oratory, they are of no 
 Confequence; but may be admitted, or 
 rejected, according as my Readers may 
 think proper. One Thing however, Sir, 
 you will, I prefume, moft readily allow, 
 that nothing is more common, than for 
 Men, when any darling Scheme has failed, 
 mutually to accufe each other, and to 
 throw the Blame any where, to fliift it 
 from themfelves. 
 
 THE 
 
OR, AN IN Q^U I R Y, &c. 117 
 THE Americans will be found unjder 
 this Predicament ; they will be difap- 
 pointed, greatly chagrined, and univer- 
 fally difcontented : So that when they 
 {hall be no longer connected with Eng- 
 land, they will vent their Reproaches 
 againft each other, for having been 
 the Authors of their refpedtive Suffer- 
 ings. To fum up all, they will fulfil 
 HORACE'S Remark, which he made fo 
 long ago : 
 
 cc Virtutem incolumem odimus, 
 
 <c Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi. 
 
 As to the future Grandeur of America, 
 and its being a riling Empire, under one 
 Heady whether Republican, or Monar- 
 chical, it is one of the idleft, and moil 
 vifionary Notions, that ever was con- 
 ceived even by Writers of Romance. 
 For there is nothing in the Genius of 
 the People, the Situation of their Coun- 
 try, 
 
GUI BONO? 
 try, or the Nature of their different 
 Climates, which tends to Countenance 
 fqch a Suppofition. On the contrary, 
 every Prognostic that can be formed from 
 a Contemplation of their mutual Antipa- 
 thies, and clafhing Interefts., their Diffe- 
 rence of Governments, Habitudes, and 
 Manners, plainly indicates, that the 
 Americans will have no Center of Union 
 among them, and no Common Inter eji to 
 purfue, when the Power and Government 
 of England are finally removed. More- 
 over, when the Interfe<flions and Divi- 
 fions of their Country by great Bays of 
 the Sea, and by vaft Rivers, Lakes, and 
 Ridges of Mountains -, and above all, 
 when thofe irnmenfe inland Regions, be- 
 yond the Back Settlements, which are 
 ftill unexplored, are taken into the Ac- 
 qpunt, they form the highefl Probability 
 that the Americans never can be united 
 into one compact Empire, . under any 
 Species of Government whatever. Their 
 
 Fate 
 
OR, AN I N Q_U I R Y, .-119 
 Fate feems to be, A DISUNITED PEO- 
 PLE, till the End of Time. In fhortj 
 the only prolable Suppofition, that ;c^y 
 be formed of them at prefent is this j 
 That being fo very jealous in their Tem- 
 pers, fo fufpicious, and diitruftful of each 
 other, they will be divided, and fubdi- 
 vided into little Common- Wealths, or 
 Principalities, according to the above- 
 mentioned natural Diviiions, or Bounda- 
 ries of their Country; and that all of 
 them in general, will be more intent on 
 profecuting their own internal Difputes 
 
 and Quarrels, than defirous to engage in 
 external Wars, and diftant Conquefts. 
 They will have neither Leifure, nor In- 
 clination, nor Abilities for fuch Under- 
 takings. 
 
 THIS Subject might be greatly en- 
 larged upon, and placed in various 
 Lights. But as I have already put your 
 
 Patience 
 
120 C U I BONO? 
 
 Patience to the Trial, I will purfuc 
 it no farther; and have the Honour 
 to be, 
 
 Your obliged, 
 And devoted humble Servant, 
 
 j- T. 
 
 LET- 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 A Plan for a general Pacification; with 
 Remarks. 
 
 To MONSIEUR NECKER. 
 S I R, 
 
 WE are now come within Sight 
 of Land. One Letter more 
 will bring me to the End of my epiftolary 
 Voyage. Indeed, Peace is the Haven 
 for which I am fleering, and to which 
 I wifli to arrive, and to lay up my little 
 Bark. Nor can fuch an Objedt be unac- 
 ceptable to you, if you are the fame Per- 
 fon, as undoubtedly you are, who recom- 
 mended that excellent Maxim to your 
 Sovereign ; * " That no fort of Con- 
 <c quefts, and no Kind of Alliances do 
 
 * The Words are here a little paraphrafed, but 
 the Senfe is ftri&ly preferved. See the Compte Rendu. 
 Page 68, and the Tranflation, page 71. 
 
