which hath not yet to my understanding, I must be against setting aside the verdict at law; and therefore humbly move that the decree may be affirmed.'

The King's Speech to both Houses pressing for Dispatch, &c.] March 23. His majesty, after passing several Bills, made the following Speech to both houses:

the younger, member for Bristol, who spoke against it as follows:

* Somers' Tracts, 1 col. vol. iv. p. 272. The Speech was printed and published with this short Introduction: "The following Speech being spoken off hand upon the Debates in the House of Commons, you cannot expect in it the exactness of Roman eloquence; but you have the freedom and bravery of the old Roman and true English spirit, zealous for the good of their country, and bold in all its dangers. And if other Corporations and Shires would take the like care as B-1, they might be as happy in the choice of their Representatives; and then, and never till then, may we hope to see poor England become Old England again, rich and happy at home, glorious and renowned abroad. Towards which, this worthy patriot has set a noble example; and that it may in. spire and encourage others, and prompt and enable the country to distinguish such from Pensioners and not wretched betrayers of their country and posterity, in the design of making this public, from a Copy which I procured from a Member of the House of Commons, who took it in short hand, as it was spoke."

"My Lords and Gentlemen; When I consider how far the year is advanced, what Preparations our enemies make to be early in the field, and how necessary it is that we should be ready to meet them, both by sea and land, I must earnestly recommend to you the dispatch of those important affairs, which you have under your deliberation.-I am very sensible of the good affection which you have shewn in this, as well as former sessions, by enabling me to carry on the War we are engaged in, for our common safety. There is nothing I have so much at my heart as the ease and happiness of my people; and it is with great reluctance that I am forced to ask such large Supplies: but since our present circumstances make this unavoidable, it shall be my endeavour, that the sums which are given shall be laid out, in the best manner, to the uses for which they are designed.—Gentlemen Ralph says, that "as no Speech was ever, of the House of Commons; I take this occa- perhaps, better calculated to enflame the mob sion to mention to you the Debt for the Trans-than this, the Tory-malcontents not only took port-ships, which were used in the reducing of care to have it printed, and dispersed throughIreland. It grieves me exceedingly to see such out the kingdom, but had the pleasure to see a number of persons, who came so freely in, the train take cifect, even beyond their expec for so good a service, brought to the last extre- tation: a notion immediately and universally mities, for want of what is due to them. It is obtained among the vulgar, that if the Bill took not possible for me to discharge this debt with-place, all Offices would be conferred on Dutchout your help and as I doubt not but you have a just commiseration of their case, so I hope you will find out some way for their relief."

men that from thence-forward they would become what the Lord-Danes were formerly, and prescribe what mode of religion and government they pleased, &c. And as to sir John Order concerning Protections.] March 24. Knight, he was discoursed of as a Saviour, and Several lords who had entered Protections in a manner adored, for having made so noble being heard, some of them were struck out, a stand in behalf of his country. This exceedand the following Order made, viz. "It is or-ingly piqued the contrary party, more especially dered and resolved, upon the question, by the fords spiritual and temporal in parliament assembled, that no lord shall enter any written Protection in the Book of Protections, until after he shall have personally atended this house, in the same session of parliament."

