Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	good_a	majesty_n	time_n	2,242	5	3.5704	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59941	England's safety, or, A bridle to the French King proposing a sure method for encouraging navigation, and raising qualified seamen for the well manning Their Majesties fleet on any occasion, in a months time, without impressing, and a competent provision for all such as shall be wounded in service against the enemy, either in Their in Their Majesties ships of war, privatiers, or merchant men, to encourage the better defending them : also an in-flight into the advantages may be made by the herring and other fisheries, in respect to the breeding of seamen, and otherwise : together with a proposal for the maintenance and education of the male children ... : also encouragement for commanders of men of war, privatiers and seamen, in taking any ship, or effects of the enemies, and all to be done, without any sensible charge or burthern to the kingdom / by Captain George St. Lo...	St. Lo, George, d. 1718.	1693 (1693)	Wing S341; ESTC R21733	30,938	54

England's Safety Or a Bridle to the French King c. IN THESE LYE THE STRENGTH AND GLORY OF ENGLAND This Encouraged England must Flourish London Printed for Will. Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII ENGLAND's SAFETY OR A BRIDLE TO THE French King PROPOSING A Sure Method for Encouraging NAVIGATION and Raising Qualified Seamen for the well Manning Their Majesties FLEET on any Occasion in a Months Time without Impressing And a Competent Provision for all such as shall be Wounded in Service against the Enemy either in their Majesties Ships of War Privatiers or Merchant-Men to Encourage the better Defending them ALSO An In-sight into the Advantages may be made by the Herring and other Fisheries in respect to the Breeding of Seamen and otherwise Together with a PROPOSAL for the Maintenance and Education of the Male Children of all such as shall be Kill'd in Service both Seamen and Officers And a Provision for Gentlemens Younger Sons and the Sons of Commanders Kill'd in the Service to qualifie them for the Sea in order to make Officers ALSO Encouragement for Commanders of Men of War Privatiers and Seamen in Taking any Ship or Effects of the Enemies and all to be done without any sensible Charge or Burthen to the Kingdom By Captain George St. Lo. London Printed for W. Miller at the Gilded Acorn in St. Paul's Church-yard where Gentlemen and others may be furnished with Bound Books of most Sorts Acts of Parliament Speeches and other sorts of Discourses and State-Matters as also Books of Divinity Church-Government Human●… Sermons on most Occasions c. 1693. To the KING and QVEENS most Excellent MAJESTIES HAVING as I humbly conceive found out a sure Method for the well Manning Your Majesties Fleet the Strength and Glory of Your Dominions and Terror of Your Enemies on any Occasion in a Months Time without the Trouble or Charge of Impressing As also a Method for the Breeding of Seamen and Encouraging Navigation without Charge to Your Majesties I humbly presume to lay the same at Your Majesties Royal Feet in hopes of Your Gracious Acceptation and Countenance of my Endeavours for the Service of Your Majesties the Ease of Your Subjects and the General Benefit of Trade That GOD may ever Bless Preserve and Prosper Your Sacred Majesties for the Good of these Your Kingdoms as well as the Vniversal Benefit of Christendom Shall always be the Prayer of Your Majesties Most Obedient Dutiful and Devoted Subject and Servant George St. LO To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled I Cannot but give this Honourable Assembly some short Account of the Tyrannous Insults and Barbarous Threats of Our Enemies the French in Particular against these Two Houses of Parliament at the beginning of the War IT being my Misfortune to be Disabled and Taken at Sea in the Year 1689. I was carried to Brest under very hard usage and nothing could I hear but of having my Self and Men sent to the Gallies and that they did not question but in a Twelve Months time to have all the Parliament of England there to Row their King in a Galley using the most Reproachful Names to this August Assembly that their Malice and Madness could think of and so far they proceeded in their Barbarity and Confidence of Victory that they took upwards of Seven Hundred English Prisoners part of them my Ship 's Company Hand-cuff'd them two and two together fastning Sixty Couple in a Rope in that manner driving them from Brest and other Places to Thoulon in Provence being several Hundred Miles Beating Whipping and so hardly using them that several of them died under their hands And when they came to Thoulon hearing of the Success of Their Majesties