 <r con- 
 
122 A PLAN OF 
 
 i 
 
 " contribute to the real Welfare and 
 " Grandeur of a State,, fo much as a 
 " conftant and judicious Attention to 
 " Agriculture, Manufactures, and the 
 " Arts of Peace." In this therefore, as 
 we are both agreed, let us endeavour to 
 lend a helping Hand to each other in this 
 good Work. 
 
 PERHAPS indeed the Obfcurity of the 
 Agent TI mean myfelf, not you] may be 
 fome Prejudice againft liftening to Pro- 
 pofals coming from fuch a Quarter. Be 
 it fo; but nevertrh,elefs-it ought not to- 
 tally to difcourage well-meant Endea- 
 voursV For I remember to have read, 
 That when the Artifts at Rome found 
 their Tackling for raifing a vaft antient 
 Column, to 'be 'tod' long by an Inch or 
 two, and were at a Ldfs how to proceed, 
 they liftened to a Soy among the Crowd 
 of Spectators, who cried out, Wet the 
 
 Ropes and they will jhrink. By folio w- 
 
 1 . J 
 
 ing his Advice, they, .effefted their Un- 
 dertaking ; 
 
PACIFICATION. 123 
 
 dertakingj and the Pillar was placed -on 
 its Bafe, and ftands upright to this Day. 
 Yet I never heard that thefe Artifts were 
 cenfured, or that they, deferved Cenfure, 
 on that Account. .Befides, all th,e 
 Powers now at war are become rnoft 
 heartily lick of their prefent military 
 Scenes ; among .which Number I will 
 venture to include the Dutch and Spa- 
 niards,, as well \ as the French., Bngltfh, 
 and Americans : For their Cafes are ex- 
 aftly parallel. Indeed all Sides are, at 
 laft, moft thoroughly convinced, that 
 they have been fighting for a Shadow $ 
 or rather, for what is much worfe 
 than a Shadow, a Sub/lane e of a very 
 pernicious, and deftrudlive Quality. Ne~ 
 verthelefs Pride, national Pride, is of 
 fuch a Nature as to prevent them from 
 making this frank Confeffion. The La- 
 bours therefore of an Individual, however 
 obfcure, may not be entirely thrown away 
 in fuch a Cafe : He may fuggeft fome- 
 thing, which has not occurred to wifer 
 
 Heads, 
 
124 A PLAN OF 
 
 Heads, or he may be the Means of bring- 
 ing all Sides the nearer to each other, 
 without either Party feeming to yield, or 
 to make the firft Advances. -But be that 
 as it may; and if his Labours fhould be 
 again difregarded, as they have often 
 been ; the very Defire of doing Good, 
 and the mem confcia rttti are in them- 
 felves no fmall Coniolation. A Machia- 
 vellian Politician is not to be envied. 
 
 Scheme for a general Pacification, with 
 Remarks thereupon. 
 
 L LET all the Countries and Places, 
 which have been taken during the War, 
 be mutually reflored, and as nearly ass 
 poflible in the fame Condition that 
 they were in, before the War began. 
 This Rule fhould extend to every Part 
 of the Globe ; unlefs to fuch Places, as 
 {hall *>e otherwife difpofed of in, or by 
 the following Treaty. 
 
 II. LET 
 
P A C I F I C A T I O N. 125 
 
 II. LET the Countries between the 
 Rivers Periobfcot and Connecticut, con- 
 taining almoft all the Provinces of New- 
 Hampjhire, Maflachufets, Rhode-IJland, 
 and Connecticut, be ceded to the Ame- 
 rican Republicans in full Right. 
 
 III. LET the American Loyalifts enjoy 
 the Diftridt from the River Connecticut 
 to Hudjons River, together with Long 
 JJland, and' Staten I/land. 
 
