Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A87931
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A letter from a member of the parliament of Scotland to his friend at London, concerning their late act, for establishing a company of that kingdom, tradeing to Africa and the Indies
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Verax, Philanax.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing L1413; ESTC R231897
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12,420
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20
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World as would chuse rather to lose a certain Benefit and Advantage to themselves than endure the very thoughts of seeing their Neighbours in any tolerable degree of equal Prosperity In allusion to which 't is no new thing to tell you That ever since the Reformation of Religion the Jesuits in their various shapes have left no means unessayed to propagate the several Sects and Schisms which during the last Age have like a general Contagion overspread this Island and undoubtedly gave the first rise to all the sad Catastrophe and dismal Consequences of the late bloody Civil Wars And even so since the Union of both Kingdoms under one Monarchy we have too too manifest and pregnant Proof of how far the Matchevilian Maxims of Policy have by the means of French Pensioners and Emissaries gain'd credit enough at the Court of England to improve the Remnants and Dregs of the ancient Feuds of both Kingdons into an almost avowed Reason of State though a much mistaken one That it was the Interest of England to suppress and keep Scotland poor Which was indeed chiefly intended and contrived with design to leave England in the lurch and carry on the real Interest of France where this Maxim had its birth by re-gaining Scotland into their ancient League For the Sting and hidden Poyson of the Serpent lay in this That the People of Scotland from the natural consideration they must needs have of any severe Treatment or unreasonable and intolerable Exactions imposed upon them by their domineering Neighbours might in time be tempted like the Israelites in the Wilderness to murmur and look back into the Onions Melons Garlick and Flesh-pots of their old acquaintance Yet by the Influence of this Jesuitical Barbarous and Hellish Principle together with the general Corruption of such colleaguing and self-designing Ministers as have to the grief of these Nations been at the Helm of Affairs during those latter Reigns this poor Nation in particular hath been most unmercifully crampt and fetter'd in its natural Liberties both as to Religion Property Trade and indeed all the real Badges of a Free and independent Kingdom other than in shadow till the late Providential and Happy Revolution gave us not only a fair opportunity of reassuming all our ancient Freedoms and natural Liberties but also of extending the same in point of Trade far beyond those Limits which some of our Neighbours seem now unwilling to allow us And I would gladly offer it to the serious Consideration of any Honest Unbyass'd and Free-thinking English-man Whether upon His present Majesty's Accession to the Crown of England when Ireland was in a manner quite lopp'd off France making mighty Preparations for War all Europe invelop'd in almost unquenchable Flames and England it self not free from Intestine Divisions and Bosom Enemies who flattered themselves with the Hopes that Scotland would from the consideration of its being so long kept at Arm 's length be tempted to act by an Interest separate from that of England Whether I say upon condition of assurance then that we would follow England's Example in placing the Crown of this Realm upon the Heads of our present Gracious Soveraign and His late Royal Confort of Blessed Memory when they fear'd our Demurring upon it England would not have willingly fulfilled and put us in possession of the long promised Union of both Nations and settled the same upon such an equal and lasting Foundation as that we might have freedom of Trading into the very Heart of their Plantations For how little soever the apparent Proportion be which our Nation may at present seem to bear on the Theatre of Publick Action as being in a manner wholly eclipsed by the refulgent and radiant Beams of England's more resplendent Greatness I may without Hyperbole justly say That as Matters then stood We had the Ballance of Europe in our Hands Yet all the Considerations we had in view of our own particular Interest the Advantages which we might have made of that Opportunity soon gave way to the irresistable Zeal and Affection which we had for the restorer of the Protestant Religion and common Liberties of Britain For lest that by any Delays in our Proceedings the Measures of England might be protracted We did in almost One Breath Declare the Throne Vacant our Selves a Free Independent State Their Royal Highnesses King and Queen of this Realm and war against all Their Majesty's Enemies as not in the least doubting but that such our generous and frank Proceeding with respect to our Neighbours at so critical a Juncture of Affairs might in due time reasonably plead for a grateful Resentment from the King and Parliament of England by an equally generous Condescension on their side to our having the same freedom of Trade by which but a little time before the wisest and most leading Men of that Nation thought it their Interest to have secured our Affection And that this was the sense of the Court of England at that time needs no further evidence than His Majesty's two successive Speeches to both Houses of His First Parliament wherein the consideration of an intire Union with Scotland was seriously recommended In order to which some Schemes were prepared and consulted by certain Noble Patriots of both Nations But no sooner had we in the interim solemnly consummated in manner aforesaid all that England could have either wish'd or fear'd from us on that Occasion but of a sudden all thoughts of such Union fell to the ground so that being left to chew our Cud upon that melancholly Proverb Post est occasio calva which in our Dialect may be render'd A True Scotchman is Wise behind-hand our next and only Remedy was to make the best of a bad Mercat In order to which we then Resoved to think of framing such wholsom and advantagious Laws for the Advancement of our poor Trade as might not only rouze up and animat the depressed and often-disappointed Genius of our fellow-Natives but also invite and enduce Strangers more experienced in Trade to embarque upon the same bottom with us and to that end We did in the Third Session of this current Parliament Anno 1693. Pass a Preliminary Act conceived in general Terms for the Encouragement of Foreign Trade which you see narrated in the beginning of this last Act By the gracious and necessary Concessions of which we have a plain Demonstration through the Vertue of those Noble and worthy Patriots whom His Majesty's discerning Eye singled out of the Crowd of Pretenders to the Offices of State That our present King is not only Pater Patriae but Pater Patriarum and like the true Emblem of that Immense Diety whose Anointed he is diffuseth his Favours with a more unconfined and universal Influence than any of our late Kings of Britain Their natural Easiness of Temper giving many fatal Opportunities to the Mercenary Ministers of those times both to impose on their Masters and prey upon the Liberties of their fellow-Subjects