Arms in Ireland they changed their Resolution of putting them into the Galleys but travelled them back again to Rochfort under such miserable harsh and severe usage with Hunger Cold Travelling and Beating c. That many of them Died by the way who were then knock'd out of the Irons and left often in the Fields without Burial And when any of them broke Prison which their Misery forc'd them to desiring rather to dye than live so their Guard when they took them would Chain them to a Wall without shelter from the Weather and there let them lie Languishing for several days together as particularly John Hutchin's Yeoman of my Powder-Room and many others And for my own part they took Me out of the Hospital at Brest before half Cur'd of my Wounds and would have carry'd me on Horse-back though the Chirurgions declar'd it would certainly Kill me at length the Chirurgions prevail'd to have me carried in a Litter with Lieutenant Walker one of my Lieutenants who was likewise Wounded They Carry'd us thus Eight Days in Company with three Deserters whose Noses were slit an Inch up their Cheeks burnt with a Flower-de-luce their Hair cut off and their Ears cut with their Legs tied under the Horses Belly and their Hands chained yet they were better mounted than those in Company with me to whom they would neither allow Stick nor Spur Their Names were Lieutenant William Clutterbuck one of my Lieutenants Mr. Rowley the Vice Admiral of Brandenburgh and one Mr. Carbonnell an English Merchant of French Parents who was first taken up under pretence of being a Spy and still detained in Prison and now pretend Debt upon him We were guarded with the Povost Marine and four Arches giving out by the way That I was an English Lord they had taken so that all the Country People came flocking to see me When we came to Nantz they clapt us up in the Castle where there were two Hugonots and a Priest one Monsieur La Noa that had been a Prisoner Two and Twenty Years Seven Years in a Dungeon where he never had any Light but while he Eat Sixteen Years before brought to Tryal and then because too old to go to the Gallies they Condemn'd him to perpetual Imprisonment and all for writing a Book Reflecting on the Archbishop of Paris and though they could not prove it upon him yet they used him so severely it being the Barbarous Principle of the Cruel French King rather to punish twenty Innocent Persons than let one they think Guilty Escape They would not allow us any Provision though we sent to the Governor unless we would give half a Crown a Day each then we desired the Allowance only of Bread and Water telling them we had no Mony but for all that they would not allow us any without paying for it and Six-pence a Day found us Four Bread which we were forced to give or starve thus we liv'd on Bread and Water Fifteen Days and then the other Three consented to pay for other Victuals but because I found such living did me good for my Wounds I continued it Five and Twenty Days with the help of two Pound of Cheese which I had unknown to my Guard but if

Usage and Hardships sustain'd in my Imprisonment in France my Memory is prejudic'd but sure I am there is a good Foundation for wiser Heads to work upon and when the Parliament have it under their Consideration it will be at their Election to Enact this for a Year or what time they please and under what Regulations shall be thought fit and according as it shall be found in that time it may either be made use of or not ENGLAND's GLORY c OR A PROPOSAL MADE BY Capt. George St. Lo. FOR THE Raising Twenty Thousand SEAMEN QUALIFIED As here under-mentioned for the Service of Their Majesties and the Kingdom in Manning the Royal Navy on any Occasion without Impressing in a Month's time after setling the Office Hereby humbly proposed for that purpose THE Qualification of each Seaman is That he shall understand the Mechanick part of a Sailer which is to Reef and Furl and take his Trick at Helm and be a Man at all Calls properly called a Haulboling so that half a Ships Complement of such Men before the Mast will be sufficient to well Man any Ship for Masters-Mates Midship-Men Quarter-Masters Quarter-Gunners and other small Officers will go voluntarily with their respective Commanders and several others may be supposed for Preferment which will not be of this number And therefore the said Twenty Thousand able Seamen with the help of the Warrant-Officers Voluntiers Officers Servants small Officers and Water-mens Apprentices who are sent by their Hall together with the Sail-Makers Armorers Carpenters-Crew and Chirurgions Crew will be sufficient to Man Their Majesties whole Fleet. This Method of bringing in Seamen without Impressing will be of vast Advantage to the King and Kingdom 1. In saving the great