the courtiers; who, with their usual officiousness, did not fail to do the drudgery of the Jacobites, by applying what had been said of Pharaoh and Joseph, to the king and the earl of Portland; and to make a merit of their endeavours of setting a mark on the offender: Protest thereon.] "That the taking off any for the Print being complained of in the house, part of the undoubted Privileges, which every and the heinousness of it sufficiently aggrapeer of England enjoys by his birthright, by a vated, sir John was called upon, with such a Vote in a pretty thin house, especially when a tempest of rage and clamour, as very clearly peer of this house moved on the behalf of the shewed, that either he or it were to le sacriabsent lords, that a day might be appointed for ficed: and not being altogether so devoted to the debate of the matter, in which they were so his party, as to suiler expulsion and imprisonmuch concerned, seems in the manner of it to ment in the Tower, which he had been menace d make too light of what this house ought to with, for their sakes, he chose to disown the esteem so sacred as the privileges of the Peer-Speech; which was thereupon ordered to be age of England. burnt by the hands of the Common Hangman, (Signed) NORFOLK and Marshal.' and it was burnt accordingly. But so little Sir John Knight's Speech, ageinst the Bill for credit had the house with the people at this naturalizing Protestant Foreigners.] During | crisis, that this censure of their's had all the this session, a Bill was brought in For natura-efect of a recommendation: the Speech whelizing all Protestant Foreigners;' which was vio-ther genuine or not, was more regarded, and Lently opposed, especially by sir John Knight, the cry against the Bill became louder than VOL. V.

31

"Mr. Speaker; I have heard of a ship in a one vote. The argument of the honourable violent storm, in danger of perishing every mo- person near me, to render all the care of our ment; (it was not such a sham storm as we forefathers of no esteem amongst us, who are, were lately entertained with in the Gazette, or ought to be the representatives of the kingwhich deceives the people, by affirming that dom, was to prove, that this age and generamany ships going for France, laden with corn, tion are wiser, he did not say honester, than were cast away; though those ships, and many the former.-I remember a west-countryman, more are since safely arrived in France); but it many years past, undertook to prove the same was such a real storm, as on the 7th of the last to me, and my company beyond sea, by demonth destroyed on the coast of Cornwall, up-claring his father was a fool to him: I yielded wards of 70 sail of our English ships, most of him that point, by concluding both to be such, which were laden with corn, and several sorts and yet our forefathers might be wise men ; I of provisions, for the use of our Dutch allies, shall not at this time question the wisdom of to enable them to live cheap, by making the those who promote the Bill, or their fathers. same dear at home; -perhaps some was for the For myself, I declare in behalf of the wisdom support of our half-starved and unpaid English and honesty of our predecessors; nor can I assoldiers now in Flanders; when perished like- sent to the yielding up of the liberties and laws wise more than 700 sailors, who have left a they derived unto us, only because some gengreat many widows, children, and poor rela- tlemen think better of themselves, and perhaps tions, to curse our conduct at sea, the cause mistakenly, than of their parents.--Sir, I was of this calamity. In such a dreadful storm early instructed in a principle of deference to it was (that the foresaid ship was in) when the the wisdom of our ancestors; and, at this time, good commander seeing the danger, and appre- I tremble, when I reflect on the correction hending death, desired his crew to assist with given me by my master, that I might not forresolution, and preserve themselves and the get, but imitate and defend in all times this ship, which the sailors refusing to do, he retired rule: Let them only be accounted good, just, to his cabin, bumbled himself in prayer, and and wise men, who regard and defend the staimplored the powers that alone can save in tutes, laws, ordinances and liberties, which time of need; that though the ship and the their forefathers wisdom and experience obcompany might be justly swallowed up, for the tained for themselves and posterity. Now it is disobedience of the sailors, yet that he, and his my opinion, Mr. Speaker, that if those gentlecabin might suffer no damage.-Sir, I cannot, men who approve of this Bill, had not only as that good commander did, be so vain as to been taught that rule, but as well corrected as hope, that either myself, or the place for which myself, they would be of my judgment; and I I serve, can be preserved from the general in- wish that they who depart from that rule, and undation, which this Bill we are now debating sacrifice our English liberties, to a number of lets in, on the liberties of my native country mercenary foreigners, may not meet with a and country-men; and therefore be uncon- much more rigorous and exemplary chastisecerned for the good of England, provided Bris- ment, from their enraged and ruined countrytol were safe: To hope for and expect happi- men.-The arguments used for the Bill, are in ness in life, when all mankind but myself are substance these: 1st, A want of Purchasers dead, would not be more deceiving, than to for our Lands, 2. Of Merchants. 3. Manupropose comfort and security to myself and facturers, who can work cheaper than the corporation, when strangers are admitted to English. 4. Husbandmen to till the ground. possess and enjoy, by a law, all that's valuable-To all these I shall return short answers; in the kingdom; for this Bill doth enfranchise all strangers that will swear and protest against popery, with the liberties of every Englishman, after the vast expence of treasure and English blood, it hath cost this kingdom in all times and ages of our forefathers, to secure them to themselves, and their posterity.-Wherefore, Mr. Speaker, I must beg pardon, if at this time I cannot sit silent, but express a zealous concern, as well for the kingdom in general, as for the place I represent in particular; and I am more moved thereunto, whilst I see so many members sent here by their country, for the conservation of the Englishmens liberties, so warm as to part with all to strangers with

