Able. In this I fee not any rational alrative, nor can conceive on what ms it is poffible to make peace, but uch as must be attended with inevitable rain. Our navy now is juft coming into that tate and order which adapts it to the parfait of a vigorous war. We have now Admirals, Captains, and feamen, that bave learned to fight; the fea open to us, and all the power in our own hands. In a word, it may be faid in general, as to our naval affairs, if men in power will but in earnest punish those wretches, who in the Weft-Indies and nearer home have made their country a mere stalking bore, and that hold courage and honour in contempt, it is not in the leaft to be feared but we may in one fummer's warm attention to a naval war, amply repay ourfelves the expences of the war, as thirty or forty millions may be foon re turned to the nation in the fishery and fugar trade; fince it will be very hard, thofe trades, which effectually fupport the French in their wars, will not in a few years as effectually clear our debts." Next the state of our army and the ature of our alliances are examined. The author acknowledges, that the King Sardinia has in every refpect fulfilled engagements, and that he is intitled the dominions allotted him by the eaty of Worms: but obferves, that e pay a certain fubfidy to that King, nd another to the court of Vienna, and ulate for, and vote over a certain ber of men to the Low Countries, hich tho' prefumed to be 140,000, have ever amounted to 90,000; and that as the alledgeance, that the neceffity of rther aiding the King of Sardinia has awn the other 50,000 into Italy, it sanfwered, that as it must have been well known what power the French could ing into Flanders, and that the Dutch are in no fenfe our friends, it had been better to have doubled the King of Sarfaia's fubfidy, than wanted the Austrian troops in Flanders, as he might have had Swifs troops: but the author fears, the duftrians are more bent on making acquifitions in Italy at our expence, than en purfuing the main end of the alli VOL. X. ance. After fome more remarks, he pro→ · ceeds thus. "As, on the one fide, we fee our army idly facrificed to. political and venal views; fo, on the other, we fee abroad our military governors making a property of the nation, and raifing vaft eftates out of the blood and vitals of the people, It would be therefore very proper for the publick to know what troops we have at Annapolis Royal, how they are clothed, and how paid; that government which is the barrier of our Northern colonies, and, where the inhabitants are generally our enemies; with what stores that garrison is provided, and whether not capable of being taken by 500 men. -The next is, that important fortress Gibraltar, where arbitrary power, vena lity, and mifrule, in many refpects, outvies Annapolis Royal. The bay of Gi braltar is full of fish, and the adjacent coaft of Barbary extremely well ftored with all kinds of provifions; yet, at Gibraltar, even an officer can hardly af→ ford to purchafe himself a fresh dinner, all provifions being fo exceffive dear. The Governor is landlord of all the hou fes, butcher, poulterer, fishmonger, oil. man, wine-merchant, &c. A veffel can go to Tetuan or Tangier, and return to Gibraltar, freighted with bullocks, fheep and fowl, in forty eight hours in moderate weather, let the wind blow which way it will. I have forgot the price of beef; but mutton is about five farthings a pound on an average, and fowls at about two pence halfpenny. A veffel makes a fine freight of thefe at 50 per cent. profit, but 500 per cent. does not buy them, after being landed at Gibraltar. Fish, any body might catch enough in an hour to ferve three or four families but that is not permitted; fo that I need not fay any thing of wines, oils, beer, po tatoes, falt, fish, butter, &c. &c. all is there of a piece; and in fhort there is not a way in nature, that the meanest mechanick would employ to get money, that is not used here by the commanding officer; fo that the garrison is not indeed starved, but fleeced; and all the money remitted thither centers in the purfes of a very few, if not in one only." After the army, our money affairs are confidered. confidered. The author begins with nagement, whereby a war is to be fup fhewing, that our debt, which was at the ported, and the nation preserved from beginning of this feffion about 71 mil- ruin. Publick credit is the basis where lions, would have been one fourth lefs, if our taxes had been laid on the confumer; and then points out fome of the methods by which money is raised, in thefe words. "The C-r of the E-r fignifies to his agents, that fo many millions must be borrowed for the fervice of the year. They upon this form a plan, valuing the funds confiderably under the then nominal price; after which they found their patron, and from thence form