Charge of Conduct-Mony and Bounty-Mony 2. In saving the Charge of hiring Smacks Ketches and other Vessels for Impressing of Seamen which stand the King in 30 l. a Month each Vessel one with another or thereabouts and of these each first and second Rate Ship hath three or four and a third and fourth Rate Ship hath one or two besides the Captains of each Ship according to the Rate and Bigness have Imprest Mony some 100 l. some 50 l. some 20 l. Besides bringing in their Bills of Charges and Disbursements which have sometimes amounted to two or three Hundred Pounds a Ship to my knowledge all which by the Method hereafter mentioned may be saved to the Crown and Kingdom which in Conduct Bounty and Imprest-Mony with the hiring of Vessels as aforesaid cannot be reckoned to amount to less than 60000 l. per Annum By this Method the King being assured of having Men ready to Man his Fleet on any occasion in a Month's time will save the vast Charges of keeping the great Ships in Pay all the Winter and besides prevent the Danger of ever being Invaded by any Foreign Enemy as was like to have been this Year for after the Summers Expedition is over and the Fleet come in it would be a great Encouragement to the Seamen to be paid off and their Tickets paid at the same time which would give them Credit at any time prevent the great Abuse of Ticket-buying and enable Seamen to reap the Benefit of their Labour themselves as now they do not and though the King should give 20 l. per Cent for Mony so to Pay them his Majesty would save vastly by it And upon issuing out his Royal Proclamation at any time have Men sufficient for his Service again And here it may be Objected perhaps from a Book lately set out by one Henry Maydman a Purser That Seamen are discouraged from Their Majesties Service by the Abuses of their Commanders To which it is Answered It is a sign that that Purser hath Sailed with honest Captains that would not let him pinch the Men for the Men never fare better than when a Captain and Purser disagree I observe he carefully conceals his Employ of Purser well knowing that of all Officers such a one in this Case is the least to be Credited for let Commanders see that the Pursers do not wrong the Men and let them be paid their Majesties Allowance and the Tickets at Payment of the Ship or upon tender afterwards they are very well encouraged and care not for hard words from a Captain which break no Bones ☞ But that which discourages Seamen is the want of their due Pay and the lying of their Tickets several Years without Payment unless sold to a Ticket-buyer which occasions the Proverb among them Of going to Sea for a Knife and Sheath This would likewise prevent the Impressing of Land-men altogether unqualified which often breeds Sickness in the Fleet as also Water-men that were never at Sea upon whom it is now very hard For Instance a Water-man is Imprest out of his Boat that has a Wife and four or five Children to maintain in his absence his Boat is unimployed and receives damage his Wife and Children must become burthensom to the Parish or if she has Credit perhaps runs her Husband in debt more than he can get up in a Year or two Likewise when a Ship comes home after a long Voyage the Men are Imprest who perhaps have some of them Ventures on Board which they are snatch'd from without having the liberty of going to their Families and disposing of what they have or even to refresh themselves in which Case their Ventures are lost the Men Dissatisfied and their Families half Ruined Also many Persons have been lost on the Thames and other Places in endeavouring to Escape as particularly Ten or Twelve Persons lately in Boats were Drowned Shot and Died of their Wounds in making off from from a Ship that had Prest them and the Sand-Barges at Plymouth when a Press is thereabouts lye wholly Unemployed by the Absconding of the Men which hinders the Working of Husband-men for want of that Sand to Manure the Ground so that many Teams of Horses and Yokes of Oxen lye still on that account to the great Damage of the Country This would also prevent the great Abuses by Persons pretending to be Press-Masters who to get Money often do very ill things sometimes occasion Murder and generally such Disorders as bring an Odium upon Their Majesties Fleet undeserved Besides it is very hard upon Lieutenants who in Pressing cannot but spend more than their Pay and sometimes are Turned out for Impressing those that have Protections which by this will be taken off So that no Man as the Case now stands would be a Lieutenant were it not for the Prospect of being advanced to Captain In the next Place it is hoped no Man's Private Interest will be thought equivalent to Ballance against so great a Publick Good and Ease as this will be to the King and Kingdom The Reasons that have induced me to undertake this great Work are drawn from my Dear-bought Experience when Prisoner in France where I lay two Years and two Months under great Hardships and