ever in vain the scribes of the Court-party were employed to justify the one, and explode the other: the torrent continued to rage as violently as before; and, for the present, it was thought advisable to suffer the Bill to be carried away by it."

but if I debate not on them with that advantage and reason as our land-admirals can, no doubt, with great ingenuity on sea-politics, I hope the house will pardon me; for my observations never cost the kingdom such expence of money at home, and losses at sea, as hath the experience of those honourable persons in sea-affairs.-First, It is argued by some that we want Purchasers for the Lands; this is a melancholy consideration: I therefore desire those gentlemen who approve of this Bill, to tell me what it is hath brought us to this condition, that the landed men of England are reduced to so low an ebb, that they must sell, and none are left able to buy, unless Foreigners are naturalized? Doth this prove our forefathers wanted understanding? Or, doth it not rather conclude it is occasioned by our want of it, and by our not following their examples, who never taxed their country to the ruin both of themselves and their posterity? Nor did they expend the money of the king

dom on such allies as ours: who, as we have
been informed by some of the privy council,
are not in our interest, and will spare us none
of their men for our pay, without great pen-
sions likewise for themselves. Can any man
hope to persuade me that our forefathers would
have brought foreign soldiers into England,
and pay them, and naturalize them likewise,
and at the same time send the English soldiers
abroad, to fight in a strange land without their
pay?-Let us abate our taxes, and after the
wise precedent of our fathers, pay our own sea-
men and soldiers at home, and send the foreign-
ers back. Then the money will be found circulat-
ing at home, in such Englishmen's hands, who
may buy the lands that are to be sold, without
naturalizing strangers.-Secondly, It is said we
want more Merchants: Whom may we thank
for bringing so many to poverty? But I shal!
forbear grating, and desire the liberty to consi-
der in short how the Trade of England hath hi-
therto been carried on. Gentlemen have
placed their younger children to merchants;
their masters observing their honesty and dili-
gence, when they have gained some experience
in the necessary parts of trade, generally send
them abroad to Turkey, all parts of the Levant,
to Spain, Portugal, the East and West Indies;
and all parts where England holds any consi-
derable commerce; there the young men are
employed by, and entrusted with the stocks
and estates of their masters and friends, where-
by all parties, both the principals at home, and
the factors abroad, are advantaged, and Eng-facturers on starving in most parts of England,
land enriched, (for there in the end all centers:)
and, at last, when they are satiated with gain,
they return to their native soil, their friends
and relations, for ease and enjoyment, making
room for a younger generation to succeed in
their profitable employments. Thus hitherto
this kingdom hath advanced in riches, whilst
Foreigners could not with success plant their
factories on us, through the advantage we had
by our laws; let us but turn the tables, and
consider the consequence: Suppose we pass
this Bill, and the Dutch (who no doubt will take
the oaths as this Bill directs, and protest against
popery and paganisın, and, on occasion, Chris-
tianity too, as at Japan) send their servants
and factors hither, and we naturalize them, and
let the capital stock, which gets an employ to
these new-made Englishmen, belong to their
masters and friends, who never did, or ever
will live amongst us; will it not then follow,
that the profit will be their's and not England's,
and will not the new-made English (yet Dutch-
men still return to their country and friends
with their gain, as our people hitherto have
done? We may observe by our inland trade,
that it is seldom they who make the manufac-
tories, gain estates, but those who employ
their stocks in buying and selling what others
make; and it is the same with the merchants,
those that export and import are the gamers;
the first maker very seldom, the consumer
never. The conclusion then of this experiment
must be this: That what hath hitherto been