a judgment what interest he expects to give. They then fet their engines to work both here and in Holland, and fell quantities of flock for time in the latter place, fo as to fecure to themselves a certain profit. They engage, befides, as many of their friends as they can, abroad and at home, to give them their names for certain fums to be afterwards fubfcribed in a lift, which they affure them they fhall have. By this means, when their patron is near ripe for concluding a bargain, they being all along privy to the progrefs he makes, and confequently judges if the plan is likely to fucceed or not, the alternative being now in their power; in case the plan is not likely to fucceed, their friends have the full of what they gave in their names for; but otherwife they are reduced to, or perhaps to nothing at all. This practice, now fo generally well known on the exchange, has been pursued more or lefs by these court-operators for fome years paft. But as this is carried on to the on is built the welfare of the state when that is played tricks with, the whole fuperftructure totters; and there fore, as that is managed, a m-y is to be judged of or depended upon; which how far it has been the cafe here, the following inftance may fairly elucidate. In the time of the rebellion, when no one will difpute the danger publick cre dit was in, nor the neceflity of fupporting it, a fubfcription was opened on the land-tax at a publick tavern in the ci ty; when these great men subscribed pretty largely, in order to make a figure, and to ingratiate themselves with the m-r which they took care at the fame time to difpofe of in Holland at a confiderable difcount. Hence the publick may fee what kind of men they are who affect to fupport their credit, when on the one fide they aim to appear the friends of the nation, while on the other they were thus undervaluing the best fecurity we have to give." great prejudice of the run of fubfcribers both at home and abroad on the one hand, fo on the other it is conducted to the great emolument of the operators themfelves, fome secret friends, and the t-f-y vultures; who reap therefrom a fine annual harveft; as what is ftruck off from the beneficial fubfcriptions is divided among them, which they immediately difpofe of in Exchange alley, and then divide the booty. Thus the fe, the Dutch, and their own countrymen, are regularly plundered, to maintain the extravagance and luxury of a few; and is among thofe high inftances of good ma Speaking of the diffolution of the parliament, he tells, that a very uncommon circumftance occurred in favour of the anti-ministerial party, which the Dutch dreaded the effect of, and our my more; which was, the ftarting up of an antiquated right in the duchy of Cornwall, a county which fends forty four members to parliament. "At this time [fays he] fome old records were produ ced, which feemed to give a right te the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, of conveening, any where within the duchy, a parliament of tinners, to be continued together fo long as their principal, or his deputy, by his directions, fhould think convenient. most of the heads of boroughs, and men of the best interest in the county, hold of the duchy, they are therefore obliged, it feems, to attend this convention, or forfeit their eftates; and as they could have been thereby obliged to vote as directed, all the members must have been neceffarily chose that were anti-minifte rial adherents. This, to be fure, at fo delicate a crifis, alarmed the m As and put them on ufing their best efforts to obviate fo important an oppofition, as fach a balance against them must have created. It happened luckily for them, that thefe records were not in the hands or power of any of the duchy-officers; they were in the hands of an eminent wyer, unbiaffed to either party, and to whom both made a very arduous application. While this was in agitation, and both fides in doubt which should fucred, both the Dutch and British m—y were at their wits end for fear of the eherent. They weighed every circumstance, caffed every measure, and puzzled and perplexed themselves to no purpose; reon worked on reflexion, thought thought; they looked on one another he men bewildered in a ftorm, expecting every moment the finishing guft, that maft give them their quietus; when fuddenly a glare of light appeared from a quarter they leaft expected, the halcyon day returned, and brightened all their res into joy and tranfport. They ad luckily intimated to the K-g the necefity of learning the fentiments of the only man they feared would neceffaly fucceed on a change now feemingly proaching; they waited fome time with errors enough, when at length they were old, with a gracious fmile, that their ery purely depended on the diffolution f the parliament." the author of the SCOTS MAGAZINE. ies were