time of Peace as well as War to be ready at all times for their Majesties Service It is humbly Proposed that all Ships Vessels and small Craft shall for each Man they find in time of War pay 5 s. per Annum in time of Peace as an Acknowledgment to this Office And that Seamen in Merchant-Ships may not still pretend they have nothing allow'd them if they lose their Limbs whereby many Ships have been lost for want of defending them This Office in case it be thus setled will for the future pay and allow to all Seamen wounded and disabl'd in Merchant-Ships and likewise in private Men of War two third parts of what is allow'd to Seamen in their Majesties Ships of War in the like case Now to demonstrate what may undoubtedly be saved to the King and Kingdom by the foregoing Method I find that the whole Fleet by the List of the Line of Battel consists not of 36000 Men with Fireships and Tenders and now we need not half the Tenders we had before there being no occasion for them to go a Pressing And when the great Ships are come in and paid off that is the 16 first and second Rates and 18 of the third Rates with Fireships which together take up about 21000 Men Officers and all their whole Pay may be saved during the Winter which at the Method usual in the Navy of allowing 4 l. a Man per Month to pay all Wages Victualling Wear and Tear amounts to 84000 l. per Month and that for six Months comes to 504000 l. At the same time we shall have a Winter Squadron which will be 15 third Rates and 13 fourth Rates besides fifth and sixth Rates And then we shall not want 10500 Men to be at all Calls by reason the others are got already Thus besides the said 504000 l. which may be saved each Winter by paying off the great Ships there may be likewise saved 60000 l. at least in Conduct Bounty and Imprest-Mony and the hiring Vessels for Pressing so that by the whole it appears besides saving the King these vast Sums yearly his Majesty will always have Men on any occasion for his Service his Ships may be ready to Sail Clean and in good order No Pretence can be made use of for lying still for want of Men when the Terrors of Pressing and frequent Mischiefs attending it are prevented Protections taken off because no need of them Merchants and Traders will have their Liberty to Traffick to their own advantage as well as the encrease of their Majesties Customs and the universal good and benefit of all their Majesties Kingdoms those concern'd are generally willing to it wishing it had been done before for that it would have saved them a great deal of Mony and if this be done I shall have the Satisfaction of Serving their Majesties Effectually upon the French for their Barbarous Usage to Me and I doubt not but it will have that Effect as not only to regain our Ancient Glory and put us beyond the Danger of being ever attempted by them or any Foreign Enemy for the Future but that their Majesties Royal Navy may go and Command where they please and have none dare to oppose them And herein I have taken Care as near as may be not to disoblige or reflect on any Person But it cannot be avoided but that so great a Publick Good will Retrench the Profit of some Officers as the Secretary of the Admiralty and his Clerks c. who may for that reason endeavor to obstruct and object against it in which Case I desire to be rightly understood that what I do is purely for the Service of their Majesties and the Kingdom and not to bring a disadvantage to any Man But that they may not be Sufferers for a General Benefit their Majesties if they so please may compensate their Loss by Sallary or otherwise as their Majesties shall think fit Provided always that in Case any of their Majesties Men of War lose her Men in Action or by Sickness or otherwise and being abroad cannot be supply'd from this Office with safety to the Ship such Ship for her Security may Impress as formerly but so as not to disable any Merchant-man ☞ And in case this Office be thus setled and that the Law-Bill lately in being be reviv'd and bestow'd upon it It is humbly Propos'd besides what additional Encouragement is given to Seamen wounded and disabled in their Majesties Ships of War Privatiers and Merchant-men That there shall be likewise two large Schools Erected near a Rivers side in some Cheap Country where the Children of all Seamen kill'd in their Majesties Service shall be taken into one of these Schools at twelve years of Age and be there Taught the Mathematicks That they shall lie in West-India Hammocks which in the day time may be put into Lockers that there may be