 IV. LET all the Countries from Hud- 
 Jons River to the Northern Boundary of 
 
 North Carolina, containing Part of the 
 Province of New York, all the yerfeys, 
 all Pennfyhama y all the three Lower 
 Counties, and all Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia^ be ceded for ever to the Republican 
 Americans. By this Partition or Divi- 
 fion, fc they will be put in immediate 
 Poffeffion of nine Provinces out of thir- 
 teen,, for which they contended. In 
 
 thefe 
 
126 A PLAN OF 
 
 thefe they will be independent of Great - 
 Britain, and Great-Britain independent 
 of them. 
 
 V. Let the Loyalifts retain the three 
 remaining Provinces, namely, North- 
 Carolina, South- Carolina, and Georgia. 
 
 VI. As the Provinces of New-Tork, 
 North, and South- Carolina, and Georgia, 
 will thus become Afylums, and Places of 
 Safety, for the loyal Refugees to retire 
 to, let the fame regal, and mixt Govern- 
 ment be reftored to each, as obtained 
 heretofore. But let it be ftipulated, that 
 this Government fhall continue no longer 
 than for TEN YEARS from the Date of the 
 Treaty : At the Expiration of which 
 Term, let the ArTembly of each Province 
 be at full Liberty to chufe any Form 
 
 they iliall think proper. 
 
 VII. LET the Eajlern Florida* be ceded 
 
 to 
 
PACIFICATION. 127 
 
 to Spain, together with the Fortrefs of 
 Gibraltar, provided his Catholic Majefty 
 will give the Ifland of Porto-Rico in 
 Exchange : A Place of as little Ufe to 
 them, as Gibraltar is to England. 
 
 VIII. LET the Ifland of Minorca be 
 ceded to the Houfe of Auftria, as an in- 
 termediate Depofitory between the Ports 
 of Triefte, in Dalmatia, and OJlend, in 
 Flanders. But let the whole Ifland, with 
 all the Ports and Fortrefles thereunto be- 
 longing, be confidered as one general free 
 Port, or common Magazine, wherein no 
 Duties are to be paid either on Exporta- 
 tion, or Importation : And where alfo 
 the Ships of all Nations, military as well 
 as mercantile, (hall be fafe and free to go 
 in and out, to load and unload, to careen, 
 and refit at Pleafure, without Mol citation 
 of any Kind ; only paying the necellary 
 Charges to the refpe&ive Tradefmen, 
 Ship- Carpenters, &c. &c. 
 
 IX. LET 
 
12$ A P L A N O F 
 
 IX. LET the, Emperor of Germany in- 
 vite the Powers at War to fend Deputies 
 to meet at Brujfels, or at any other con- 
 venient City in Auftrian Flanders, there 
 to treat on the Means of procuring a 
 general Pacification : And if Peace can 
 be obtained on the above Terms, or on 
 any other more acceptable to the con- 
 tending Parties, let the great Powers 
 of Germany, the Emprefs of Rujfia, and 
 the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, fo- 
 lemnly guarantee the fame, 
 
 REMARK S. 
 
 Remark I. THE above Plan for a ge 
 neral Pacification is not offered as the 
 very bejl in the Nature of Things, but 
 only as the moft feafibk, and the likelieft 
 to be adopted by the qppofite contending 
 Parties. For when there are fq many dif- 
 ferent Prejudices to be encountered, 
 the Man who hopes to fucceed in any 
 Degree, mult fteer.fuch a middle Courfe, 
 as that all may be gratified in fome Re- 
 
 fpedt, 
 
PACIFICATION. 129 
 
 fpedts, though not to the full Extent of 
 their extravagant Wifties. 
 
 THE very beft Syftem \beft I mean in 
 Behalf of England} would have been, 
 To have thrown up all foreign Domi- 
 nions at once ; and to have trufted folely 
 to the Goodnefs and Cheapnefs of our 
 Manufactures, and to the long Credit we 
 can give, for procuring them a Vent in 
 thefe [abdicated] Governments, as well as 
 in other Countries. In the next Place to 
 have relied on the Strength of our greaii 
 Capitals, and on the commanding In- 
 fluence of good Price* and good Pay* for 
 purchafing all Sorts of Goods and Com- 
 modities from every Nation under Hea- 
 ven : And in the third Place, to have 
 kept our Strength both by Land and Sea, 
 well concentred on our own Coafts, not 
 diffipated by foreign Expeditions, always 
 ready at Hand for our Defence againft 
 Invaders, This, I fay, would have been 
 the beft, and the wifeft Scheme; nay 
 R more 
 