gain to England by English merchants and fac-
tors, will be turned to a foreign land, by the
foreign merchants being naturalized for their
own not England's.-But this is not all, for at
once the art of Navigation will be rendered
useless. Whence then will be a nursery for
seamen? For foreign merchants will naturalize
foreign seamen; and when the press-masters
find them, they will Dutchen spraken ya min -
Heer, and avoid the service; but at the Cus-
tom-house, Exchange, and in all corporations,
they will be found as good Englishmen as any
of this house. From whence it followeth, that
Trade will be only carried on by foreign mer-
chants and seamen, and the English seamen
condemned to our men of war, and perhaps
live there, as hitherto, without their pay, till
another million be owing them for Wages ;-and
in the interim have this only consolation and
reward for service done, and to be done, that
their wives and children may be subsisted with
the alms of the parish, whilst foreign soldiers
are maintained at home and abroad with their
pay.—A third argument for admitting Foreign-
ers, is upon a supposed want we have of manu-
facturers, especially such as will work cheaper
than the English: in my opinion this reasoning
is extraordinary, and ought not to take air out
of the house, lest the old English spirit should
exert itself in defence of its liberties; for at
this time, when all provisions are become ex-
cessive dear by the great quantities exported to
Holland, which puts the poor English manu

for want of a full employ to enable them to support their families, by their honest and painful labour and industry, shall an English parliament let in strangers to under-sell our country, which they may easily do, whilst they live in garrets, pay no taxes, and are bound to no duty? How shall we answer this to our country who sent us here? When, by so doing, instead of making the kingdom more populous, we provide only for the subsistence of Foreigners, and put our countrymen to the choice of starving at home, or to turn soldiers, and be sent to Flanders, and starve there for want of their pay? For it is well known, that, at this time, more commodities are made in England than can be consumed, abroad, or at home, which makes the poor manufacturers so miserable. All country gentlemen within this house have for several sessions laboured, what they could, to raise the price of the provisions which their lands produce, and some think it not great enough yet, and they would despise that man, who should endeavour to lower the rates, by proposing a free Importation of Irish cattle and corn, though he had no other design, than

The same thing is also touched upon in the following passage, in the Tract already quoted:

"We have scarcely had one Gazette these three months, in which the scarcity of bread, and apprehension of a famine in France, hath not been aggravated; while it is certainly known, that at Paris it is cheaper than at Lon

that charitable and necessary one of relieving the poor; and yet these very gentlemen are for this Bill, because they would have the labour of the poor brought to a lower advantage in my opinion this is a very unequal way of reasoning, that whilst we raise the price of the product of the land, for the gentlemen to live in greater state, at the same time our consults are how to make the half starved manufacturers, that live by their daily labour, more and more miserable. What opinion will the common people of England have of this house, and the gentlemen of the kingdom, whom nothing can please, but what is made by Foreigners, or comes from abroad?-Our palates for a long time have been so nice, that nothing but a French cook could please them; nor could we persuade ourselves that our cloathing was good, unless from head to foot we were a-la-mode de France. The gentleman was not well served without a Frenchman, and the lady's commode could not sit right, if her fine French woman did not put it on: now, on a sudden, the change is as