no room lost for their Lodgings and every thing be in good order so that then it will be wondred where they Lye ☞ That there shall be a Ship in the River near the School where on Play-days or other fit Times the Boys shall go on Board and Learn to Splice and Knot Reef and Furl c. whereby they may know all the parts of a Ship and understand the Mechanick part of a Sailer in two or three years time as well as if they were at Sea and then they may be drawn off to Sea every year as occasion offers when they will want nothing but to get their Sea-Legs ☞ These Youths so drawn off yearly shall be put out Apprentice for three Yearsto Commanders or Lieutenants of Men of War or Warrant Officers in their Majesties Ships and not for seven Years to Masters of Merchant-men as is done to the King's Scholars in Christ-Church Hospital where after their Majesties have been at great Expence in their Education for three Years and in putting them out Apprentice at 40 l. charge in Mony and Clothes they are bound for seven Years to Masters of Merchant-Ships who alone have the benefit of them without any advantage to their Majesties or the Youths tho at their going out they are examined as to their Qualification for the Sea and perhaps are better Artists than the Masters they are put to whereas if they had never been Taught any thing or were even took out of the street they might as well be put out for half the Mony and the Masters be bound to teach them as much as these and after all the Charge their Majesties are and have been at on this Account and that there are Ten drawn off to Sea every Year for these 18 Years past there are not now Ten of them in their Majesties Service tho otherwise there might have been many had they been bound to Commanders or Officers of Men of War ☞ There are a great many People have entertain'd a Notion that those bred up in Merchant-men are better Seamen than those bred up in Men of War

but to undeceive them in this Particular it is evident that a Cruising Man of War in two Months time plows more Sea and wanders further between Heaven and Earth than a Merchant-ship does in a Year by reason he Chases every Sail he sees to discover what they are when as a Merchant-ship like a Carrier's-Horse goes only the direct Road to come at his Port the nearest way he can besides he is heavy laden so that a Man of War runs two Foot to his one Then he is oblig'd to stay her for Freight and often for Convoy which taken altogether often keeps him in Port or Harbor nine Months in a Year whereas a Cruising Man of War is out at Sea nine Months in a Year so that it is hereby very plain that in two years there is more to be Learned in a Man of War both as to Action the way of Command and otherwise than by being seven Years in a Merchant-man but many hold this Argument hoping thereby to be thought to understand the Sea The other School shall be for the Sons of Commanders kill'd in their Majesties Service and the Sons of Gentlemen that are willing to be bred up to the Sea where they shall be Taught every thing necessary to qualifie them to make Officers as particularly Navigation Fortification Gunnery Languages the Exercise of Pike and Musket c. They shall be lodged in pretty decent Apartments and have Tutors and good Orders among them sufficient for their Education and Instruction in things of this nature which will be of great Consequence to this Kingdom and then when it is seen that this is well manag'd it may be presumed many well minded People that have got Estates by the Sea and have no Heirs of their own may leave their Estates or good Legacies to the Support and Maintenance of these Schools which may properly be called the Academy for the Sea Encouragement for Commanders and Seamen in Their Majesties Service for Taking the Enemies Ships Goods and Effects I. THat all Privatiers belonging to the Enemy who shall hereafter be taken by any of their Majesties Men of War shall be forthwith Condemned in the Admiralty Court without any account given to the Prize-Office and be shar'd among the ships company which so made her Prize pursuant to the usual Method This was done the last Dutch War when the Swan Privatier being taken by Captain Young his then Majesty King Charles II. bought her of the said Captain and made her a Man of War in the year 1675. As also the Hunter in like manner bought of Sir John Berry AS to Privatiers that great Encouragement ought to be given for the taking of them by reason they are in a state of War and Defence whereby their Majesties Commanders do come to an Engagement with them and oft find them well Man'd wherby they not only destroy those Ships of Prey which greatly disturb the Traffick and Commerce of the Kingdom but kill and lessen the number of their Mariners and consequently