i 3 o A PLAN OF 
 
 more, this is the only Scheme, to 
 which we ourfelves muft have Recourfe 
 in Times of the greateft Difficulties, and 
 Dangers. A plain Proof, that there is 
 no need at any Time to recur to any o- 
 ther Meafure ! Neverthelefs, when Man- 
 kind have been long kept in Darknefs, 
 or after they have wilfully blind-folded 
 themfelves for Ages part, they muft be 
 treated according to the Nature of their 
 Cafe. For their Eyes are too weak to 
 bear the full Glare of Day at once : Light 
 therefore muft be let in upon them by 
 Degrees. And as this Confideration is 
 of Weight, permit me to ufe it as an 
 Apology for not offering a better Syftem 
 than the foregoing. 
 
 Remark II. WERE Minorca to be put 
 into the Hands of the Houfe of Austria, 
 as propofed in the foregoing Plan, and to 
 be made a common Magazine, and a ge- 
 neral free Portforall Nations, much Good 
 might redound thereby to thq whole poli- 
 tical 
 
PACIFICATION. 131 
 
 tical and commercial Worlds ; and it is 
 hard to fay, what great Evil could refult 
 from fuch a Meafure. For, in the. firft 
 Place, as his Imperial Majefty wants fuch 
 a Port, to be a Kind of intermediate De- 
 pofitory bet ween Flanders and Dalmatia, 
 a Hint of this Nature properly fuggefted, 
 might be a powerful Inducement with him 
 to offer his Mediation for composing the 
 prefent Differences, and to propofe one 
 of his Towns in Flanders for afTembling 
 a Congrefs. 
 
 IN the fecond Place, no Power, or 
 Potentate, or even Individual, could be 
 hurt by the opening of fuch a general Mart 
 for all Nations to refort to. For as all 
 would have equal Liberty both of Ingrefs, 
 and Egrefs, all would be benefitted in one 
 Degree or other, fome more, or fome 
 lefs ; but none could be hurt : Cer- 
 tainly the Englifli could not be injured; 
 becaufe they would enjoy the fame Li- 
 berty, which they have at prefent, with 
 R 2 great 
 
A PLAN OF 
 great additional Advantages, without a 
 Shilling Expence,-^and, what is ftill 
 more, without exciting the Fears and 
 Jealoufies of other Powers. The Ruffian 
 Empire would be benefitted, becaufe 
 fuch an intermediate Depofitory between 
 the Extremities of that vaft Empire [that 
 is, between Peter/burgh and Afoph, if the 
 Turks will permit a free Navigation 
 through the Dardaneh] would anfwer 
 much the fame End to her, as it would 
 to the Houfe of Auftria. And as to 
 France, Spain, Italy, and every Side of 
 the Mediterranean, not to mention the 
 North of Europe it is obvious to the 
 moft common Apprehenfion, that all 
 thefe Countries would derive confiderable 
 Advantages from fuch an Inftitution ; 
 and that France in particular would be 
 benefitted above the reft; becaufe fhe 
 would have the moft Goods and Mer- 
 chandife to be expofed to Sale at this 
 Emporium, and the feweft Wants to be 
 fuppliedj confequently the lefs to pur- 
 chafe, 
 
PACIFICATION. 133 
 
 chafe; and the greater would be the Ba- 
 lance in her Favour. 
 
 . THE Pofieffion of fuch a Spot as 
 Minorca, by the Houfe of Auftria, could 
 give no juft Umbrage to any Naval 
 Power. For though the Head of that 
 Houfe were ever fo defirous of railing a 
 naval Force, it would be impoflible for 
 him to accomplifli his Wifhes, with only 
 three fuch Ports as OJlend, Mahon, and 
 Triefle, and thofe almoft one thoufand 
 miles diftant from each other. There- 
 fpre Peace and Commerce muft always 
 be his only Views, as far as Minorca 
 would be concerned, whatever military 
 Schemes might be formed in other 
 Refpefts. 
 