difcharged, [12. Car.II.c.24.]: That the tenure of all lands in Scotland held feu of the crown, be changed into blanch holding; that fuch vallals purchase their feu rents at fixteen years purchase; and that the non-entry be regulated by the rules in the ward holding act, [Mag. 1747, p. 366.]; provided, that those who have heritable or temporary rights to any feu duties payable to the crown, be indemnified by a decree of the courts of feflion or exchequer. That the value of fuch feu rents payable in victual, marts, muttons, or other cafualties, be ascertained at a medium of feven years of the exchequer-prices. That purchasers be allowed a half-year's purchase discount for prompt payment. That, in order to fave the expence of factors, &c. the proprietors of jurifdictions be paid the price to be given them, by affignments on the purchafers of feu rents within each jurifdiction refpectively, or in its neighbourhood if those with-in it fall fhort; to be recovered according to the legal method of recovering debts in Scotland. That in the cafe of tailzies, the purchafe-money may be raised by fale of a part of the tailzied eftate; or, otherwife, the perfon who gets right to fuch purchase-money, may levy it out of the first and readieft of the rents. That in case of minority, or incumberances, the perfon to whom the price of the feu rents is affigned, be obliged, on payment, to make over his right to fuch perfon as fhall be named by the tutors or curators of the minor, or by the proprietor of the chate, creditors; and that this right be prefe- WESTMINSTER JOURNAL, Jan. 23. T Here is no art fo eafy and fo vulgar as that of calling names. It feems even wrong to honour it with the title of an art, because a porter, fhoeblacker, or fifhwoman, will excell in it the most ingenious Gentleman. Yet is this contrivance daily made ufe of by men in power, to prejudice the people against those who are diffatisfied with, the abuse of power. ΤΟ To call odious names, which will by no means stick to the perfons they are thrown at, is far from being an expedient that tends to moderate and cool; it will of course rather aggravate and imbitter; and what the consequence of this must in time be, former revolutions in the cabinet may fufficiently demonftrate. venues first in the proper furnishing and difpofing of it, is wicked, disaffected and Jacobitical. IV. That to argue for the conftituti on as established by the revolution, and against the extenfion of oppreffive and penal laws, is Jacobitical likewife, and fare mark of a ftrong propensity to Pope ry and arbitrary power. V. That to lay our fafety does not de pend folely on that of the Dutch, is damnable lie, and a certain proof tha he who tells it is no true Englishman. VI. That it is also a lie, a damnabl Jacobitical lie, to fay that our colonie and commerce are of more concern us, than the prefervation of the Austria fucceffion entire to the Emprefs-Queen and the maintenance of near 30,000 Ga man mercenaries. A rebellion has lately happened, in which the North of the united kingdom did indeed appear too culpable, and has drawn on fome of its members adequate punishments and cenfures, with new retraints on the whole. But what did this rebellion prove among their Southern fellow-fubjects? What! but that loyalty abundantly prevailed, and was particularly diftinguished in those whom calmer times had juftified in their oppofition to bad ministries? Are thefe, now the danger is over, and their laudable zeal no more wanted for the prefent, indifcriminately to be claffed with the guilty under the opprobrious name of Jacobites? It is an infult upon common fenfe, and the recent memory of every man living. Except thofe who appeared in arms for the pretender, they who had power, and neglected in time to ftop the progrefs of the A conjecture about the white matter whit rebellion, acted the most like Jacobites. floats about in the air in autumn. By M They fuffered an alarm to run thro' the Anderon, F. R. S. Aug. 28. 1746. fpread far, and put thefen, who Having a in m nation, which otherwife need not have Aving lately a large fpider in m agents now brand, tho' less deserving of Truth and indignation extorted thus man. I. That all minifters, in virtue of their office, are prudent, wife, honeft, good, and unblameable. II. That to find fault with their meafures, how strange foever they appear to common fenfe, is a high crime and mifdemeanor. III. That to fay Great Britain, as a naval power, ought to depend chiefly on her navy, and employ her cares and re VII. That Great Britain abounds wealth and plenty, and is not unreafon ably loaded with, nor are her trade an manufactures in any measure affected b the burthen of her debts and taxes: an that fo much as to infinuate the contr ry, betrays a Jacobitical principle. it hung by its thread, as they very com monly do. On holding