destroys the Naval Force of the Enemy and leaves our Merchant-men the better liberty to Trade II. All Ships of Merchandise c. taken out of the Enemies Harbours Ports Creeks or from and under any Castle Fortification or Fort or off or from the Shore or at Anchor under any Head-land by any of their Majesties Men of War together with any Goods Effects and Merchandise that shall be seized by them shall be condemned in the Admiralty and shared as aforesaid That all Commanders that shall take the Enemies Ships by dint of Sword from under their Guns ought to have the Encouragement thereof for that they run an extreme risk hazard and danger of their Lives thereby giving the Enemy constant Allarms making the People uneasie and putting them to a great Charge in Guarding their Coasts besides bringing an advantage to their Majesties in their Customs of such Goods so taken thence And that if the Prize be taken at Anchor it may nevertheless not be disputed for that it is to be supposed all Men during the time of War will Anchor in as great Safety as may be III. All Merchants Ships and Goods belonging to the Enemy and taken as Prize at Sea on Board all Foreigners viz. Swedes Danes Portuguese and other Nations that shall be taken trading with their Majesties Enemies with Contraband Goods shall be Condemned in the Admiralty and one third of her lading so Condemed be given to the Captain Officers and Seamen that so took her as Prize and paid to the Captain as soon as the Commissioners receive the Mony and not according to the former method at ten days after payment of the Man of War which is not sometimes till two or three years after That this Encouragement will put the Commanders to a strict searching of all Foreign Ships for Contraband Goods which otherwise would slightly be view'd or for a small Sum of Mony prevail'd upon to suffer them to pursue their several Voyages to the great Disservice of the Nation but the hopes of this will put them upon the contrary Design IV. That all Salvage adjudged for Retaking any Ship shall be distributed to the Captain and Ships Company according to ancient Custom as likewise one 3d part of the Goods taken and Condemned from Swedes and Danes c. Wheras now if those Ships be not Condemn'd the Capter has no benefit of the Goods that are Condemn'd thro' the want of a Proclamation made full to that purpose which is very hard upon the poor Sailers in their Majesties Service who by that means have got nothing all the War This Encouragement will hinder any Embezelment being made after retaking a Ship and cause the Captain to take more care in seing her brought safe into Port. And by this the poor sailers will be certain of getting something when their Proportion is ascertain'd by Proclamation whereas at present if one of their Majesties Ships weakens her self to send a Swede or Dane into Port he may be in danger by hapning to meet with one of his own rank and besides the Seamen put on Board the Swede or Dane are in danger of having the Ship retaken and being carry'd into France where they fuffer great hardship and for all this as the Case now is have no benefit if the Ship as well as the Goods be not Condemn'd V. That all Commanders that shall meet with and Fight the Enemy to the utmost extremity and being over-power'd shall happen to be taken and his Ship sunk burnt or so extremely disabl'd that they cannot carry her off but are either forc'd to sink or burn her themselves the said Commander shall be allow'd the full value of what he makes out to have lost by the saidCapture and shall receive his full pay the time of his Captivity and in Case he the said Captain be disabled in his Limbs or Body as not being able any more to go to Sea shall have a Pention during the Interval he shall

condescended to for that several Ships have been Retaken which have paid his Majesty 2 or 3000 l. each for Custom 4. That whereas many Ships that have lain in Ports Harbors and Roads of this Kingdom without any Seizure or Molestation of the Vice-Admirals or Governors have been found out to be the Enemies Goods and seized by private Men of War and Condemn'd as Prize the said Vice-Admirals or Governors have very much obstructed them in the Condemnation thereof and sometimes after Condemnation have claimed the same to their Use or the Use of their Majesties to the great discouragement of private Men of War without whose Diligence and Intelligence they had never been discover'd or seiz'd Therefore it is proposed that in such Cases they may have no Molestation or Impediment but have their Prizes according to their Commissions which grant them all they shall take as well in Ports or Harbors as upon the Sea 5. That the Tenths of all other Prizes may be remitted to them concern'd in private Men of War