 . Trade therefore being the only 
 Object capable of being purfued in this 
 Cafe, his Imperial Majefty might main- 
 tain a fufficient Garrifon at a very fmall 
 Expence, perhaps, indeed, at none at 
 
 all. 
 
i34 A PLAN OF 
 
 all. For as this general Emporium 
 would attract to it the AdHve* and In- 
 duftrious from every Country, fuch 
 Numbers would fettle on the Ifland, as 
 would render it populous like an Hive of 
 Bees. Therefore a very moderate Ex- 
 cife, or inland Duty on the Home Gon- 
 fumptlm of the Inhabitants, would fully 
 defray the Charges of the Civil Govern- 
 ment [if judicioufly laid on] and probably 
 maintain a Garrifon of 2500 Men befides : 
 I mean after the Manner that the Auf- 
 trian Troops are cloathed, fed, and paid, 
 not according to the Expences of Eng- 
 lifh Troops, and Garrifons. 
 
 $thly. WHATEVER Benefits other 
 Countries would obtain by opening the 
 Communication here propofed, the Be- 
 nefits to the Kingdom of Hungary will 
 flill" be greater. This fine Country is 
 allowed by all to be one of the moft 
 fertile upon Earth ; yet it has hitherto 
 laboured under two fuch Difficulties, as 
 
 have 
 
PACIFICATION. 135 
 
 have rendered it in a Manner a Terra in- 
 cognita to the commercial World. The 
 one is, the feudal Syjlem, which (till 
 reigns there, and in the neighbouring Pro- 
 vinces, to a greater Degree than in any 
 other Part of Europe, Poland excepted. 
 Now, Sir, a feudal Baron, with' his 
 hundred Vaffals on his Eftate [Slaves in 
 Effect] doth not uie and confume as many 
 of theNeceflaries and Conveniences, much 
 lefs the Elegancies of Life [that is, in a 
 commercial View, he and his miferable 
 Dependants are not fo good Cuftomers] 
 as a French Nobleman with 25 Tenants, 
 or an Englijh Gentleman with 15. And 
 as his Imperial Majefty is abolifliing all 
 thefe flavifh Tenures, as faft as he can, 
 and as the Nature of the Cafe will per- 
 mit ; this will in Time open new Sources 
 of Commerce and Riches, much more 
 beneficial than the Difcovery of new diftant 
 Countries, or the Colonization of remote 
 Deferts. The fecond Inconvenience which 
 Hungary laboured under, was the Want 
 
 of 
 
136 A PLAN OF 
 
 of fome Communication with the reft of 
 Europe, by Means of a commodious Port. 
 This Evil will be remedied to a great De- 
 gree by the Meafure here propofed ; for the 
 Eftablifhment of an Emporium at Minorca* 
 where the Produce and Manufactures of 
 all Countries might be depofited and ex- 
 changed> will operate nearly the fame, as 
 if Hungary was mcvedout of its Place* and 
 brought more contiguous to thofe Coun- 
 tries, or that thofe Countries were placed 
 nearer to Hungary : I fay, the commer- 
 cial Effedts would be much the fame. 
 And then the Riches of Hungary, by 
 Means of a regular, well- directed Cir- 
 culation of Induftry and Labour, would 
 become the Riches of fuch Countries ; 
 more efpecially of the great commercial 
 Countries of France and England: And 
 the Riches of France and England, for the 
 very fame Reafon, would become the 
 Riches of Hungary : That is in plain 
 Englljli, one Nation would become fo 
 
 much 
 
PACIFICATION. 137 
 
 much the better Cuftomer to the other, 
 by being fo much the Richer. 
 
 THIS mutual Circulation of Labour 
 and Induftry, is that grand fundamental 
 ruth in the Science of Politics and 
 Commerce, which never can be too 
 much inculcated. O ! what Oceans of 
 Blood would it have faved in every Age, 
 had it been' duly attended to ! 
 