my hand ve ftill, it readily afcended up it again; ar thus, by giving it a fhake, and the holding my hand still, the spider afcend ed and defcended a great many time I thought, at first, it had fpun a ne thread at every defcent, and was defiro to have measured how long an one could cause it thus to fpin; but, upon ftricter examination, I very plainly p ceived, that whenever it afcended, wound its thread with its feet into a f of coil, and when it defcended, only velled it out again. As thefe coils thread are exactly like thofe floating the air towards the end of fummer, think it is not improbable those are m in the fame manner, when fpiders h a mind to direct their courfe in the fa direction their threads lie. του 21 JOURNAL of the Proceedings and Debates in the POLITICAL CLUB, .continued from the Appendix 1747. The fubftance of the Speeches made by way reply in the debate upon the bill for abeng the hereditary jurifdictions in Scotload, &c. Mr Prefident, Find it is objected to the bill now of fered to your confideration, That it is not founded on any complaint, or y fuggeftion of a grievance felt by the ople of Scotland. Now this, which fome Gentlemen is made an objection the bill, is with me the ftrongest arguin its favour. Why have we no omplaint, why have we no fuggeftion, ut becaufe thofe who are under the lafh S thofe jurifdictions dare not complain, and those who are not, think they have nothing to do with grievances they do not feel? Nay, they are probably like men upon the fhoar in the time of a tempet at fea; they have an inward pleafure 5 viewing thofe dangers which they are or themfelves expofed to. That a high, pecially an exclufive jurifdiction, eftaWithed hereditarily in the family of any bject, must be a grievance upon all thofe ho are within it, is fo plain from the naare of things, that we must conclude, we ould have had a multitude of complaints, those who fuffer had dared to complain: ed that fuch jurifdictions are inconfiftent ith the nature of government, and of angerous confequence to the peace of ety, is likewife fo plain from the nae of things, that I am furprifed they re not long fince taken notice of and elifhed by the parliament of G. Britain. Whilft Scotland remained a separate ngdom, I do not at all wonder, that ele jurifdictions were never abolished by their parliaments; because the lords of efe jurifdictions were always fo numeous, and had fuch an influence in their Carliaments, that no man could hope for he fuccefs of any motion tending to ech a purpose: but this was a difficulty no man could apprehend in a British parament; and therefore I muft fuppofe, Sir, that the continuance of thefe hereditary jurifdictions is more owing to our Snattention to the affairs of Scotland, than VOL. X. to any man's being in a doubt as to the bad confequences of thefe jurifdictions, both with refpect to the people fubject to them, and with refpect to the publick tranquillity. The danger we were lately in from Scotland has raised our attention; and, now it is raifed, whatever was the cause of the late rebellion, I hope, that for our own fakes, as well as for the fake of the poor people in Scotland, we shall take care not to leave it in the power of any great lord in Scotland, to compel the whole people of a county or other district to follow him into a rebellion, tho' most of them be neither difaffected to, nor diffatisfied with the fupreme government of their country; which, I am afraid, was not the cafe at the time the late rebellion was begun. With respect to the people fubject to thefe jurifdictions, can any one doubt, Sir, of its being inconvenient for a man to live, or to have his eftate fituated in a county or district hereditarily fubjected to any neighbouring family? It is hardly poffible for the judge appointed by fuch a family, to judge impartially in any caufe that comes before him. The family may very probably have fome relations within the county, and must have connexions with fome of the inhabitants more than with others. In all fuch cafes, the judge will in his heart, or by direction of his lord, favour one fide more than the other. Befides, as fuch lords have generally their own eftates within the diftrict over which they have an hereditary jurifdiction, they must have many difputes with the proprietors of thofe land-citates that lie upon the confines of theirs; and can fuch a proprietor expect impartial justice from a judge appointed by, and removeable at the pleasure of his adverse party? These are inconveniences which every man must be liable to, who lives, or has an cftate within any hereditary jurifdiction; and thefe are inconveniences which he can be freed from by no time, no change, by nothing but a most slavish fubmiffion to the will of his hereditary judge: whereas in diftricts where the judge is chofen by the people, or ap D pointed |