for their Encouragement for the Reasons following viz. I. The French King doth at this time do the same which hath so Encouraged their Privatiers that they have fitted out many Ships of good force and much annoy'd and disturb'd our Trade the French Privatiers having taken about 600 of our Ships whereas their Men of War have not taken Sixty II. This Encouragement will enable the Concern'd to fit out better Ships than now they have and get Men to Man them by contracting to take Care of all such Men as shall be Wounded and the Wives and Families of them that shall be Kill'd or Drown'd which at present they cannot afford to do III. There is more Reason to make this Remission of Tenths to the English private Men of War than the French in regard of the Prohibition and the small Trade of France 6. Whereas it may be objected that unless some Officers be put on Board each Prize the private Men of War will be at liberty to do what they please and such Officers cannot be maintain'd without Duties to bear the Charge It is answered That each private Man of War at the taking out of his Commission doth not only oblige his Ship self and Owners but also gives two other sufficient Securities in 3000 or 1500 l. Bond not to abuse their Majesties Subjects or Allies but to make Satisfaction for all Injuries done by them and to pay Customs c. And besides the Custom-House Officers presently put Waiters on Board to look after the Customs which the private Men of War pay themselves without Charge to their Majesties And by this propos'd Encouragement the Customs will be Encreas'd by the Prize-Ships so that it will pay twenty times more than their Majesties have or will receive for Tenths And Besides the Encouragement of English Private Men of War will be very beneficial to this Kingdom not only in the Encreasing of Customs and weakning the Enemy as aforesaid but in breeding of Seamen they being oblig'd by their Bonds to carry two thirds Landmen and but one third of their Complement Seamen 7. And if it be objected that by thus Remitting the Tenths the Advocate Receiver c. employ'd therein will lose their Salaries the Proposer humbly hopes it will not be thought Reasonable that the private Interest of two or three Persons without advantage to the King or Government should be preferr'd before so great a Publick Good as this Encouragement would be both to the King and Kingdom Lastly It is demonstrable that this Encouragement to Privatiers will prove of no small advantage to his Majesties Customs for Example they frequently Retake rich Ships prevent Ships being taken and one Ship retaken oftentimes brings in more Customs to his Majesty than the Tenths will amount to in a whole Year so that both his Majesty and Subjects will be much the Gainers by this Means Therefore 't is to be hoped these Proposals will meet with their Majesties Compliance for that their Majesties may at first give it only for a Year or what time they shall think fit to see the advantage of it and afterwards to do therein as they please FINIS

Nineteen Months of that time all alone in an uneasie and Disconsolate Condition ☞ When I was first brought Prisoner thither I lay four Months in an Hospital at Brest for Cure of my Wounds and was sent to Nants before half Cured While I was at Brest I was Astonished at the Expedition used in Manning and Fitting out their Ships which till then I thought could be done no where sooner than in England where we have ten times the Shipping and consequently ten times more Seamen than they have in France but there I saw Twenty Sail of Ships of about 60 Guns a piece got ready in Twenty days time they were brought in and the Men Discharged and upon an Order from Paris they were Careen'd Keel'd up Rigg'd Victualled Man'd and out again in the said time with the greatest Ease imaginable I likewise saw a Ship of 100 Guns there had all her Guns taken out in four or five Hours time which I never saw done in England in twenty four Hours and this with greater Ease and less Hazard than here which I saw under the Hospital Window and this I am sure I could do as easie in England I likewise saw on the other side of the River an imitation of a Ship with a Tire of Guns where the Men were often Exercised and instructed in the Practice and Use of the Great Gun as if they were at Sea which very much contributed to their Skill and if the same were done and practised near our Sea-Ports it would be of great use in fitting Men for the Sea-Service in which we need not be ashamed to learn of them for they are ready enough to imitate us in any thing for their Advantage The aforesaid Ships being so soon out again put me upon Enquiry how the Men were got so quickly and I found that the Seamen were all Registred by the Intendant Marine or Commissary