 Remark III. The only Affair in the 
 Revolt of the Colonies, in which the 
 Honour of England is truly concerned, 
 is, to feeure fome Place of Retreat and 
 Safety to the loyal Americans, from the 
 Rage of their blood -thirfty republican 
 Perfecutors. The foregoing Plan has, I 
 hope, fufficiently provided for their Se- 
 curity. Indeed, as their only Crime was 
 the doing their Duty, and being faithful 
 to thofe Engagements which they owed 
 to the mildeil Government upon Earth; 
 the Time will come, when even their 
 S Perfecutors 
 
138 A P L A N O F 
 
 Perfecutors will look upon thefe Loy- 
 alifts with different Eyes : They will 
 confider them, as having been their moft 
 faithful Monitor?, who would have faved 
 their finking Country, had good Senfe, and 
 found Policy not to mention a Word 
 about good Faith, Honour, and Con- 
 fcience, been fuffered to prevail. Per- 
 mit me likewife "to add, that when the 
 Hand of Time has laid low the Author 
 of thefe Papers, already prefled with 
 Years and Infirmities-- perhaps Monf. 
 NECKER himfelf may vouchfafe to fay : 
 " What a Pity, that the DEAN of 
 " GLOCESTER'S Advice had not been 
 " more attended to ! His Obfervations 
 " were juft ;< that the War in which 
 " w r e all engaged fo deeply, and which 
 " we cheriflied with fuch unthinking 
 ** Zeal, has been productive of great and 
 " lailing Evils to ALL ; to France in 
 *' particular^ and of no Good to any." 
 
 Bur as it will be immaterial to my-* 
 
 felf 
 
P A C I. F I C A T I O N. 139 
 felf whether you will condefcend to take 
 Notice of my Writings or not, I enjoy 
 a prefent Satisfaction, when I confider 
 you as my Fellow-Labourer in the good 
 Work of Peace. Many Paflages in your 
 Book evidently befpeak you to have a 
 generous Concern for the whole Human 
 Race, and to be patriotic in the beft Senfe 
 of that Word, A Friend to Mankind. 
 
 EVER ambitious of being related in Af- 
 feftion to all of that Character, I have 
 the Honor to fubfcribe myfelf, with the 
 greater Pleasure, 
 
 SIR, 
 
 Your moft refpedtful, 
 And n\oft obedient humble Servant, 
 
 GLOCESTER, T TTTPlf ITI* 
 
 November a$, j Z 8i. J 1 U ^/ A. JJi IX. 
 
 S 2 POST- 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 ' | ^ HIS Moment an Account is 
 * arrived, that the brave Cornwallis 
 with his little Army has been obliged 
 to fubmit to the united Force of fuperior 
 Numbers. I am at a Lofs what to fay 
 on this Occafion. To congratulate my 
 Country on being defeated is contrary 
 to that Decency which is due to the 
 Public. And yet, if this Defeat fhould 
 terminate in a total Separation from 
 America, it would be one of the hap- 
 pieft Events, that hath ever happened 
 to Great Britain. I have no Right to 
 congratulate you on this Vidtory, much 
 
 lefs 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 141 
 
 lefs to condole with you ; though Con* 
 dolence would have been by far the pro- 
 perer Compliment. Time will fhow 
 what you have got, and what we have 
 loft, by the Progreffes of the prefent 
 War. The Englifh have been too long 
 in the Habit of ufing the disadvantageous 
 
 Leaver ; it will now be the Turn of the 
 
 / 
 
 French to ufe it. 
 
 FINIS. 
 

Lately publijlied by the fame AUTHOR, 
 
 A TREATISE on GOVERN- 
 MENT, in three Parts. Part I. 
 The Notion of Mr. LOCKE and his Fol- 
 lowers, containing the Origin, Extent, 
 and End of Civil Government, examined 
 and confuted. Part II. The true Balis 
 of Civil Government, fet forth, and 
 afcertained. Alfo Objections anfwered; 
 different Forms compared ; and Improve- 
 ments fuggefted. Part III. England's 
 former Gothic Conftitution cenfured and 
 expofed ; Cavils refuted, and Authorities 
 produced; alfo the Scripture Dodtrine, 
 concerning the Obedience due to Cover* 
 nors, vindicated, and illuftrated. 
 
 Printed for T. CAD ELL, in the Strand* 
 London. 
 
 Of whom may be 
 
 All the Author's POLITICAL and COM- 
 MERCIAL TREATISES. 
 
 His Theological and Polemical TRACTS 
 are printed for Meffrs. RIVINGTON, 
 iji Sf. Paul's Church-Tard* 
 

 
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