whereas our present King doth not only penetrate into what is just but hath also a Nobleness of Soul to execute with an impartial Hand what to him seemeth to be so And that the giving his Royal Sanction to this Act was the effect both of his Justice and Gratitude is plain from the natural Regard which in Reason we must needs suppose him to have had to our frank and seasonable Services when in themselves they were most Valuable and when indeed he stood most in need of them Obj. But you say the Out-cry is That these are such unprecedented Concessions and Exemptions as never were or ought to be granted by a Prince to any Society or Company of Traders in the World Ergo Hah Is the Hue and Cry got up then I am glad of it For certainly the Great the Grave and Wise Men of the Nation do never joyn in that Chorus But to be more serious 'T is true that these Concessions may seem somewhat strange to a People whose Wealth Capacity Naval Strength Forraign Possessions Plantations Forts and Universal Settlements want no more to carry on what Trade soever they please than to will and to execute But on the other hand if they look upon Scotland and consider it as in it self it is deficient to a degree of Extremity in all the necessary Qualification of Trade above-receited they must owne of course that nothing less than these Concessions and Exemptions could give this New Company a prospect of so much as a Possibility of ever grappling with such infinite and almost insuperable Difficulties as they and indeed all other Beginnings must necessarily encounter with so that if such Exemptions had not been granted we had as good have erected no Company And as to these Concessions being without Precedent I will not pretend to give an Instance of any that are exactly the same with the Privileges contained in this Act but if I let you see much greater I hope that may serve the turn Nor to do that need I go so far from Home as to search into the Records of other Nations such as France Holland Denmark others who have given illimited Powers vast Encouragements to their respective Tradeing Companies but even in Scotland when we could not be presumed to have had any great Notions of Trade about Thirty five Years past upon the Restauration of King Charles II. in his First parliament and the several Sessions thereof before the French King had time to plant his Janizaries in the Court of England there were several Acts pas'd in favours of Trade and Manufactories with Priviledges and Exemptions far exceeding any in this Act with respect to the Purposes for which they were granted Mutatis Mutandis And that I may not seem to speak altogether without Book I shall give you an Instance of one for all namely the Act Pass'd in the Year 1661. For the Fishings and Erecting of Companies for Promoting the same which being too long to be transcribed I send you by way of Poscript a short Abstract of the most considerable Privileges and Exemptions therein contained as they stand in order in the Act it self and all these were granted for perpetuity Whereas all the most important Concessions in this late Act are limited some to Ten some to Twenty one Years in which time God knows we must run very fast to come up with any of all our neigbouring Nations who have started so long before Us. Now let us further compare both the said Acts and the Purposes for which they were severally intended and then with respect to this last we must think of going we know not whither undergo the Danger of boysterous Storms and long Voyages with which we are not acquainted tye up our Stomachs to strict regular and unaccustomed Diets prepare against the Effects of quite contrary Climates and there purchase Plantations Collonies Settelments and build Forts c. Yet as to the Time when all this will happen he must be a wiser Men than I that can tell But as to the former Act for the Fishing c. all Matters thereunto relating were to be transacted in view of our own Doors and in our own Power But then you 'll ask me How it came to pass that this excellent Constitution for our Fishings has had no better Effect Why truly I 'll tell you For the very same Reason which may possibly prove the Overthrow of this New Undertaking which God forbid if we have no better luck in getting honester Men at the Head of it For the Dutch who have got most of their Wealth by Fishing in other Mens Waters looking upon us then with a zealous Eye found a way as it was then believ'd to grease a certain Great Man in the Fist who thereupon embarqued himself and all his Friends with all his Might on our Bottom and who being once at the Head of all thwarted all over-rul'd all and ruin'dall For the Honest and Well-meaning Men finding themselves no other than Cyphers grew wearied and so gave up the Cudgels By all which you have a plain Demonstration and Proof That what may do in one Nation will not do in another But I 'm resolved to wait with Patience and hope for the best Exitus acta probat the meaning of which is in English The Proof of the Pudding is in the eating Ob. But then you say the unanswerable and thundering Dilemma which these Grumblers would seem and do actually boast to fasten upon his Majesty is That either he must retract what he has done by some publick Mark of his Discountenancing this New Company or otherwise he cannot in reason deny the like Concessions to the several Trading Companies of England who have so largely contributed towards the Expense of this present War Answer This is truly the most plausible Difficulty of all that 's offered and such a Noose as may readily catch Larks but will never gravel the judicious part of Mankind more than any of the former as being all of one piece The better to obviate which I shall give you a plain easie just and adequat Parallel in the like Case As for Example Supposing me Lord of a considerable Mannour producing abundance of Corn Hay Fruit and having all the marks of a fertile and well cultivated Soil which I have Lett to Farm for a certain Annual or Yearly Rent which Rent I have by Contract of Marriage appropriated to the Payment of my Wife's Joynture in the interim there comes to me an Under taker with a Proposal That whereas I am also Proprietor of a certain piece of unprofitable waste Ground together with some Acres of Land quite under Water both which yield me no Rent he will engage at his own Hazard Labour and Expense to cultivate the one and drain the other providing I grant him a Lease thereof free of all Rent for Twenty one Years to which I readily and reasonably assent as foreseeing the Advantage that must thereby accrue if