violent in favour of the Dutch, who are great courtiers, and the only taking people, and our English are a sort of clumsy-fisted people, if compared with the modish Dutch Ilans and Frow, and in short the Englishmen are fit for nothing but to be sent to Flanders, and there either to fight, steal, or starve for want of pay. There is one thing, Mr. Speaker, which comes into my mind, with which I shall close this consideration: what reason was there for blaming the mayors, aldermen, common councils, and other governors of corporations, for surrendering their Charters, though they still retained their rights, for Englishmen only to come into new charters, and at the same time hope to justify our proceedings, though we throw up the Great Charter of our English liberties, to admit strangers?-A fourth pretence for this Bill iş, A want of Husbandmen to till the ground. I shall say little on this head, but request the honourable person below me, to tell me, of the 40,000 French, which he confesseth are cone into England; how many does he know, that, at this time, follow the don; and yet we find no such provident care plow-tail? For it is my firm opinion, that not as the French king takes, to bave it sold at only the French, but any other nation this bill cheaper rates, by encouraging Importations shall let in upon us, will never transplant themfrom Ireland, where wheat is now sold for two selves for the benefit of going to plow; they shillings a bushel, which here is ten or twelve will contentedly leave the English the sole moshillings. And when Swedes, Danes, and nopoly of that slavery.-Upon the whole, sir, it Hamburghers bring corn, in hopes of a good is my judgment, that should this Bill pass, it market, we publish them seized as prize, being will bring as great afflictions on this nation, as designed for France. They tell us a wild story, ever fell upon the Egyptians, and one of their of the troops drawn from Piedmont into Dau- plagues we have at this time very severe upon phine, to prevent the insurrections of the peo- us; I mean, that of their land bringing forth ple for want of bread; as if the quartering of Frogs in abundance, even in the chambers of such numerous troops were like to increase that their kings: for there is no entering the courts gram; or that the French king should bring his of St. James's and Whitehall, the palaces of our troops into barren provinces, which were the hereditary kings, for the great noise and croakready way to make them join in the insurrec-ing of the Frog-landers.-Mr. Speaker, this tion. But we never touch upon the actual In-nation is a religious, just, and zealous nation, surrections at Worcester, Gloucester, Hereford, Stafford, Salop, Northampton, Sudbury, and Colchester, and other places, to prevent the buying up their corn, to be transported to France, as some maliciously gave out, when it was well kown it was for Holland. But the charity of the new bishop (Dr. Patrick) of Ely's wife is remarkable: who, when a lady was condoling the condition of the poor here, by reason of the dearness of bread, and all eatables, replied, But God be thanked there is a greater Scarcity in France.' It were an easy matter to draw up a book of the excessive Rates of all things for the belly and hack, which are now paid in proportion to what they were be-greatly when he had violated St. Paul's liberty, fore the Abdication: because they are daily by binding of him; and shall we set at nought experienced by every house keeper, to the ne- the freedoms of the English nation, who are a cessary pinching of themselves and their fa- religious, Christian kingdom, and part with the milies. That loaf of wheat bread, which was same to strangers, for nothing, unless the unthen sold for threepence farthing, is now nine-doing of our own country-men, who sent us pence-farthing; and so proportionable, or at least double in other food. That silk which was sold then by retail at 13s. the pound, now at 30s. The muslins, and all East India commodities, three times the price.". Price of Abdication, p. 9.

who, in some of their fits of zeal, have not only quarrelled and fought for the same, but have murdered and deposed kings, nobles, and priests, for the sake of their religion and liberties, which they pretended to prove from the Bible. We are the religious representatives of this religious people. Let us therefore learn instruction in this case before us, from that good book; where we may be informed, that St. Paul by being born free of Heathen Rome, escaped a whipping, and valued and pleaded that privilege; and the chief captain of the Romans prides himself, that he, with a great sum, had obtained that freedom, and feared

here, but not on this errand? Certainly we should follow the example of the Roman captain, and fear and tremble when we consider the just provocation we shall give to the kingdom, who will expect that we preserve, and not destroy every Englishman's birth-right.