of each Province near the Sea which puts that King to vast Charge in paying great Salaries to them their Provosts Marine Arches and other Officers for taking Account of all Maritime Affairs for a Merchant Ship cannot go to Sea without leave from such Intendant who appoints what Seamen they shall have and so many Land-men to be trained up in the French King's Pay as is thought necessary which Method he hath used for these Fourteen Years past in all probability in hopes of an Advantage over England These Officers Register not only Seamen but Watermen Fishermen and all other Persons belonging to the Sea or Trading in any River of France as the Loire Seyne c. who upon Proclamation are always to be ready to serve on Board the Fleet as they have been all this War and upon Failure by his Arbitrary Power Hangs them up at their own Door without Tryal or Mercy So that to the wonder of the World tho he has not above the Tenth part of Merchant Shipping as aforesaid which is the Nursery of Seamen he gets out his Fleet ready to Fight the English and Dutch who are so much Superior to him in Naval Strength that it is very much Admired at Abroad and look'd upon as ill Conduct in us Thus the French King when his Fleet is out at Sea is at much greater Charge than we in regard of the Encouragement he then gives to his Officers both in Pay and Provisions which brings his best Nobility to his Service who when they are sufficiently Qualified are Preferred to Command and never makes Masters of Merchant-men Captains of Men of War well knowing that there is as great an improbability in most of them to well understand the Nature and Command of a Man of War as 't is for a Gentleman of 500 l. a Year that perhaps knows well enough how to manage his own Estate understands Martial Discipline to Command in a Castle in a time of Action or for a Captain in the Militia to be as fit to make a General-Officer as one that has been in several Campains Sieges and other Actions and will sooner prefer one of his Warrant-Officers that has been trained up in his Service than one of them tho that is also very rare for he will sooner Reward them with Money for any brave Action and give his Commands to his People of Quality ☞ And tho the French King by the Means aforesaid is at more Charge than we when his Fleet is out yet when they come in he is at much less for then he pays off and lays up his great Ships as we may now do by the following Method which saves him vast Charge in the Winter when his Men go out a Privateering and make a Harvest upon our Merchant-Men which he Encourages by giving them his Tenths of what they take Which I could wish was done in England And here I cannot forbear mentioning one generous Action of that King who as he Punishes well takes care likewise to Reward well For when I was taken in the Portsmouth by the Chevalier Demany Knight of Malta in the Marquess a Ship of 60 odd Guns all Brass but twelve tho' he could not bring my Ship in she was so much disabled he dying in forty eight Hours of his Wounds told the Second Captain upon his Death-bed That nothing troubled him but that he should die in debt to his Relations and Friends which being represented to Monsieur Saignelay who then was on Board the Fleet and by him to the French King the King thereupon did much regret the loss of such a Man saying He had rather have lost the Ship than the Captain and ordered the Payment of his debts out of his own Bounty which came to 22000 Livres which is near 1800 l. Sterling Thus it being the Method of the French King to furnish himself with Seamen on any occasion 1. By Registring them 2. By his Arbitrary Power Hanging them in case of Desertion thereby like Death sparing none to the Sea or Gallows In England it would be found both difficult chargeable and needless 1. It would be very difficult as well as chargeable to Register Seamen here because not one in ten is a House-keeper and therefore not with any certainty to be found 2. It would be needless in regard we have not occasion as the French have to take all our Seamen but a moderate Proportion only which may be done by Registring all sorts of Shipping and small Craft using the Sea or any River Port or Harbour in England Wales and Berwick upon Tweed as Merchant-Ships of all sorts Fishing-Boats Oyster-Cocks Row-Barges Western-Barges Lighters of all sorts Tricker-Boats Hiber-Boats Stow-Boats and the Trows at Bristoll Smacks Hoys Ketches Coasters c. by what Names soever Differenced and giving them a certain Number or Mark of Distinction as is done to the Hackney-Coaches That each of them according to their several Burthens Trade and Profit shall find one Man or more for Their Majesties Service or be obliged to pay Five Pounds into an Office to be Erected for that purpose